Sat down with @shaunmmaguire recently to talk through where Neuralink is and where it's going.
A few things that came up:
- over 20 participants now, more than 45,000 hours of BCI use — people controlling computers and speaking again with their thoughts, still hits me every time
- the implant with tiny flexible threads is impressive, but so are the surgical robots, microfab, and assembly lines needed to deliver BCI at scale (arguably harder to build)
- our current focus is restoration of function
- but the brain doesn't think in keystrokes, what we're really after is direct transfer of concepts, no compression, no language bottleneck
- most timelines are just friction people have accepted as normal, and we often ask: if every light were green, how fast could you physically build this?
- the caregivers and families of our participants don't get enough credit — their stories of love, sacrifice, and resilience keep us showing up the way we do
https://t.co/GyTe5XxfiY
This is my sixth conversation with @GavinSBaker.
As always with Gavin, the conversation covers a lot of ground, but we spend the most time on watts and wafers.
We discuss:
- Why the wafer shortage may prevent an AI bubble
- Data centers in space (reframed)
- Elon's Terafab and the new chip companies challenging Nvidia
- Usage-based pricing
- The disaggregation of GPUs
- DRAM, frontier tokens, and open source
Enjoy!
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
7:55 Anthropic and OpenAI Valuations
12:58 Watts, Wafers, and Infrastructure
14:39 Orbital Compute and Data Centers in Space
22:49 Avoiding the AI Bubble
28:26 Terafab and the Future of US Manufacturing
32:16 Returns to the Frontier
37:23 Continual Learning
42:03 New Chip Companies
48:52 Extending GPU Lifespans and Private Credit
51:22 The Application Layer
57:32 The Token Path and Open-Source Dynamics
1:01:37 Cybersecurity
1:05:46 Diversity Breakdown
1:11:59 Assessing the Big Tech Players in AI
1:19:02 Geopolitics, Personal Safety, and the AI Horizon
Everyone will adopt AI. Everyone will build more, ship faster, and deploy agents. That is table stakes. The founders who win will be the ones who make better choices, which requires judgment. (And if you're in the bottom left quadrant, get out quick.)
Caught up with @karpathy for a new @NoPriorsPod: on the phase shift in engineering, AI psychosis, claws, AutoResearch, the opportunity for a SETI-at-Home like movement in AI, the model landscape, and second order effects
02:55 - What Capability Limits Remain?
06:15 - What Mastery of Coding Agents Looks Like
11:16 - Second Order Effects of Coding Agents
15:51 - Why AutoResearch
22:45 - Relevant Skills in the AI Era
28:25 - Model Speciation
32:30 - Collaboration Surfaces for Humans and AI
37:28 - Analysis of Jobs Market Data
48:25 - Open vs. Closed Source Models
53:51 - Autonomous Robotics and Atoms
1:00:59 - MicroGPT and Agentic Education
1:05:40 - End Thoughts
Watch Hard Lessons, as legendary investor Stan Druckenmiller sits down with Morgan Stanley’s Iliana Bouzali, sharing how he would construct a portfolio if he had to start over today, why contrarianism is overrated, and which stock he regrets selling too early.
NOW - Citadel's CEO says AI has re-empowered technology departments in every business but the claims that 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs will disappear due to AI in five years is "hype," driven by the AI industry's need to justify raising billions for data centers.
My annual letter:
https://t.co/5axz7jVwOb
This year I discuss corgis, compute, and Cold War; the Texas State Fair; DSA; Neue Sachlichkeit; disfiguring the physical past and the end of history; Germanic obedience; Antichrist; wisecracks; Pascal’s Wager; romantasy; and croissants.
My first interview with @Shaunmmaguire, Partner @Sequoia.
0:30 How Elon works
8:11 Execution speed
15:40 The 15 levels of mathematicians
25:52 How Shaun assesses founders
29:31 Starting the next Bell Labs
32:43 Why it was so hard to invest in SpaceX in 2019
36:26 Working at Neros
42:36 What Elon looks for in capital partners
44:43 Why people underestimate Boring Company
51:37 Stepping into the fire
56:00 Playing CS:GO competitively
1:03:56 Dropping out of high school
1:07:20 Getting renamed in 7th grade
1:14:02 Lord of the flies
1:21:23 How people like Gwynne Shotwell work with Elon
1:25:07 Why Elon is one of the greatest capital allocators of all time
1:30:59 Underestimating Jensen Huang
I recently sat down with the one & only @patrick_oshag to discuss the "State of the Venture Industry 2025."
While AI is clearly an exciting new wave, the overall system dynamics are unprecedented, self-reinforcing, & challenging for many participants.
https://t.co/aPzjLpTfwl
While active at Benchmark, @bgurley would give an annual “state of the markets” presentation to his investors.
This conversation renews that format, with Bill exploring what he sees as both worrying and exciting about the investing landscape, with a special focus on private assets.
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
0:23 State of the Union: VC Edition
2:58 The Rise of Mega VC Funds
4:38 Zombie Unicorns
12:29 The IPO and M&A Market Stalemate
19:08 The AI Wave and Its Impact
21:03 Private Markets and LP Liquidity Issues
24:57 The Future of Capital Markets
32:49 Advice for Founders in a Changing Landscape
34:27 The High-Stakes Game of Capital Battles
37:57 Challenges & Opportunities in AI Revenue Models
39:37 The Role of Founders in the AI Revolution
41:44 The Impact of Time and Liquidity on Venture Capital
45:35 Navigating the Future of Venture Capital
53:45 International Dynamics in the AI Race
1:08:58 Advice for Founders in the AI Era