Karl Mehta

3x Exited Founder/ CEO of tech cos, Chairman Emeritus- QUIN(Quad), former VC@Menlo Ventures, Author of 2 books, fmr White House fellow. All tweets personal.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

Exciting launch of my second book, AI for Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) here in #Davos. Extremely grateful to all my mentors, and colleagues with whom i have been involved in AI for 23+ years across my three companies - EdCast (Acq. by Cornerstone), PlaySpan(Acq. by VISA) and MobileAria (Acq by WirelessMatrix) as well my work with Government leaders in the Indo-Pacifc. Enjoyed the interview at book launch and i hope you will enjoy watching it, as well as reading the book. https://t.co/bkb6wxTeXU
#AI #dpi #quad #india #WEF2024

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

Sam Altman told the Senate OpenAI tests systems, brings in external experts, and supports safety requirements for powerful AI.

That was the public signal.

The private question for every company is simpler:

where is your evidence?

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

https://t.co/Ew9NbCovBX

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

Thanks for reading

What is your opinion on this?

Let me know below.

If you enjoyed this post, follow @karlmehta for more content on AI Safety, Crypto, and Health.

Repost the first tweet to help more people see it:

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

A sleep scientist said:

"If you wake up at 3 AM every night, don't blame your bladder first. Your stress system may be turning on before your alarm does."

Here are 7 signs your cortisol rhythm is broken: 🧵

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

And fix the rhythm upstream:

- morning outdoor light
- caffeine cutoff
- no alcohol as a sleep tool
- no heavy food 3h before bed
- dim lights at night
- cool bedroom
- same wake time most days

Your body clock learns from repetition.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

Sources:

Dr. Michael Breus on The Diary Of A CEO.

A 2022 meta-analysis found chronic insomnia patients show moderately higher cortisol than good sleepers.

A 2025 review describes the cortisol awakening response as a rapid rise 30-45 min after waking.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

The 3 AM protocol:

1. Do not check the clock
2. Do not grab your phone
3. Before peeing, lie on your back for ~25 sec
4. If still awake, use slow breathing
5. If this repeats, test sleep apnea / glucose / stress load

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

A sleep scientist said:

"If you wake up at 3 AM every night, don't blame your bladder first. Your stress system may be turning on before your alarm does."

Here are 7 signs your cortisol rhythm is broken: 🧵

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

7. You wake with headaches, gasping, or mood swings.

Do not file this under cortisol hacks.

Breus says snoring, gasping, morning headaches, and mood swings can point toward sleep apnea.

That needs testing, not breathing tricks.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

6. You wake up hot, sweaty, or restless.

Core body temperature is supposed to fall into sleep, then rise later.

If the room is hot, alcohol is on board, or stress is high, that rise can feel like someone flipped a switch.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

5. Late food or alcohol makes the wake-up worse.

Breus points to heart rate as one key metric.

If digestion, alcohol, or a late snack keeps your heart rate elevated after bedtime, your sleep can look "long" but feel shallow.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

4. You feel exhausted at night, then wired in bed.

This is the trap:

- tired on the couch
- alert under the sheets
- sleepy at your desk
- awake when it matters

That pattern screams rhythm problem, not willpower problem.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

Cortisol is not evil.

A normal cortisol awakening response helps you mobilize for the day.

The issue is timing.

If the "get up and deal with life" signal starts in the middle of the night, sleep becomes light and fragile.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

3. You wake with urgency before anything happened.

No email yet.
No meeting yet.
No argument yet.

But your chest already feels online.

That is a classic clue your morning stress chemistry is arriving too early or too hard.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

Once the threat signal hits, your body does the opposite of sleep:

heart rate rises,
breath gets shallow,
thoughts accelerate,
and you start trying to force sleep.

Nobody calms down by panicking about calming down.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

2. You check the time and instantly do math.

3:18 AM.
Alarm at 6:00.
2 hours 42 minutes left.

That calculation is not neutral.

It turns a normal wake-up into a threat signal.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

That wake-up is not automatically "I need to pee."

Breus says many side-sleepers wake, feel bladder pressure, then stand up.

Standing raises heart rate.

Now the body is more alert than it was 30 seconds ago.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

1. You wake between 1-3 AM like clockwork.

Sleep doctor Michael Breus says everyone has a normal micro-wake in this window.

Most people roll over and fall back asleep.

The problem starts when your brain fully boots up.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

Anthropic showed 60 Minutes what serious AI companies do before release:

red-team the model, stress-test failures, and measure dangerous behavior.

Most companies don't have Anthropic's safety lab.

Karl's article is about making that discipline reachable for developers.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

https://t.co/Ew9NbCovBX

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

Karpathy's agent warning is the line every AI builder should hear:

"We need humans in the loop. We need to do this carefully. This is software."

If agents are software now, they need software discipline:

tests, traces, gates, security boundaries, and release criteria.

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

https://t.co/Ew9NbCovBX

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

Geoffrey Hinton says we're probably not slowing AI down.

So the real question is:

can we make it safe before it reaches customers, employees, and workflows?

Karl's article below turns the warning into the builder question:

what did you test before you shipped?

[Karl Mehta @karlmehta]

https://t.co/Ew9NbCovBX