Walter Kortschak

founder @Firestreakvc, senior advisor @SummitPartners

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@BusinessInsider Seed 100 list is out. Thank you for the recognition.

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@vvkgopalan @8vc Congrat Vivek! Well deserved.

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@ADoricko @noavctech @upfrontvc @DCVC @lowercarbon @DreamVenturesVC @RainmakerCorp Congrats @ADoricko.

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@FoundersPodcast Congrats David. Heck of a run and more great listening to come.

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@leonardtang_ @beaconholdings @haizelabs Congrats @leonardtang_, keep building!

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@ClementDelangue @politico The best proposal I’ve heard is from @elonmusk that all the model providers (US frontier labs and China) agree to test each other’s models and report the vulnerabilities. This can be done through a testing harness that doesn’t expose IP.

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@RyanFloyd 💯

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

Clear point.

[Lina Khan @linamkhan]

Law enforcers already have authority to charge companies and their CEOs for creating and releasing dangerous, unvetted, or defective products. We shouldn’t let discussions about new legal regimes distract from the fact that there’s no AI exemption from laws already on the books — a point @FTC emphasized repeatedly during my tenure.

1. There is an extensive set of laws that govern dangerous and defective products. For example, releasing unvetted AI models or agents can violate consumer protection laws. Shipping flawed AI tools without implementing adequate measures to detect and stop rogue or defective AI agents can be an “unfair or deceptive” act or practice under the FTC Act (and analogous state laws). And some state AGs are already exploring holding AI firms and their CEOs criminally liable when their models participate in criminal activity.

2. Existing laws also prohibit “unfair methods of competition.” This covers instances where AI firms appropriate the competitively sensitive information of their customers, including through tracking their use of various tools. It can also cover instances where firms pursue dangerous behavior, aware that doing so may compel rivals to do the same.

As the Supreme Court has noted: “A method of competition which casts upon one's competitors the burden of the loss of business unless they will descend to a practice which they are under a powerful moral compulsion not to adopt, even though it is not criminal, was thought to involve the kind of unfairness at which the [unfair methods of competition] statute was aimed."

3. The highly concentrated and interconnected structure of these markets could be creating major risks and conflicts of interest. We had started investigating these partnerships and cross-investments across the stack (and released a preliminarily overview of some findings: https://t.co/jJ5cS3Pin3).

Both federal and state enforcers should be scrutinizing these opaque relationships and inter-dependencies. We are already seeing how these relationships could undermine accountability. For example, OpenAI could face liability given the Hugging Face incident, but Hugging Face being bought up by Nvidia means that we’re unlikely to see it file a lawsuit over this — given Nvidia’s strong incentive to see OpenAI continue full speed ahead.

4. As AI tools dramatically change the landscape of cybersecurity risks and hacks, all businesses should be doubling down on having core security protections in place. Firms that fail to invest in adequate data security measures or fix known vulnerabilities can also be breaking the law. A recent analysis showed that around 1/3 of Fortune 100 companies do not even have a way to notify them about security issues. During my @FTC tenure, we sued firms for poor data security practices and held CEOs liable when they were personally responsible.

https://t.co/nwZ5Av8fOK

https://t.co/KjRye8y9SY

5. As policymakers consider new legal regimes, we should be looking to lessons from prior efforts to govern major sectors, such as banking and other networks, platforms, and utilities. Tools like structural separations, nondiscrimination, and supervision could be key, and there’s a rich history of what works and what doesn’t. But we can and must pursue any new efforts alongside enforcing existing laws.

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@PaulKlayVC @ellazhang516 @HoolieG @jonathankingvc @1confirmation and @NTmoney

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

Amazing and articulate post. Thank you for that. It does seem America lost its way after 9/11. The distraction of several forever wars created the conditions for China and Russia to exploit us; China in trade and Russia in military aggression. It also fueled division among Americans. We will never be the same.

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@TimDraper Sorry to hear of your loss Tim. Your Dad was a pioneer in our industry.

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@pejmannozad @pearvc Congratulations Pejman and the entire Pear team.

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

Approaching 10,000 student contacts this year, the @USC Kortschak Center for Learning and Creativity (@KortschakCenter) continues to redefine neurodiverse student support by pairing elite clinical training with forward-looking academic strategy. From pioneering a campus-wide AI learning tool to launching its inaugural Faculty Fellowship, KCLC is proving how research-driven, multi-tiered support empowers every unique learner to thrive. #USC

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@ClementDelangue Congratulations. Amazing accomplishment for you and the @huggingface team and for open source. More great things to come!

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@GavinSBaker Well done Gavin. Clarity of thought.

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@adamguild Congrats Adam and Dean!

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@Caltech Ben Rosen was a true visionary—a pioneering venture capitalist and a transformative Board Chair at @Caltech. As a fellow investor and trustee, I am deeply grateful for the indelible standard of excellence, mentorship, and generosity he set for our community.

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@Etched Congratulations @UbertiGavin, @robertwachen, and @czhu1729. @Firestreakvc @amirrustam

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

@Ryomenex No

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

Leverage introduces uncontrollable ruin to investing. https://t.co/lo7fBMdy6x

[Walter Kortschak @wkortschak]

How the AI Boom Is Fueling Teen Startups  | CO https://t.co/rtYTKjnPbW