Bret Taylor + Google: A.I. Wars. Aliens? Chiefs Win. Rhianna Rocked. VC Apocalypse? Wild Weekly Wrap

Weather balloons / UFOs shot down | NFL Superbowl featuring Rhianna and two football teams | Bret Taylor, BARD: The Artificial Intelligence wars are just starting to heat up. | VCs have too much 💰💰

Featured Episodes & Articles from Last Week

🔥 Winner Takes All Pitch Event! 6 companies Pitched 3 VC judges

🔥 S2, Ep 14: Jonathan Fudem Day 1 at y Combinator W ‘23

🔥 Thiel Fellowships were announced Last week

🔥 S2, Ep 15 Solo VC John Diaz is investing in Wellness

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Weekly Wrap for Last Week in Review

• Kansas City Chiefs def. Philadelphia Eagles 38-35

• Rhianna managed to steal the show despite 2 incredible QB performances

• Do VCs have too much cash and no way to earn a return?

• Brett Taylor starts an AI Company

• The U.S. Air Force shot down multiple alleged Chinese Spy Balloons

• Google BARD Flop? Everyone is lining up for AIWars

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• Kansas City Chiefs def. Philadelphia Eagles 38-35. Two amazing Quarterback Performances. + some really fun, great commercials

• Rhianna managed to steal the show despite 2 incredible QB performances

Spencer Althouse @SpencerAlthouse

this shot during Rihanna’s Super Bowl performance is so wild holy crap

• Do VCs have too much cash and no way to earn a return?

This thread by Gil Dibner onTwitter gives one take - Maybe this is a great time to start an AI startup

Gil Dibner @gdibner

We talk to a fair number of LPs. If we connect the dots, it seems there is a huge explosion coming. Here's how it might unfold:

• Former Facebook and Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor sees the excess of VC dollars maybe and the boom in attention around Artificial Intelligence as a great opportunity.

After leaving Salesforce (?) a few months ago Taylor has re-emerged with a LinkedIn post announcing his new venture, his partner Clay Bavor and … funding??

It’s going to come. Don’t be surprised to see names like Beniof/Salesforce Ventures/Founders Fund in that eventual mix

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7029166820972511233/

• The U.S. Air Force shot down multiple (update Four So Far) alleged Chinese Spy Balloons

A U.S. fighter jet recently shot down a "high altitude object" off the coast of Alaska, which is being described as an object rather than a balloon by White House spokesman John Kirby, who stated "that's the best description we have right now."

Now there have been FOUR (4) of these things shot down as of Monday Feb 13

Rep. Dan Bishop @RepDanBishop

Chinese Spy Balloon shot down last week. UFO shot down over Alaska yesterday. Another UFO shot down over Canada today. Part of Montana’s airspace now closed for “DoD activities.” What is going on here?

The object was reportedly smaller than a previous high altitude Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina and posed a threat to civilian aircraft as it was flying at a lower altitude. The White House has yet to provide further details about the nature of the object.

• Google BARD Flop? Everyone is lining up for AIWars

Google's recent launch of Bard, an AI-powered search engine, was met with disappointment after the technology failed its first public test.

During the demo, Bard gave factually incorrect answers and even got its own name wrong, leading to a significant drop in Google's stock value.

The incident highlights the intense competition in the AI industry, as tech giants race to win over users with cutting-edge technology.

With over 1 billion search users, Google's dominant position in the market is being challenged by up-and-coming AI-powered search engines.

Many feel the launch of Bard raises questions about Google's ability to stay ahead in the AI arms race.

Google @Google

Bard is an experimental conversational AI service, powered by LaMDA. Built using our large language models and drawing on information from the web, it’s a launchpad for curiosity and can help simplify complex topics → goo.gle/3HBZQtu

Or… the 2nd largest search engine in the world is YouTube and… Microsoft and company don’t have it. And it has always been run by 21 x Artificial Intelligence engines.

I highly recommend this book by Daryl Eves that breaks it down

however perception is currently reality in the AIWars and apparently Chat Bots- suddenly useful - but hated by any website visitor until 3 months ago- are what “A.I” is.

The winner is OpenAI + Microsoft for sure. I mean nobody in their right mind thinks Bing is anything but a steaming pile of junk … even buoyed by $10B investment into ChatGPT/openAI.

Yet, so many of us have been tricked (millions of us) into trying Bing again and… it’s still bad.

I mean whats worse, Bing or The Home Shopping Network? Trick question, they’re cousins.

But if you need 2 Cards that are Charging 0% Interest or the latest on Meghan Markle’s legal battle or Cosmo’s ground breaking article on Steve Harvey… Bing’s your huckleberry

Some say Google’s reputation for innovation has taken a hit. Investors are concerned about the future of the company in an increasingly competitive market. Despite this perceived setback, Google imo is a major AI technology leader and working to improve its offerings.