AI search startup Perplexity is in funding talks that would double the company’s valuation to $18 billion. We look at how the focus in AI is shifting from model makers to so-called AI “Wrappers.” Plus, Starlink is expanding into India, but its success lies in the hands of two billionaires.
Yesterday
TechCheck Takes: Brushing off new bubble warnings, Google’s AI comeback and Nvidia’s China threat 11/25/25
<p>This week in AI, the bubble keeps inflating despite fresh warnings, Google stages an AI comeback, and Chinese AI threatens Nvidia. Though fears around irrational AI spending used to be confined to skeptics, now even industry insiders like Google’s Sundar Pichai and Demis Hassa ... Show More
36m 25s
Oct 30
Inside The MIT AI Study Everyone Misunderstood (And What It Means For Startups)
MIT's new State of AI in Business report went viral for claiming that 95% of enterprise AI projects fail. But the real story isn't that AI doesn't work — it's just big companies can't build it.In this episode of the Lightcone, Garry, Harj, Diana, and Jared break down what the stu ... Show More
21m 43s
Jun 2025
Alexandr Wang: Building Scale AI, Transforming Work with Agents & Competing With China
Alexandr Wang started Scale AI to help machine learning teams label data faster.It started as a simple API for human labor, but behind the scenes, he was tackling a much bigger problem: how to turn messy, real-world data into something AI could learn from. Today, that early idea ... Show More
1h 1m
Sep 29
20VC: OpenAI and Anthropic Will Build Their Own Chips | NVIDIA Will Be Worth $10TRN | How to Solve the Energy Required for AI... Nuclear | Why China is Behind the US in the Race for AGI with Jonathan Ross, Groq Founder
<p dir="ltr">Jonathan Ross is the Founder & CEO of Groq, the AI chip company redefining inference at scale. Under his leadership, Groq has raised over $3B from top investors. The company has reached a valuation of nearly $7B, positioning itself as one of NVIDIA's most formidable ... Show More
1h 21m
Aug 2024
Flashback: Why Data is the New Code with Alexandr Wang of Scale AI
As a freshman at MIT, Alexandr was struck by his classmates' interest in AI. But he realized that despite all that AI technology could solve, there was no solution for managing AI-related data. So, at 19, he dropped out of college and started Scale AI. Scale now helps customers l ... Show More
33m 39s
Dec 2024
Reviewing "AI Eats the World"
<p>How are the largest VCs viewing the early stages of the AI Era, from the perspective of investment, technology moats, economics, early adoption and future use-cases. </p><p><br/></p><p><b>SHOW: 879</b></p><p><b>SHOW TRANSCRIPT: </b><a href='https://docs.google.com/document/d/ ... Show More
41m 16s
Jan 2025
Synthesia’s AI Revolution: Behind the $2.1B Valuation and What It Means for Businesses
In this episode, we dive into Synthesia, the London-based AI startup that has taken the business world by storm with its cutting-edge video avatar technology. With $180M raised in Series D funding and a valuation of $2.1B, Synthesia is reshaping how enterprises create content, fr ... Show More
8m 57s
Dec 2024
TechStuff Looks at Three AI Startups
2024 has been a huge year for AI. But why should we focus only on the enormous companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon? We look at three startups that hope to make it huge in the AI space. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
41m 6s
Jun 2025
20VC: Fiverr CEO: 'If You're Not Adapting to AI, F* You. You're Done | Why "Time to Copy" is the Most Important Metric in Startups Today | Why 99% of AI Companies Today Will Die | Why Governments Will Take Control of AI with Micha Kauffman
<p dir="ltr">Micha Kaufman is the Founder and CEO of Fiverr, the leading online marketplace for freelance services. Fiverr has had an insane ride in the public markets, in 2019 the company went public with a $650M market cap, at their peak that hit over $8BN. Today, facing a wave ... Show More
1h 6m