Ben Horowitz’s dual support for Trump and Harris says a lot about the Valley’s AI politics
Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. I’m Mark Sullivan, a senior writer at Fast Company, covering emerging tech, AI, and tech policy.
This week, I’m focusing on Ben Horowitz’s decision to support both Trump and Harris, and what it says about AI’s effects on Silicon Valley’s politics. I also look at one high-profile startup’s plan to combat hallucinations, and at one politician’s plans to debate an AI chatbot.
Sign up to receive this newsletter every week via email here. And if you have comments on this issue and/or ideas for future ones, drop me a line at [email protected], and follow me on X (formerly Twitter) @thesullivan.?
What Ben Horowitz’s flip-flopping presidential support says about the Valley’s current AI politics
Venture capitalist Ben Horowitz of the influential Andreessen Horowitz (AKA @16z) says he personally supports Kamala Harris. In a memo to his firm’s employees last week he says he plans to donate to the Harris campaign, but that the firm’s political allegiance remains with Trump, as Horowitz and his partner Marc Andreessen announced this summer, to the surprise of some. The two billionaires explained at the time that the Biden Administration’s tech policies have been hostile to tech startups, especially those in crypto and AI, and that a second Trump term would be best for what they call “little tech” startups, which they say they champion.
In a traditionally liberal Silicon Valley, the shift of high-profile tech billionaires like Andreessen and Horowitz toward the MAGA right has been remarkable. But their support for Trump seems narrow and transactional, almost quid-pro-quo. Before announcing plans to donate to a Trump super-PAC, Andreessen Horowitz partners held several meetings with the Trump camp, and came away confident that the candidate would take a light-touch regulatory approach to new technologies. Trump, for example, has pledged to reverse Biden’s October 2023 AI executive order, which offered non-binding safety guidelines for AI companies, among other things.?
Horowitz says he has now met with Harris and her team, but came away with no firm idea of how a Harris administration might regulate AI companies.?
Click here to read more about Horowitz’s mixed messages on the election.
Two Humane refugees go to war against AI hallucinations
The tech industry is betting that generative AI will transform business operations at all levels. In order to do that, the AI must swallow the organization’s data–its combined knowledge and experience–then make it available to workers through apps, chatbots, or copilots. But large language models still have a tendency to hallucinate facts–a dealbreaker for businesses like banks or hospitals.
领英推荐
A new company founded by former Apple and Google execs sees that problem as an opportunity. The company, called Infactory, said this week it raised a $4 million seed round at a $25 million valuation from Andreessen Horowitz and others to build out its enterprise search and fact-checking AI platform, which it expects to deploy with partners later this year.?
Click here to read more about Infactory’s plans.
Virginia Congressional candidate will debate a chatbot version of his opponent
Bentley Hensel is a long-shot independent candidate for the Virginia House seat currently occupied by Democrat Don Beyer. Hensel and Beyer took part in one roundtable discussion earlier this year, and Hensel badly wants to debate Beyer again. But Beyer has far outspent Hensel, is far ahead in the polls, and sees no need to debate. What’s Hensel to do? Train an AI chatbot version of Beyer, of course, and debate with it during a live-streamed event October 17.?
Click here to read more about the debate with AI.
More AI coverage from Fast Company:?
Want exclusive reporting and trend analysis on technology, business innovation, future of work, and design? Sign up for Fast Company Premium.