Technology
What Vinod Khosla says he’s “most worried about”
Vinod Khosla is now more popular than ever. The Sun Microsystems co-founder became a outstanding investor — first at Kleiner Perkins and over the past 20 years at his enterprise capital firm Khosla ventures — has at all times been wanted by founders due to his sound advice and his company’s history, including bets on Stripe, Square, Affirm and DoorDash. But we’re risking $50 million OpenAI in 2019 – when it was unclear whether the team would achieve success on this scale – they put Khosla Ventures and Khosla himself within the highlight.
He’s having an important time. I met with Khosla in Toronto last week Collision conference and before our appearance on stage, he told me that he has been making public appearances several times per week recently – on stage, in podcasts, or in TV interviews. Asked if he was exhausted from his schedule – he flew to Toronto just hours before our meeting, for instance – he shrugged.
There are definitely things he prefers to discuss, and the art of creating deals isn’t certainly one of them. “Honestly, the investor side is much less interesting to me,” he said once I asked him about something I recently heard, which is that he hasn’t taken a dollar in management fees since founding Khosla Ventures, although it’s currently she has $18 billion in assets under management. (He confirmed this, but said it only applied to himself, not a corporate-wide policy.)
He’s far more keen about the startup opportunities he sees in a landscape that is changing day-after-day with advances in artificial intelligence, so we talked about some areas of that white space. We also talked about what worries him most concerning the effects of artificial intelligence; FTC Chair Lina Khan; and why, in his opinion, “Europeans have thrown themselves out of leadership in any field of technology.”
First, we talked about Apple’s shiny recent cope with OpenAI, which allows Apple to integrate ChatGPT with Siri and its generative AI tools. Apple may strike similar deals with other AI models, including Meta, but obviously as an OpenAI investor, Khosla is bullish on this deal, which is the just one Apple has announced publicly yet.
Khosla called it a “validation” of OpenAI; in announcing its pact with OpenAI at a celeb developer conference, Apple “also expressed, I think, confidence in (OpenAI CEO) Sam (Altman) to lead (AI development) over the next five or 10 years,” Chosla said. “When a company like Apple commits to technology, it usually doesn’t change it the next year.”
As we have seen at TechCrunch, lots of Apple’s newest features are more likely to change into obsolete. I asked if any of Khosla’s portfolio corporations were affected. Part of me was wondering about Rabbit, whose AI-powered hardware device goals to be a form of AI assistant for users and is backed by Khosla Ventures.
Asked whether Apple could make the device obsolete, Khosla suggested it’s more flexible than people imagine and might be utilized by businesses equivalent to hospitals, including emergency rooms. He put it in a growing range of things that may “watch what you do, see what you do and respond automatically.”
In fact, Khosla suggested that his team actively avoided anything that might change into “roadkill” as large language models like OpenAI proceed to advance. And he identified at the least one company that isn’t in his portfolio: Grammaticallywriting assistant startup that was valued at $13 billion by its backers not too way back.
“If you are coping with, say, grammar, it’s really a minor challenge in comparison with today’s model and Grammarly cannot sustain; this could never have been an app. It shows the necessity for this capability, but it would be a part of Word or Google Docs. It’s quite obvious. When we check with YC corporations or other corporations,” Khosla continued, “I can often say, ‘Half of those corporations shall be obsolete by the point the YC batch runs out.’
Khosla sees numerous opportunity in industries where expertise shall be almost free, although it isn’t clear to me how these corporations will sustainably earn cash (even after asking him). Think about tutoring and even oncology.
Said Khosla: “Open AI or Google won’t build a chip designer (to have on your smartphone). OpenAI and Google won’t build a civil engineer. They are not going to create a primary care physician or a mental health therapist,” he said. “So there are such a lot of areas for (my founders). But they need to have a look at where the models are going next 12 months and five years from now and say, “We want to realize this potential.”
We also talked about regulations. I noticed that Khosla had previously said that closed large language models like OpenAI needs to be protected, although there needs to be a regulatory framework around them. I wondered if this meant Khosla would perpetually eschew other “open source” AI.
Not in any respect, he said, noting that he’s a “huge fan” of open source. He said Sun was certainly one of the primary corporations to “leap into open source” and open source its file system. He also noted that Khosla Ventures was the earliest investor in GitLab, whose software invites people to work on code together.
However, he suggested that open source within the context of huge language models is a totally different matter. “The biggest risk we face with AI is China” and “the powerful Chinese AI” that competes with the “liberal values” of the United States, he said, adding that “we need to make sure China stays behind us.” . Otherwise, he warned, China will provide the remaining of the world with “free doctors and free oncologists” and in the method “export both the economic power of artificial intelligence and its political philosophy. “
On stage, I discussed to Khosla my recent meeting with FTC Chair Lina Khan, who doesn’t imagine within the national champions model as a reason to coddle corporations like Google and OpenAI as they proceed to develop artificial intelligence.
Khan always hears from executives and investors who say that government intervention will lead the U.S. down a dangerous path. However, during my conversation, she argued that the United States has time and time again chosen the “competitive path,” which “has ultimately driven and catalysed lots of these breakthrough innovations and far of the extraordinary growth that our country has enjoyed, which has allowed us to sustain advantage within the international arena.
If you take a look at other countries which have as an alternative chosen this model of national champions,” Khan added on the time, “they have been left behind.”
However, I had barely mentioned Khan when Khosla became dismissive, calling her an “irrational human being” and accusing her of not understanding the business.
“She shouldn’t be in this role,” Khosla said. “In every country and economic system, it is good to have antitrust laws. However, antitrust laws (that is) over-enforced or over-enforced are bad economic policy. The one thing the United States has over its European rivals is a much more rational business environment. This is why Europeans are no longer the leader in any field of technology; they have simply regulated themselves beyond artificial intelligence, all social media, and all internet startups.”
Of course, if some antitrust enforcement is sweet, but an excessive amount of isn’t good, the query is where to attract the road. At this point, before we parted, I discussed the “abundance” that Altman predicts shall be created by artificial intelligence. At certainly one of TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC events last 12 months, Altman said the “good argument” for artificial intelligence is “so incredibly good that you sound like a really crazy person when you start talking about it.”
Khosla said he believes the identical, but I actually have long wondered how society will enjoy all these advantages if regulators do not get more involved in the event of those corporations. After all, I told Khosla on stage, we now have already seen massive aggregation of wealth and power tied to an increasingly smaller group of corporations and other people. When is enough?
In this case, Khosla said the problem concerned him greatly. “I think in 25 years, when I’ll hopefully still be working. . . the need for work will mostly disappear.” Still, while AI should deliver “great abundance, great GDP growth, great productivity – all the things that economists measure,” he said, he worries “more than anything else” about “growing income disparities.” How can we (ensure) a good distribution of the advantages of AI?”
He has a sense where the breaking point could be. “If GDP growth (in the U.S.) increases from the current 2% – currently less than 1% in Europe – to 4%, 5%, 6%, we will have enough abundance to share the wealth and benefits.”
Whether and the way this happens are, after all, even greater questions, and for all his brilliance, Khosla, a self-described techno optimist, did not have the reply. Instead, he thanked the audience for his or her time, then walked off the stage toward the dozen founders gathered within the wings, all hoping to maintain his ear so long as they might.
The application signal for sending a privacy -oriented message flew high in Dutch application stores last month, often sitting at the top as the most steadily downloaded free application for iOS and Android in all categories, for data from many application tracking platforms akin to the sensor tower.
The application has experienced popularity over the years, often in response to Changes in politics in rivals akin to WhatsApp Or Geopolitical events. This is because Signal has set a reputation as a more friendly privacy option-it is served by the non-profit foundation (though based in the USA), not a personal company focused on data earning data. In addition, the signal tracks minimal metadata.
In 2025, along with the recent US president, who strengthened the warm Big Tech hug, it is not surprising that digital privacy tools have a moment – especially in Europe, which attracted the anger of President Trump.
But this time, the meaning of the signal in one very specific place-Holandia is particularly eye-catching.
IN Interview with Dutch newspaper de Telelegraaf last week, President signal Meredith Whittaker He noticed that the number of “new registrations” in the Netherlands was 25 this 12 months, even though it is not clear what the exact comparative period for this data is.
Asked why the Netherlands recorded such development, Whittaker pointed to the combination of things: “growing awareness of privacy, distrust of large technology and political reality in which people realize how sensitive digital communication can be,” said Whittaker.
Data provided to TechCrunch from the application intelligence company Appfigures Increase in Signal Signal in the Netherlands. According to its data, the signal was 365. Among the applications apart from the iPhone in the Netherlands on January 1 and didn’t appear on the list of the most significant general applications. Then, from around January 5, he began to climb the rankings, reaching the highest position until February 2.
The signal immersed and comes out of the lead during weeks, spending around mid -February at the top – including every single day from February 22. By digging deeper into the data, the AppFigures estimates that the total download in Apple and Google Applets in total in December 2024 jumped to 99,000 in January and increased to 233,000 to February – 958%.
While a part of this height could be assigned to a lower saturation signal than other markets, a continuing application position at the top in comparison with neighboring markets of comparable size.
“No other markets are approaching the Netherlands in terms of growth between December and February,” said AppFigures Techcrunch.
For comparison, from December in Belgium, download increased by over 250%, Sweden by 153%and dishes by 95%.
So why the signal can experience what one redditor called “The moment of mass adoption“In the Netherlands?
Clear signal
Give ZengerSenior Policy Advisor at Dutch Digital Rights Foundation Fragments of freedomHe said that even though it is difficult to point one specific reason, he is not surprised.
The last changes in the US have seen Large platform suppliers Adapt with the recent Trump administration, and this has retained a major public and media debate. Relying Europe from the technology of big private American corporations has turn out to be the point of interest of this debate.
“The Dutch are, like many others, very dependent on the infrastructure provided by extremely dominant technology companies, mainly from the USA,” said Zenger. “What does this mean, and the risk that results from it has been nicely demonstrated in the last few weeks. As a result, the public debate in the Netherlands was relatively sharp. Where in the past this problem was discussed only at the level “:” I feel that we are now conducting a debate at the higher levels: “.
In this context, society can mix dominance with data protection abuse. Since corporations akin to meta are frequently studied and fined in the field of information privacy practices, the signal could appear to be less evil: it is based on the US, but supported by a non-profit organization, which ensures encryption of each the content of the message and around it.
Vincent BöhreDirector of the Dutch Organization of Privacy Privacy firstHe also pointed to increased media relationships and a wider change of public opinion.
“Since a few months ago he was re-elected in the United States, in the Dutch-and European media, which seem to support Trump, there were many” Elon) Muska. “Articles criticizing X (previously Twitter) and Meta appear everywhere in the Dutch media, which leads to a change in Dutch public opinion: even people who have never really known or cared for privacy and security in social media, suddenly became interested in” friendly privacy “alternative, in particular the signal.”
Signal of intentions
While the Netherlands is only one market of 18 million people in the European population over 700 million, its increase in adoption can signal a wider trend throughout the continent, especially when governments try to cut back privacy barriers.
For example, Apple has recently pulled out comprehensive encryption from iCloud in Great Britain to counteract government efforts to put in a backdoor.
Speech Fr. Rightcon 25 In Taiwan, this week, Whittaker confirmed the unwavering Signal attitude regarding privacy.
“Signal position on this subject is very clear- we will not walk, falsify or otherwise disturb the solid guarantees of privacy and security that people rely on” Said Whittaker. “Regardless of whether this disturbance or backdoor is called scanning on the client’s side or removing the protection of encryption against one or the other, the features similar to what Apple has been forced to do in Great Britain”
Separately, in Interview with Swedish public broadcaster, Whittaker said that Signal wouldn’t follow the proposed Swedish law requiring application to send messages for storage.
“In practice, this means asking us to break encryption, which is the basis of our entire activity,” said Whittaker. “Asking us to store data would undermine all our architecture and we would never do it. We would prefer to completely leave the Swedish market. “
TechCrunch contacted to signal a comment, but he didn’t hear during the publication.
(Tagstotranslat) signal of the Netherlands
Gayle King will join the thirty first Blue Origin civil flight into space.
Gayle King announced that he was going to space. The host of the talk show during the day provided messages CBS MORNINGS.
King revealed Her participation in the thirty first Blue Origin flights, NS-31. Before discussing the details of the mission, she and her co -lecturers presented the video editing, which described her long -term fascination with travel travel.
In one clip, King said: “I am excited to watch the premiere at home in my pajamas.”
Her enthusiasm led to an invite with Blue Origin. The television personality will disappear from Crew from the whole familyIncluding an award -winning journalist Lauren Sánchez, award -winning Grammy singer Katy Perry and astronaut Aish Bowe.
Soon the explorer of the space admitted that she was hesitating at first.
“I don’t know how to explain at the same time terrified and excited,” said King.
To make a choice, King turned to a gaggle of family members, including her children and a detailed friend, Oprah Winfrey. She said that when her most trusted confidants approved, she was ready.
“When Kirby, Will and Oprah were fine, I was fine,” said King. “I thought Oprah would say no. She said: “I feel that when you don’t do it, if you all come back and also you had the opportunity to do it, you’ll kick.” She is right. “
King is not going to be the first television host who wandered into space with blue origin. In 2021, then-Good morning America Coheat Michael Strahan took part in the third civil flight Blue Origin. The former NFL star and the sender was delighted after returning, expressing how this experience gave him a brand new “perspective” in the world.
“I want to come back,” said Strahan.
Blue origin, Founded by Amazon Billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2000 is a non-public aviation company that focuses on sharing space travels for civilians and developing technology to explore the space long.
The upcoming flight of the king New Shepard It will probably be part of Blue Origin’s constant efforts to normalize civil space travel.
Meta is occupied with an independent application for brief movies, Information He informed, citing an anonymous source, which he heard the boss on Instagram Adam Mosseri talked about the personnel project.
The project is reportedly called RAY code, which goals to enhance recommendations for brand new users and existing users in the US and to conclude one other three minutes of movies, the report quoted the source.
The finish line didn’t answer immediately at the request for comment.
Last month, the company announced a video editing application called Edyta to compete with Capcut (belonging to Tiktok Matter Company Bytedance) since it was geared toward using the uncertain future Tiktok and Bytedance in the USA
Currently, the Instagram channel is a mixture of photos, movies (drums) and stories. However, many users imagine that the application has been cluttered since it incorporates movies and not persist with the roots as an application for sharing photos. If the company rotates in an independent application for brief movies, it can create a possibility for Instagram to emphasise other functions.
Instagram began at the starting of this yr paying creators To promote Instagram on other platforms, resembling Tiktok, Snapchat and YouTube. Apparently he also began to supply Big money for the creators Present only on roller skates.
(Tagstranslate) Instagram
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