Vinod Khosla, the legendary investor who helped start Sun Microsystems, thinks AI “doomers” are focusing on the wrong risks and should instead worry about China. Khosla appeared Tuesday at Fortune Brainstorm AI 2023 in San Francisco.
Khosla told a crowd filled with technology and venture executives that every powerful tech comes with a risk. He pointed to nuclear and biotechnology; either could be used for good or bad purposes, the VC said. Artificial intelligence has disadvantages but promises huge upside, he said. “But by far—orders of magnitude—the higher risk to worry about is China, not sentient AI killing us,” Khosla said.
The VC said the China risk is “humongous,” and he wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t 100 million or more bots with persuasive AI engaging with U.S. voters next year and trying to influence the elections. “That’s very likely to happen. I’d say probably a 95% probability [China bots] will be influential in the election. And we should be worrying about it,” he said.
When asked if he agreed with the Biden administration, which has cut off exports of advanced chips and AI software to China, Khosla said: “Absolutely.”
Khosla cofounded Sun Microsystems in 1982 and formed Khosla Ventures in 2004. The billionaire investor was clear Tuesday on which side he stands in the AI debate. On one side are doomers who worry about the risk of an apocalypse due to AI gaining sentience (think The Terminator movies). In the other camp are proponents of effective accelerationism, or e/acc, who believe that AI and other emerging technologies should be allowed to progress as fast as possible without any guardrails, according to the New York Times.
“So let me be clear. The risk of sentient AI killing us exists, but it’s about the same as the risk of an asteroid hitting our planet and destroying us all also,” Khosla said. The press has amped up AI’s risks because “it’s so sci-fi,” he said.
Khosla was one of the early investors of OpenAI, the groundbreaking startup behind ChatGPT. Last month, OpenAI’s board ousted CEO Sam Altman, without much explanation, and then rehired him days later. The startup ended up reshuffling its board, expelling members who approached AI cautiously in favor of those who appear more eager to commercialize its power, Fortune reported.
Khosla said there weren’t many lessons to be drawn from the OpenAI chaos. The VC said there were a “bunch of misinformed board members applying the wrong religion instead of making rational decisions.”
OpenAI is “much better off today than it was a month ago. So that’s great,” he said.
Talk to you tomorrow,
Luisa Beltran
Twitter: @LuisaRBeltran
Email: luisa.beltran@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS
- LINE NEXT, a Seongnam, South Korea-based company developing a global NFT platform, raised $140 million in funding from a consortium led by Crescendo Equity Partners.
- Essential AI, a San Francisco-based company developing AI products designed to improve human productivity, raised $56.5 million in Series A funding. March Capital led the round and was joined by AMD, Franklin Venture Partners, Google, and others.
- Tacto, a Munich, Germany-based operating system for supply chains, raised €50 million ($54 million) in funding. Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures led the round and were joined by Visionaries Club, Cherry Ventures, and UVC Partners.
- Zuper, a Seattle, Wash.-based solutions provider to field operations businesses, raised $32 million in Series B funding. FUSE led the round and was joined by Prime Ventures and others.
- Dynamic Labs, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of a web3 login tool, raised $13.5 million in Series A funding. a16z crypto led the round and was joined by Founders Fund, Castle Island Ventures, and others.
- Delphina, a San Francisco-based AI copilot for data science, raised $7.5 million in seed funding. Costanoa Ventures and Radical Ventures led the round and were joined by angel investors.
- Hyperplane, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based data intelligence platform for financial institutions, raised $6 million in seed funding. Lachy Groom led the round and was joined by SV Angel, Clocktower Technology Ventures, Liquid2 Ventures, and others.
- Pave Bank, a Singapore-based programmable bank, raised $5.2 million in seed funding. 468 Capital led the round and was joined by Quona Capital, FT Partners, BR Capital, and others.
- Datalogz, a New York City-based business intelligence platform designed to reduce business intelligence and analytics sprawl, raised $5 million in funding. GreatPoint Ventures led the round and was joined by Graphene Ventures, Squadra Ventures, Berkeley Skydeck, and others.
- METCYCLE, a Cologne, Germany-based platform for international secondary metal trade, raised $5 million in seed funding. Project A led the round and was joined by Partech and others.
- Inductive Bio, a New York City-based company developing a machine learning platform to be used in drug discovery, raised $4.3 million in seed funding. a16z Bio + Health and Lux Capital led the round and were joined by Character, Bessemer Venture Partners, Alleycorp, and others.
- Stairs Financial, a remote-based mortgage marketplace, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Zigg Capital led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, Antler, and others.
- Baseline Vision, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based developer of AI-powered player analysis technology for tennis players, raised $2.4 million in seed funding from Lalotte Ventures, Peter Kadas, and others.
- Paynest, a Lisbon, Portugal-based financial wellbeing platform for employees, raised €2 million in seed funding. Lince Capital led the round and was joined by BlueCrow Capital and others.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- CD&R agreed to acquire Shearer’s Foods, a Massillon, Ohio-based contract manufacturer and private label supplier for the snack industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- DBW Holdings, backed by Granite Creek Capital Partners, acquired Peak Toolworks, a Jasper, Ind.-based manufacturer and servicer of diamond and carbide precision cutting tools. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Great Point Partners recapitalized Ludi, a Nashville, Tenn.-based physician payment automation platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Kudu Investment Management acquired a minority stake in Sage Advisory Services, an Austin, Texas-based institutional investment firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Paradigm Equity Partners agreed to acquire E&R Industrial Sales, a Sterling Heights, Mich.-based distributor of production supplies and metalworking tools. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- Hubbell Incorporated acquired Systems Control, an Iron Mountain, Mich.-based manufacturer of substation control and relay panels for the electric transmission and distribution industry, from Comvest Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Nokia agreed to acquire Fenix Group, a Chantilly, Va.-based provider of tactical communications products for military applications, from Enlightenment Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
- Chipotle Mexican Grill acquired minority stakes in Greenfield Robotics, a Cheney, Kan.-based provider of automated robots designed to cut weeds without chemicals, and Nitricity, a San Francisco-based producer of environmentally friendly fertilizer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
- Ara Partners, a Houston, Texas-based private equity firm, raised $2.8 billion for its third fund focused on companies who can reduce carbon emissions in sectors like industrial and manufacturing, chemicals and materials, energy efficiency and green fuels, and food and agriculture.
- Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based asset management firm, raised approximately $3 billion for its third fund focused on companies facing temporary challenges.
PEOPLE
- Cranemere Group, a London, U.K.-based private equity firm, hired Kamil M. Salame as chief executive officer. Formerly, he was with CVC Capital Partners.
- DataTribe, a Fulton, Md.-based venture capital firm, hired Robert Lee as a venture partner. Lee currently serves as CEO of Dragos.
- Google Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, hired Michael McBride as a general partner. Formerly, he was with GitLab.
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