Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview:
Q: We are talking about a future which, in everyone’s assessment, is going to be driven now by Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) and its sort of being made out to be the panacea that will transform the world, or it could cause existential issues for sectors and for humanity itself. How are you looking at this from the startup world’s perspective and from an entrepreneurial perspective?
A: The main challenge we have seen with AI is, as all of us know, how empowering it is. I mean, all of us remember what it was like the first time we played with ChatGPT or created a picture with Dolly. So, there is no question that the inflexions are there and the empowerment. The challenge I have seen is who has the real insights. You see a lot of really great ideas, and I will look at the product, and I will say I would want to use that. I can see that people are going to want this. But then the harder question is — What is it about this that is not obvious? What is it about this that people are going to disagree with?
And the problem is, if everybody agrees that it’s a good idea, you don’t end up doing as well, because a whole bunch of companies simultaneously crowd the sector. And so being non-consensus and right is what allows you to be unique and successful. And it turns out, you have to have both. So that is where we have made some investments, but we have been cautious because a lot of the companies have powerful inflexions but lack the insight.
Q: Speaking of impact, we are here in the Valley and in a week where NVIDIA is today the world’s most valuable company. I mean, who would have thought that this would be possible at the start of 2024, the kind of explosion that we have seen as far as this company is concerned? I mean, do you believe that we are sitting on more stories like NVIDIA that are just waiting to sort of have their moment, have their breakout moment?
A: I do. So, I have only seen two sea changes in my life. Yes, there are lots of inflexions and lots of changes. But when I was a kid, mass computation, personal computers, and Moore’s law, the cost of computing declined to zero. And companies like Microsoft emerged in that wave and then you had the era of mass connectivity and rather than Moore’s law and transistors, it was about how many nodes are on your network and do they connect. Now I think we are entering the era of mass cognition, and cognitive functions are going to become commoditised in the way that network nodes and bandwidth were, or transistors were, and I just think that that’s going to create the conditions for some massive companies.
And we do not even know what they’re going to be yet. It’s like it would have been like trying to figure out who the best companies on the Internet would be in 1995. I mean there were some signs of who they would be. But you know there was a time when Intel was the value of most valuable chip company more than all the other chip companies in the world combined. Right. That’s a long time ago.
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