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Amazon vs Perplexity on Agentic Commerce – Amazon sends Cease & Desist to Perplexity regarding Comet Agentic Commerce Purchases

November 4th, 2025
In a somewhat predictable yet perplexing move, Amazon has sent Perplexity a cease and desist letter. Amazon is demanding (akin to a high maintenance Ex who thinks they still own your pretty little ass) that Perplexity stop its Comet Browser’s Shopping AI Agent from making purchases on behalf of users

Translation – Hey Perplexity. Your Shopping AI Agent which is supposed to make purchases on behalf of users and make their life easier? Well, yeah, it would be great if it stopped doing that.

Why is Amazon scared? Because if AI Agentic eCommerce takes off, then there is no reason for Amazon.com to exist. The back end could be ANY retailer or even just a conglomeration of warehouses and manufacturers.

Bloomberg -> Amazon Demands Perplexity Stop AI Tool From Making Purchases – Bloomberg

What is the Issue? Why is Amazon scared of Big Bad Perplexity and Its Tiny Little Comet Browser?
1. Perplexity has an AI powered browser, Comet
2. Comet is based on Chromium
3. Comet lets users make automatic purchases via an AI eCommerce Agent
Amazon does not want eCommerce to switch from users visiting Amazon.com and deciding what to buy, to
- Shopping AI Agents making the purchase on behalf of customers and the customers never having to visit Amazon.com
Basically, Shopping AI Agents turn Amazon.com into a dumb terminal or an invisible warehouse.

That means -> Amazon.com can be replaced by ANY online retailer.

If Shopping AI Agents become the Shopfront/Storefront/Main User Experience that most/all users see and interact with -> Then there is no longer a need for Amazon.com. There is no user connection with Amazon.com.

Amazon becomes a fungible warehouse. It can just be replaced by a collection of Chinese manufacturers or a group of US warehouses.

Is Amazon in the Right?

No. Not at all. If the user has given Perplexity permission, then Perplexity is 100% in the right to make purchases on behalf of the user.

Exactly how you let your DoorDash or Instacart shopper purchase groceries on your behalf, Perplexity’s Agentic AI Shopper should be able to make purchases on your behalf.

There is absolutely no legal ground for Amazon to stand on. As it is a matter of survival, Amazon will still try to make a legal case.

Why exactly is Amazon sending Perplexity a Cease and Desist letter?

Because it is a Life and Death issue for Amazon.
1. At some level, Amazon makes money due to the presence of inefficiencies and bottlenecks in eCommerce
  - You could go as far as saying Amazon.com exists because of Arbitrage and the Need for Convenience
  - Users are too lazy so Amazon uses a collection of methods (free shipping, fast shipping, good selection, good customer service, supposed low prices) to make Amazon.com the ‘path of least resistance’ for eCommerece
  - Amazon’s survival depends on both
    
    Amazon being the ‘easiest’ option. The Path of Least Resistance
    
    Amazon controlling what the user sees
    
    This is absolutely critical. In fact, some people would argue that Amazon’s entire ‘Advertising’ business is Amazon showing users the wrong things so the ‘Personalized Ads’ seem a better choice
  - Agentic AI and AI Shopping Agents are easier and more convenient than searching through the reeds at Amazon. That means Amazon.com is no longer the Path of Least Resistance
    
    Why spend 15 minutes wading through Ads on Amazon and Fake Reviewed Chinese trash, when you can just have Perplexity’s Shopping AI Agent find you what you need
    
    Why go to Amazon.com at all, if the Perplexity Shopping AI Agent buys what you should be buying
  - Amazon.com as it exists, is no longer required
    
    We have already seen Shine and Temu and TikTop Shop and Shopify begin to weaken Amazon’s hold on eCommerce
    
    Amazon has resorted to heavy lobbying and using the US Government to fight against Temu and Shein
    
    Amazon is also using lobbying to try and ban TikTok. It (and other US corporations) succeeded. Then TikTok found its own ‘lobbying’ solution with the US Government
  - Shopping AI Agents are an even bigger existential threat, because users would leave the ENTIRE decision making process to the Shopping AI Agent
    
    It would not even be – Is Amazon better or is Temu Better or is Shein better or is Tik Top Shops better?
    
    Users would leave EVERYTHING to the Shopping AI Agent and the company which controls the Shopping AI Agent now controls Amazon’s bloated and advertising riddled ass
2. By creating a platform which is approximately 51% of ecommerce purchases in the US, Amazon gets a few benefits
  - Tremendous power
  - Economies of scale
  - Able to get advertising revenue by ‘selling’ shelf space
    
    It kills the user experience so that ‘Personalized Ads’ are better than organic search results
    
    Killing its own long term future to build this ‘Advertising Service’
  - Introducing its own products (such as Amazon basics)
  - Taking a cut of retailers’ and dropsellers’ sales
  - Cross Marketing
  - Growing Amazon’s customer base
  - Control of what customers see
3. If purchasing shifts from customers going to Amazon.com, to customers letting Agentic AI make purchases, all the power and control and money shifts
  - Firstly, customers will switch to using Shopping Agents as the Starting Point
    
    In theory, at some point of time in the future, these Shopping Agents could just switch out Amazon and replace it with another ecommerce retailer, or even their own estore
  - Secondly, it becomes almost impossible for Amazon to sell advertising space
    
    Amazon does not control what the user sees, when Shopping AI Agents are involved
    
    In many use case scenarios, the Shopping AI Agent is making the decision. So customers are seeing ‘nothing’
    
    Amazon cannot sell ‘Shelf Space’ as ‘Advertising’ as the new Shelf Space is controlled by the Shopping AI Agent and by the company which owns the Shopping AI Agent
    
    Efficiency of Shopping AI Agents, in theory, means there is far less ‘shelf space’ available.
    
    As Shopping AI Agents get better and better – there will be no ‘advertising space’ at all
We are living in truly interesting times

Anyone who makes a truly efficient Shopping AI Agent completely wipes out Amazon’s retail division and eBay and most other retailers

What is the risk to Amazon if some/all of eCommerce shifts to Agentic Commerce?

Amazon.com becomes a dumb terminal.

Amazon is no longer required, at all.

Will people trust Shopping AI Agents? Will people switch over to Agentic eCommerce?

People will do anything to save time and to avoid working and to save mental bandwidth.

Ask yourself this question – When is the last time you were delighted by your shopping experience at Amazon?

For many people it has been over a decade. For some people many years. There is almost no one anywhere saying – I loved my Amazon.com shopping experience.

People are EAGER and WILLING to hand over eCommerce shopping for most purchases to a Shopping AI Agent that will save them time and effort.

Most purchase decisions fall into
1. Necessities – Users derive very little pleasure from the shopping experience of buying necessities
2. Luxuries – Users probably greatly enjoy these shopping experiences and will continue to indulge in these manually. Perhaps in the real world. Perhaps online
3. One-off Purchases that are important but not pleasurable – Users, again, derive very little pleasure from these shopping experiences
The 1st and 3rd categories of purchases are categories of purchases where users will very gladly hand off The Entire Shopping Experience to a Shopping AI Agent

For Amazon that means – Bye Bye Love. Bye Bye Happiness. Hello Loneliness. I think I’m going to die.

Here is why the rise of Shopping AI Agents completely screws Amazon and will lead to Amazon being left behind in eCommerce

Firstly, most users will just let the Shopping AI Agent buy from ANYWHERE. This will happen sooner rather than later. People greatly underestimate how weak Amazon’s hold on customers has become over the last decade.

The self-inflicted wound of killing the user experience of shopping at Amazon – ostensibly, to grow an ‘Advertising’ business – has made most people deeply unhappy. That is why Temu and Shein and Tik Tok Shop are taking so much market share.

With better Shopping AI Agents – Amazon is no longer involved and the purchase happens from a retailer in China or a distributer in China or a warehouse in America. No revenue for Amazon.

Secondly, even when the Shopping AI Agent chooses Amazon.com, or if the user specifies Amazon.com as the retailer to purchase from -> There is no ‘Advertising Space’ Amazon can leverage. The user is not seeing anything. So Amazon cannot show the user Ads. Amazon cannot route users to the products it makes the higher margins on. Amazon cannot show ‘Personalized Ads’ instead of the best products.

It is now the Shopping AI Agent that controls EVERYTHING

Why is Everyone missing the Aspects of Control and Power and Revenue? Why is Everyone missing that Shopping AI Agents will turn Amazon into a dumb terminal and then replace it with a non Amazon owned Dumb Terminal?

Because the money from Amazon Web Services has allowed Amazon to paper over the cracks of just how terrible a shopping experience Amazon.com has become.

Shopping at Amazon is now navigating through ‘sponsored ads’ and all types of terrible drop shipped products. Hoping you will run into an actual high quality product. Reviews are compromised. Search Rankings on Amazon.com are compromised (amusingly by Amazon itself, to grow its ‘Advertising’ business).

Will Agentic AI Commerce actually take off?

Yes. 100%

As opposed to most of AI/Machine Learning, which is overhyped, Agentic ECommerence is underhyped.

Most people are dying for an easier and more efficient way to shop.

The large platforms have compromised their platforms in the pursuit of profit.

The number and percentage of terrible search results on Google is shocking. Google must pollute its organic search results so that people prefer to click on the Ads.

The number and percentage of abysmally bad shopping search results on Amazon is astounding. Amazon must pollute its search organic results so that people prefer the ‘Personalized Ads’ and inferior products with higher profit margins.

It is not unusual for users to waste 50% to 90% of their ‘search’ time.

Google and Amazon and other platforms make most of their money from advertising and it is in their best interest to make Organic Search Results terrible, so that users are forced to turn to the Sponsored Ads

Anything which either
1. Makes the shopping process more efficient
Or
1. Bypasses Amazon.com and Google.com and takes users straight to the best results and the best products
Is poison for both Google and Amazon’s advertising business and for their sites/platforms themselves.

This is one of the most interesting areas in AI and there is an incredible amount of money at stake. This is one of the few areas where AI companies do not have to ‘create’ a market, or hope one magically materializes.

By cannibalizing and prostituting their Platforms, Google and Amazon have laid out a red carpet for Efficient, Fast, Easy to Use Shopping AI Agents to take over eCommerce and Shopping and completely bypass Amazon and Google.

Once we have very good Shopping AI Agents, there is no need for a shopping platform like Amazon.com. Nor do we have a need for a search engine like Google.

If you had a shopping agent, Claire, and she made good smart decisions for you, you would NEVER need to use Amazon.com. Even 15 minutes saved per shopping search is a lot of money saved. A lot of frustration avoided.

The ‘Killer App’ of AI might be right in front of our noses.
Long Term Impact of Nvidia’s Chinese Market Share going to Zero

October 25th, 2025
As the AI wars got heated, the US was caught in a bind. China was progressing very fast in AI. The US was forced to cut off Nvidia AI Chip supplies to China.

This was a very risky move and it is worth considering whether it paid off, or whether it backfired?

Perhaps both.

The hope was that the Nvidia AI Chip ban would severely hamper China’s AI efforts. Surely, if they didn’t have Nvidia Chips (at one time, quite literally the only game in town), China’s AI efforts would stall.

Well, what exactly has happened as a result of the Nvidia AI Chip ban?
1. Nvidia’s market share in China has gone to zero
2. Chinese startups are forced to innovate, including in ways no one had foreseen
3. China has managed to survive in the AI race
  - In fact, you could argue that the fact that China is alive and kicking in AI means the Nvidia AI Chips ban was necessary
  - Perhaps China would have overtaken the US without the Nvidia AI Chips ban
4. Chinese AI chip manufacturers are evolving rapidly
5. Illegal sales to China via countries such as Singapore and territories such as Hong Kong are robust
  - Albeit hard to measure accurately
6. It has shown that taking away Nvidia AI chips from a country does not kill that country’s AI development and AI market evolution
  - This is quite shocking and very scary
  - It also makes one question why Nvidia’s valuation is so sky high
7. The US banning Nvidia AI Chip exports to China has shown that the US is not a dependable country
  - At some level most countries knew this
  - However, the assumption was that the US would not go against capitalism and the free market
  - The Nvidia AI Chips ban shows that there are some areas the US considers so important that it is willing to forsake capitalism
It is really quite fascinating to wonder about the long term implications of forcing China to get by without the latest generation (s) of Nvidia AI Chips

Long Term Implications of Nvidia AI Chips ban + China’s response to it
1. The US might have slowed down China overall in AI and prevented it from surpassing the US
  - At the same time, the US helped accelerate two key aspects of China’s AI evolution
    
    Firstly, Chinese startups are now doing the most innovative things in AI. We see this with Deepseek and Manus
    
    Secondly, China’s AI hardware efforts have been massively boosted. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention and innovation
  - Basically, the US bought itself 2 to 4 years, and bought China 10 years of development and innovation
    
    Without any wars against China, the US will find it hard to compete with China in AI by approximately 2035
2. Countries and Unions like European Union, Saudi Arabia, India, Russia, etc have now become acutely aware that the US will use any means necessary to monopolize the AI revolution (whether it is merely a big technology revolution, or a truly world changing revolution that transforms everything)
  - All countries are becoming more independent
  - This is especially true of the European Union and the Middle Eastern countries
    
    They have enough resources and are well developed enough to actually begin to wean themselves off of the American AI Chips supply
3. The US is now left with no option other than War to monopolize AI developments
  - Fundamentally, if you hold back on the latest Nvidia AI chips and hope it will give you a 5 year lead
  - In reality you find out it gave you only a 1 or 2 year lead
  - Then your only path to maintain status as Sole World Super Power is to start wars
    
    If China (somewhat likely), or European Union (somewhat unlikely) take the lead in AI
    
    They would have the means to become the new sole super power
    
    Or joint most powerful super power alongside the US
    
    This is an untenable situation for the US which is already facing the struggles of the American Empire in slow decline i.e.
    
    The onset of Civil War in the US
    
    The start of countries disrespecting Team America World Police
    
    The world beginning to fall apart, as the World Police is too busy with internal wars
  - The US absolutely must monopolize AI to remain the Sole Superpower in the World
    
    Now, with the failure of the Nvidia AI Chip ban, its only option is out right war
    
    Or such a huge AI leap that other countries are unable to keep up
    
    By the way, we do not mean financial engineering and circular deals and infinite funding
    
    We mean the US needs an actual technological AI advancement
    
    Without such a massive, magical, revolutionary technological leap, the US must use its massive Armed Forces to maintain its status as Hegemon
    
    Perhaps first with a country such as Venezuela which is easy (while also having massively valuable oil reservces)
    
    Then with a weakened Russia. Perhaps that is the reason Ukraine is given just enough resources to keep fighting a never ending war
    
    Then, using conquered Russia as a springboard, with China itself
  - If all of this seems crazy, think of all the changes we have seen in the US. They are far crazier than America going to war outside its borders
We are truly living in interesting times

The US is pushing AI as the biggest technological revolution of all time, hoping some magic ‘Killer AI App’ happens and cements the US as the only superpower in the world.

If that does not happen within the next 1 to 3 years, then the US must go to war

No amount of financial engineering and pretending AI is the new Steam Engine or the New Internet will cement the US as Sole Superpower in the World for the next 100 years

Wars might.

China and the EU and the Middle East are all investing heavily in AI and if AI becomes a 100 year race, then the American Empire in Slow Decline is no longer guaranteed to win this 100 year AI race.

Not only are we living in very interesting times, we are also living in very scary times

The US is pulling off the greatest illusion of all time – Pretending there is some super amazing new AI technology that makes it the dominant and only super power in the world for the next 100 to 500 years.

At some point, it needs to Deliver, or go to war

And all of us are in danger of becoming collateral damage.
Will ChatGPT App Store be a Gamechanger?

October 24th, 2025

In its current form – No

As it stands right now, ChatGPT’s new App Store is just a simple, unremarkable extension of ChatGPT

If ChatGPT actually OPENS up ChatGPT to Innovative and Out of the Box Apps?

Then, yes.

The entire point of an open platform is that you get Apps and Features that the creators of the Platform could not forsee or do themselves

You are bringing in Free R&D and Innovation and Experiments

To do that effectively, you must let go of Control

*****

Is there any way a controlled, slow opening of ChatGPT AppStore could work?

No, not really.

Whichever AI company builds a truly open (or almost truly open) App Store will get all the actual Innovation

Developers have little interest in doing boring R&D

To get developers interested in risking time and money and effort into an App Store, you must EXCITE them with wild possibilities
DealAI Traffic Statistics

October 24th, 2025
Found some of this very interesting

Referrers
1. Google Search with 10.86%
2. Bing Search with 4.34%
3. Yahoo Search with 3.62%
4. Chat GP with 0.72%
Countries
1. 75.6% from the US
2. 2nd set of Countries – Germany, India, United Kingdom
3. 3rd set of Countries – Italy, UAE, South Africa, France, Belgium, Laos, Egypt
4. 4th set of Countries – Canada, Australia, Turkey, Singapore, Romania, Netherlands, Portugal, Tunisia, Mexico
ChatGPT Apps – Quick Thoughts

October 24th, 2025
A few quick Thoughts on Chat GPT Announcing ChatGPT Apps and launching (soft launch) their App Platform/App Store
1. Inevitable, surprised it took so long
2. Very rudimentary start
3. The amount of features available to developers is minimal
4. Very excited about Apps on ChatGPT.
5. Not very excited about how ChatGPT/OpenAI has started the App Store
6. There are not really any Apps that Re-Envision what Chat GPT can be
  - At the moment, there is no killer use for AI
  - An App Store should give users the FREEDOM to be able to create killer apps. Perhaps even THE Killer App for AI
  - OpenAI have the most anti-open App Store. They want to limit what apps can be made
7. For a company that is opening up Erotica on ChatGPT, they sure as heck are playing the ‘holier than thou’ card for what apps can be made for their App Store
8. The amount of control they want to have is the Exact Opposite of Open Source
  - In a way, same as Google who were using Android App Store to get Google Search as the default search option on various devices
Will we be making ChatGPT Apps?

Yes

Are we happy about what Chat GPT App Store is so far?

Not at all
Facebook AKA Meta has set up 4 War Rooms to understand DeepSeek’s Technology

January 26th, 2025
Reference: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/meta-scrambles-after-chinese-ai-equals-its-own-upending-silicon-valley

For anyone who thinks ‘DeepSeek’ has not upended all of AI, or thinks USA is still far ahead of the rest of the world, please read the above linked article

Facebook AKA Meta has set up 4 War Rooms
1. 2 are trying to deduce how High Flyer (the Chinese company behind DeepSeek) reduced their training costs so much
2. 1 is trying to figure out what data High Flyer might have used for building DeepSeek
When is the last time you heard of a large technology company setting up 4 War Rooms to respond to what a rival did?

Amazon has ONE single team to figure out Shopify. Can you imagine the amount of panic in Silicon Valley and Seattle if Meta/Facebook are setting up 4 war rooms to understand what DeepSeek did?

DeepSeek is an EXISTENTIAL threat to Existing AI giants and to the Large US Technology Companies

What is worse for the US Technology Giants is that by making all its models and technology Open Source, DeepSeek is setting up the stage for SOMEONE/ANYONE to become an Existential Threat

To be Precise – The Cost Requirements are reduced by 80%. So instead of just 50 to 100 possible rivals worldwide, now there are thousands of possible rivals worldwide

Furthermore – What if some company builds on DeepSeek’s technology and reduces costs more? We could suddenly see 5,000 to 10,000 AI startups that have a REALISTIC chance of becoming a Top 5 AI company

DeepSeek is fighting USA’s ‘do not let anyone else have the hardware or the technology’ approach with Open Source. And, what is worse, is it is currently winning.

Avoid the Gaslighting – All Honest People see DeepSeek for the MASSIVE threat to US dominance in AI that it is

Stephanie Palazzo’s tweet is spot on -> Stephanie Palazzolo on X: “NEW: American AI firms are scrambling after a Chinese hedge fund released an impressive and uber-cheap AI model. Meta has set up 4 “war rooms” to dissect the DeepSeek model to see what insights it can apply to its Llama AI. w/ @KalleyHuang @amir https://t.co/ZCAq4UCt1B” / X

US PR and Large Tech Company PR might be trying to spin the BS that DeepSeek is ‘not a big deal’. In Reality it has everyone stunned and scrambling for answers.
DeepSeek, AI, US Sanctions, and The Law of Unintended Consequences

January 26th, 2025
What is happening with DeepSeek is Absolutely Beautiful for AI. It might end up being disastrous for America and America’s status as sole Super Power in the world.

At the same time, for AI and for people in AI, it is a beautiful leap forward. The fact that DeepSeek has made everything Open Source is beyond incredible

Reference: https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/24/1110526/china-deepseek-top-ai-despite-sanctions/

Context: DeepSeek is an AI out of China that has a reasoning model that matches the performance of ChatGPT o1 (currently considered the best out of all the Western AI models)

Context 2: This is absolutely stunning. China was quite far behind the US. The US, realizing that AI might be the next ‘100 year super power’ creator, levied heavy AI restrictions and AI sanctions on all countries, especially China and India. Yet, China still conjured up DeepSeek

The ramifications of this are so Immense that I’m lost for words

The Law of Unintended Consequences – Context of What America was Trying To Do

The United States of America, and especially the Large Technology companies in the USA, are very good at screwing over everyone else via a combination of
1. Immense Profits and Immense Capital
2. Unethical Methods
3. Downright Illegal Methods
4. Lots of Virtue Signaling to distract people from all the Evil they are doing
5. Destruction of the Middle Class and the Upper Class – Trying to leave just ‘Lower Class’ poor people and a small section of extremely wealthy ‘Elites’. Think the movie Elysium
6. Regulatory Capture – Making Laws that give the Large Monopolies insane and unmatchable advantages
7. Gaslighting to pretend Regulatory Capture is the Opposite of what it is – Claiming something is to ‘help every day people’ when in reality it is to create and entrench monopolies and prevent new entrants
8. Economic Imperialism to prevent 2nd world and 3rd world countries from EVER becoming 1st world countries
9. Starting Wars when they can’t do Economic Imperialism
The list goes on.

The USA is very good at spinning what benefits America and screws over another country as ‘Helping The Country’.

All the moves America is making in AI are designed to
1. Help Large Technology companies and their monopolies become stronger
2. Prevent new companies from rising. A few ‘already risen’ companies like ChatGPT are OK
  - Worth mentioning that ChatGPT has Microsoft backing, Anthropic has Amazon backing, XAI has Elon Musk backing, and the other major players are Google and Facebook/Meta and Amazon
  - There are also no ‘small companies’ getting a chance to rise as Independent AI superpowers
3. Create Regulations so that no country or company other than USA and large USA technology companies can dominate AI
Now, you would assume that pretty much guarantees that other regions (Europe, China, India, Latin America, Canada) are completely screwed

DeepSeek shows The Law of Unintended Consequences

The Law of Unintended Consequences – What Actually Happened

Two absolutely insane things happened
1. DeepSeek, working with far fewer resources and with US limitations, managed to match the front running US AI technology company (OpenAI)
2. DeepSeek made everything Open Source. That means EVERYONE can pick up DeepSeek’s technology and run with it
  - It is not just DeepSeek that the US has to fight now
  - It’s EVERYONE
  - Including small US startups that America was, wrongly, trying to kill off because of bribes from the existing Large Technology Companies
Both of these are Absolutely Insane. There are only a handful of times in the ENTIRE existence of computers and computer science, where we have seen anyone do something this revolutionary.

Hopefully, there will be many more DeepSeeks and we get something that benefits All of Humanity, instead of something that just allows USA to extend their (somewhat crumbling) Empire by another 100 to 300 years.
Rather Excellent Post on The Short Case for NVDA (Nvidia)

January 26th, 2025
This post is quite magnificent -> Error i.e. https://youtubetranscriptoptimizer.com/blog/05_the_short_case_for_nvda

Title: The Short Case for NVDA

Author: Jeffrey Emanuel

Why is it Magnificent?
1. It’s very balanced. A believer who has a natural tendency to be a skeptic/contrarian
2. Experience with AI technology on a ‘uses it every day basis’. Very rare to find
3. Experience (10 years) working with Short and Long Hedge Funds. Almost impossible to find among AI technology people
4. Well written
5. Actually makes a decent Bear Case for NVDA
  - Though it made me realize that NVDA might be BEST positioned out of all companies to take advantage of AI
6. Ends up making a Bull Case for NVDA
7. Has crazy timelines i.e. AI will transform EVERYTHING in 5 to 10 years
  - Even the Internet is still doing the ‘transformation’ it was supposed to do. AI is barely touching every day people’s lives yet
8. Thinks AI is the biggest transformation since the Internet
  - Agree with this, though it does sound crazy when we have had things like Mobile Phones in the interim
  - You could also argue that things such as Mobile Internet, India’s UPI, China’s Social Score, Social Media, App Stores have had way more impact on people’s lives than AI has had/might have
9. A balanced take. Can’t argue how important it is to have balance in a world split between
  - People who think AI is the new Bubble
  - People who think AI is going to upend civilization
So an article you definitely MUST READ -> https://youtubetranscriptoptimizer.com/blog/05_the_short_case_for_nvda
Why Safe Superintelligence’s $5 Billion Valuation is justified

September 4th, 2024
News broke today that SSI (Safe Superintelligence), Ilya Sutskever’s new AI startup, has raised $1 Billion at a $5 billion valuation.

SSI was started 3 months ago. Ilya Sutskever is OpenAI’s former chief scientist. He left OpenAI after concerns about the direction of OpenAI.

Reuters -> Exclusive: OpenAI co-founder Sutskever’s new safety-focused AI startup SSI raises $1 billion | Reuters

Ars Technica -> Sutskever strikes AI gold with billion-dollar backing for superintelligent AI | Ars Technica

There are, obviously, some very shocked people. A 3 month old startup, regardless of the pedigree of the co-founder, raising $1 billion at a $5 billion valuation has no precedent. In this post we will explain why this is not a crazy valuation.

Ilya Sutskever is perhaps the most Prized Researcher in all of AI

He was the Chief Scientist at OpenAI and can claim to be as responsible as anyone for OpenAI reaching a $100 billion valuation.

It is not impossible that his new company reaches a similar or higher valuation. In fact, given the massive amount of liquidity in AI funding, it is very likely that his new company will reach a $100 billion valuation.

In that environment, investing $1 billion at a $5 billion valuation for 20% of SSI is a very smart funding move.

The Most Likely Scenario – SSI becomes a $100 Billion Company

The $1 billion investment becomes $20 billion.

This is the most likely scenario because of how hot AI is, and because by focusing on a very long term goal (Safe Superintelligence), SSI have completely removed all pressure and milestones.

As Silicon Valley jokes – the best time to raise funds is pre-revenue. You can sell anything. The next few rounds will be raising money at higher and higher valuations – Based on the promise of SSI achieving Safe Superintelligence. The seed round investors will have ample opportunities to sell some/all of their stake at very high valuations.

The Best Case Scenario – SSI becomes a $1 Trillion to $10 Trillion Company and ONe of the Top 5/Top 10 Winners in AI

The $1 Billion Investment becomes $200 Billion to $2 Trillion.

It is a once in a life time investing opportunity for anyone with $1 billion to spare.

The Worst Case Scenario – SSI fails

The $1 Billion Investment goes up in smoke. It’s just $1 billion. Lots and lots of Investment Funds and VCs can spare a billion. Even many billionaires can afford to burn $1 billion for such an asymmetric risk to reward opportunity

You yourself would invest $1 Billion at a $5 Billion valuation if you had $1 Billion lying around

If you had upwards of a $5 billion net worth, with $1 billion available to invest. If you had the chance to invest in a company which
1. Most likely will shoot to $100 Billion Valuation
2. Has a shot at achieving $1 Trillion to $10 Trillion Valuation
You would happily invest $1 billion. These kind of investment opportunities are asymmetric risk to reward and almost never show up. SSI is working on solving (as they put it) -> The most important technical challenge of our age.

If they succeed, the $1 billion you invest will become worth more than the richest man on the planet.
Ilya Sutskever’s new company, SSI (Safe Superintelligence) raises $1 Billion at a $5 Billion Valuation

September 4th, 2024
3 months after launching, Safe Superintelligence (SSI) has raised $1 Billion at a $5 Billion Valuation.

Reuters -> https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-co-founder-sutskevers-new-safety-focused-ai-startup-ssi-raises-1-billion-2024-09-04/

Ars Technica -> Sutskever strikes AI gold with billion-dollar backing for superintelligent AI | Ars Technica

Details of Safe Superintelligence’s $1 Billion Funding Seed Round
1. SSI launched 3 months ago
2. Funding is $1 Billion at a $5 Billion Valuation
  - Please note that SSI has not confirmed the valuation
3. SSI Co-Founders are Ilya Sutskever (Co-Founder and former Chief Scientist of OpenAI), Daniel Gross, and Daniel Levy
4. SSI is an American company with offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv
5. SSI says its sole focus is to achieve Safe Superintelligence
6. SSI says their business model means safety, security, and progress are all insulated from short-term commercial pressures
  - Seems exactly the opposite of what was happening at OpenAI (allegedly) and which caused Ilya Sutskever and Board to try and fire the OpenAI CEO
Safe Superintelligence is Hiring

This is the Tweet with link to the Hiring Website -> SSI Inc. on X: “SSI is building a straight shot to safe superintelligence. We’ve raised $1B from NFDG, a16z, Sequoia, DST Global, and SV Angel. We’re hiring: https://t.co/DmFWnrc1Kr” / X

This is the SSI Job Application page for Member of Technical Staff -> Member of Technical Staff @ SSI (ashbyhq.com)

As good a time as any to apply for an AI job. As SSI say –

We offer an opportunity to do your life’s work and help solve the most important technical challenge of our age.

Now is the time. Join Us.