Belle Lin

Welcome to Tech News Briefing.

It's Friday, April 10th.

I'm Belle Lynn for The Wall Street Journal.

You may have heard of hacker houses in Silicon Valley, young founders living and working together to build the next big tech company.

Now, there's a new generation of houses for AI founders, often college dropouts, who feel like they don't have time to waste in chasing their AI dreams.

Then, in a different area of technology, China is surging forward.

The country's biotech sector has become one of the world's hottest sources of new drug ideas, and U.S.

drug makers are keenly aware of where to find the latest innovations.

Up first, starting a company might just be easier than ever thanks to AI.

And some young founders are making the case that finishing college isn't worth it while they get a head start on their startup dreams.

WSJA reporter Kate Clark joins us now to discuss this latest generation of young AI founders and why VCs are stepping in to pay their bills.

So Kate, why is it so attractive for young people to drop out of college and work on AI startups these days?

Why don't they just wait until they graduate?

And why are some VCs even covering rent and housekeeping expenses for their young founders?

Can you also paint a picture for us of what this current wave of AI founder homes looks like?

And what do these young founders say about actually having their bills covered?

Does it make a difference?

They're stoked about it.

It's also fascinating that there's a sort of like cachet to being a dropout, which also isn't totally new, but that it's kind of returned this time around.

That was WSJ reporter Kate Clark.