Mark Andreessen

I'd like to take him back. The data does exist on the numbers being down, what we've got to do going forward. And we again heard last night from a president who had a State of the Union that I'll stand by my words, was the least amount of outreach to anybody who didn't vote for him. That doubled down on all the MAGA issues. It wasn't a good night for America last night.

I'd like to take him back. The data does exist on the numbers being down, what we've got to do going forward. And we again heard last night from a president who had a State of the Union that I'll stand by my words, was the least amount of outreach to anybody who didn't vote for him. That doubled down on all the MAGA issues. It wasn't a good night for America last night.

Ben and I went to Washington in May of 24, and we couldn't meet with Biden, because as it turns out, at the time, nobody could meet with Biden. But we were able to meet with senior staff. And so we met with very senior people in the White House, in the inner core, and we basically relayed our concerns about AI.

Ben and I went to Washington in May of 24, and we couldn't meet with Biden, because as it turns out, at the time, nobody could meet with Biden. But we were able to meet with senior staff. And so we met with very senior people in the White House, in the inner core, and we basically relayed our concerns about AI.

And their response to us was, yes, the national agenda on AI, as we will implement in the Biden administration and in the second term, is we are going to make sure that AI is going to be only a function of two or three large companies. We will directly regulate and control those companies. There will be no startups.

And their response to us was, yes, the national agenda on AI, as we will implement in the Biden administration and in the second term, is we are going to make sure that AI is going to be only a function of two or three large companies. We will directly regulate and control those companies. There will be no startups.

This whole thing where you guys think you can just like start companies and write code and release code on the internet, like those days are over. That's not happening. The conversation he's describing there, were you part of that conversation?

This whole thing where you guys think you can just like start companies and write code and release code on the internet, like those days are over. That's not happening. The conversation he's describing there, were you part of that conversation?

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

We had meetings in D.C. in May where we talked to them about this and the meetings were absolutely horrifying and we came out basically deciding we had to endorse Trump.

We had meetings in D.C. in May where we talked to them about this and the meetings were absolutely horrifying and we came out basically deciding we had to endorse Trump.

We had meetings in D.C. in May where we talked to them about this and the meetings were absolutely horrifying and we came out basically deciding we had to endorse Trump.

They said, look, AI is a technology basically that the government is going to completely control. This is not going to be a startup thing. They actually said flat out to us, don't do AI startups. Don't fund AI startups. It's not something that we're going to allow to happen. They're not going to be allowed to exist. There's no point.

They said, look, AI is a technology basically that the government is going to completely control. This is not going to be a startup thing. They actually said flat out to us, don't do AI startups. Don't fund AI startups. It's not something that we're going to allow to happen. They're not going to be allowed to exist. There's no point.

They said, look, AI is a technology basically that the government is going to completely control. This is not going to be a startup thing. They actually said flat out to us, don't do AI startups. Don't fund AI startups. It's not something that we're going to allow to happen. They're not going to be allowed to exist. There's no point.

They basically said AI is going to be a game of two or three big companies working closely with the government. And we're going to basically wrap them in a, you know, I'm paraphrasing, but we're going to basically wrap them in a government cocoon. We're going to protect them from competition. We're going to control them and we're going to dictate what they do.

They basically said AI is going to be a game of two or three big companies working closely with the government. And we're going to basically wrap them in a, you know, I'm paraphrasing, but we're going to basically wrap them in a government cocoon. We're going to protect them from competition. We're going to control them and we're going to dictate what they do.

They basically said AI is going to be a game of two or three big companies working closely with the government. And we're going to basically wrap them in a, you know, I'm paraphrasing, but we're going to basically wrap them in a government cocoon. We're going to protect them from competition. We're going to control them and we're going to dictate what they do.

And then I said, well, I said, I don't understand how you're going to lock this down so much because like the math for, you know, AI is like out there and it's being taught everywhere. And, you know, they literally said, well, you know, during the Cold War, we classified entire areas of physics.