Regulation Drama in Silicon Valley; Why AI Agents Haven’t Lived Up To The Hype

Before we get into today’s main topic, here’s a piece from our editor in chief Jessica Lessin and me that will be interesting if you’re into the drama of Silicon Valley and AI regulation.

The article digs into the divisions between tech investors—well known to be an opinionated bunch—around how to regulate new AI technology. The most recent argument was triggered by the VC industry group Responsible Innovation Labs’ release of guidelines on how to build “responsible AI.” (If this sounds familiar, that’s probably because I covered the announcement earlier this week.)

While I initially thought there’d be little controversy sparked by VCs throwing support behind the guidelines, I was wrong. Andreessen Horowitz general partner Martin Casado told me that he could only think of two reasons why a VC would back the guidelines: They’re not a serious technologist or they’re trying to virtue-signal.