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A.I.

Elon Musk’s over-the-top salesmanship may finally come back to haunt him.

The Elon Hubris Deposition Test

Would an ordinary person have been misled by Musk’s hyperventilating into believing that the company’s “self-driving” cars could actually, you know, drive themselves?
Eriq Gardner • June 26, 2023
Theodore Schleifer • June 20, 2023
Has Anyone Seen Pierre Omidyar?
The reclusive and peripatetic billionaire philanthropist appears to be changing gears once again, with plans to seemingly scale back his political and philanthropic work. The fallout could be significant.
Theodore Schleifer • June 15, 2023
Scenes from S.B.F.’s Summer Vacation
Momentarily freed from house confinement to attend a court hearing in New York, America’s most notorious defendant catches an unexpected break.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Theodore Schleifer • June 13, 2023
More Jack-R.F.K. Drama & A New ’24 Longshot
News on the blowback facing Dorsey, a billionaire G.O.P. hopeful with Silicon Valley ties, and a high-profile departure in Dan Loeb’s inner circle.
Apple C.E.O. Tim Cook stands next to the new Apple Vision Pro headset.
Baratunde Thurston • June 11, 2023
Apple’s Beautiful, Lonely Vision
At its best, technology brings us together around shared screens and communal experiences. The Vision Pro headset, a huge leap forward for spatial computing, threatens to make us more isolated than ever.
Jack Dorsey politics have always been anti-establishment above all else, with a particular interest in radicals who challenge the party’s progressive-ish gospel.
Theodore Schleifer • June 6, 2023
Jack & Bobby 2.0
News and notes from around the political donor universe: a Reid Hoffman controversy in Denver, Tim Draper’s Haley endorsement, and Robert Kennedy Jr.’s new money buddy, Jack Dorsey.
Theodore Schleifer • May 30, 2023
Epstein Aftershocks & A Gates Divorce Deadline
The view from inside Bill and Melinda’s $50 billion philanthropy. Plus notes on another Musk-Thiel acolyte signing on with DeSantis, and a Biden fundraising journey to the Wall Street of the West.
Tristan Harris, co-founder and executive director of the Center for Humane Technology.
Baratunde Thurston • May 29, 2023
The Case for (Temporarily) Unplugging A.I.
When I first heard calls for a pause on the development of advanced A.I., I was skeptical of the benefits. Now, I fear we are running out of time.
Beyond the obvious jokes about whether Elon Musk fanboys are a meaningful Waterloo constituency, the DeSantis rollout fiasco does raise the question about the future of conservative media on Twitter.
Tina Nguyen • May 25, 2023
Elon’s Murdochian DeSantasy
Ruminations on MAGA political-media tragedy.
David Sacks
Theodore Schleifer • May 23, 2023
DeSantis-Sacks ’24
David Sacks, the PayPal Mafia scion, has ascended from mere rabble-rouser into a genuine G.O.P. cultural and political force, starting super PACs and dark-money groups, appearing on Tucker, and in his latest media venture, launching DeSantis himself.
Theodore Schleifer • May 16, 2023
The Other Bernie Revolution
Both Trump and DeSantis are soliciting the financial support of Home Depot gazillionaire Bernie Marcus, the ultra prolific G.O.P. donor who’s suddenly noncommittal. Should Mar-a-Lago be worried?
Theodore Schleifer • May 9, 2023
S.B.F.’s Jack and Jackie
Ryan Salame and Michelle Bond were the wedding cake-top couple in the S.B.F. orbit: the good-looking, charismatic, uber-ambitious, highly socialized D.C. creatures among the bean bag crowd. Will Salame flip on S.B.F. just like the rest of them?
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres recently said, “Humanity is on thin ice, and that ice is melting fast. Our world needs climate action on all fronts—everything, everywhere, all at once.”
Baratunde Thurston • May 1, 2023
The Case for Climate Optimism
Herewith, a bottom-up view of the progress we’ve made, and may continue to make, to combat global warming—which centers, of course, on our honesty over the severity of the challenges and using technology to organize.
Jeffery Katzenberg, a Hollywood mogul with gravitas in fundraising circles from a decade or two in the trenches.
Theodore Schleifer • April 25, 2023
Will Katzenberg Lead Biden’s $2B Machine?
Sure, there is a presidential election to think about… but in the meantime, the biggest race in American politics is for the job of Biden’s national finance chair. And the second biggest? His finance director.
Larry EllisonLarry Ellison has been described over the years as a “thinking-with-his-heart” donor.
Theodore Schleifer • April 18, 2023
The Larry Ellison Election
Silicon Valley’s $100 billion man wants Tim Scott, the affable and inspirational South Carolina senator, to be the next president. If only it were that easy.
Every job, in every sector, will be impacted by A.I. But the law, with high hourly rates for often straightforward and replicable tasks, seems very vulnerable.
Eriq Gardner • April 17, 2023
Is Your Robo Lawyer Breaking the Law?
Inside a controversial lawsuit over whether A.I. will tear the legal profession asunder.
Jeff Bezos’s pursuit of the Commanders NFL franchise seems to have ended.
Theodore Schleifer • April 12, 2023
Jeff Bezos Punts on the Washington Commanders
(For now.) Will he set his sights on the Seahawks?
Jeff Bezos, in his putative pursuit of the Commanders, has essentially thrown away the typical playbook for purchasing a sports team.
Theodore Schleifer • April 11, 2023
More Bezos NFL Murmurs & An S.B.F. Co-Conspirator Mystery
Scoops from the internal rumblings in and around the three comma club: the latest details about Bezos’s Commanders interest, the tech G.O.P. bundling wars, and the silence of FTX’s CC-2, Ryan Salame.