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A.I.

nicole shanahan

The Shanahan Persuasion Campaign

Three weeks ago, R.F.K. Jr. chose the well-connected (and very wealthy) but largely unknown Nicole Shanahan as his running mate. Now, top Democratic donors and operatives are debating whether to use their friends in Silicon Valley to get oppo on her—or ask them to pitch her on an “off-ramp.”
Theodore Schleifer • April 17, 2024
Eriq Gardner • April 15, 2024
Billionaire Boies Club
david boies
The plaintiffs who sued Google aren’t receiving a penny, but the law firms who represented them are looking at a historic billion-dollar bonanza over the company’s “incognito” mode scandal. David Boies, one of the lead attorneys, says more 10-figure paydays are coming.
Theodore Schleifer • April 9, 2024
Tim Scott’s V.P. Edge & Trump’s Big Money Push
tim scott donald trump
News and murmurs from the Mar-a-Lago money circuit: Larry Ellison’s involvement in the Trump veepstakes, John Paulson’s billionaire donor bash, and the anti-Biden progressive group trying to get serious.
forest
Baratunde Thurston • April 7, 2024
Altered Carbon
An urgent dispatch from the 35th annual Bioneers conference, where the scientific community underscored a series of novel, and deceptively simple, frameworks for reorienting our societies to address our carbon problem.
melinda gates bill gates
Theodore Schleifer • April 3, 2024
Barbarians at the Gates
The hottest commodity in the world of megadonors is Rory Gates, the spotlight-averse, socially awkward 24-year-old scion of Bill and Melinda—an overnight sensation among Democratic donor-hustlers desperate for the next big thing.
Sam Bankman-Fried
Eriq Gardner • April 1, 2024
S.B.F.’s Appeal Chances & The New Crypto Frontiers
News and notes on the quarter-century sentencing heard round the world, plus the legal and regulatory jiu-jitsu of a new breed of finance frontiersmen.
Nicole Shanahan Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Theodore Schleifer • March 26, 2024
Nicole in Wonderland
Just a few years ago, Nicole Shanahan was being courted by everyone in Silicon Valley as the next great hope for the Democratic Party. Then her life went topsy-turvy, and she fell down the rabbit hole for R.F.K., Jr.
Shou Zi Chew Linda Yaccarino Mark Zuckerberg
Baratunde Thurston • March 24, 2024
How to Survive the ’24 Info Wars
An illuminating and often terrifying conversation with Jiore Craig, a misinformation specialist, about the unexpected ramifications of a TikTok ban, how bad actors prey on anxious populations, and how we can protect ourselves from manipulation.
Dustin Moskovitz
Theodore Schleifer • March 20, 2024
DustinBucks
The Facebook co-founder and effective altruist Dustin Moskovitz spent up to $100 million to defeat Donald Trump last cycle. This time around, with an eye on beating back the Andreessens and Musks of the world, he is finally leaning into his power… and his checkbook.
jack dorsey
Theodore Schleifer • March 7, 2024
The Rise and Fall of Jack and Bobby
The bizarre and totally unsurprising story of how Jack Dorsey’s advocacy for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unnerved some members of the Block board.
Sam Bankman-Fried
Eriq Gardner • March 5, 2024
S.B.F.’s Sentencing Game Theory
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers appear to be setting the stage to appeal his sentence—and potentially redefine the definition of fraud, itself.
jeff bezos blue origin
Eriq Gardner • March 4, 2024
Bezos’s “Superstar” Nightmare & Ari’s Legal Headaches
The surreal legal drama around how Musk’s $55 billion clawback could ricochet onto Jeff Bezos in their aerospace rivalry. Plus, notes on Ari Emanuel’s ongoing headaches with Vince McMahon.
Marc Andreessen
Theodore Schleifer • February 23, 2024
Marc Andreessen Eats Washington
After a long political “spirit walk,” Silicon Valley’s most famous V.C. is starting PACs, hiring elite political consultants, messaging with his favorite right-wingers and once again spreading capital across D.C.—all to pump up his investments and spread the gospel of Marc.
joe biden
Theodore Schleifer • February 14, 2024
The Biden Donor Dilemma
As the president heads to the West Coast to raise money on the heels of the Hur Report, the big-money crowd is asking existential questions and finding familiar answers. Plus: the inside story of why the R.F.K. super PAC refunded $10 million to Bezos’ security guy.
bill ackman
Baratunde Thurston • February 12, 2024
Do or D.E.I.
An inside look at a revolution in retreat: when and where our collective attention faded, the corporations and well-meaning practitioners who dropped the ball, and how we can still change the culture.
elon musk
Eriq Gardner • February 6, 2024
Elon’s Legal Options & Byron’s Edge
Notes from the legal bar, in Wilmington and Washington, on Musk’s latest board entanglement and Byron Allen’s political play for Paramount.
Ken Griffin said he “supported” Nikki Haley, employing the past tense, which suggested that a donation had already been made.
Theodore Schleifer • January 31, 2024
Haley Donors in Mar-a-Lago Country
News from the Four Seasons Palm Beach summit: Ken Griffin’s cri de coeur, Marc Andreessen’s return to Washington, Tim Draper’s latest Haley check, and the Trump skeptics’ five stages of grief.
sam altman
Baratunde Thurston • January 15, 2024
A.I. & Its Times
On OpenAI eating the internet, the lawsuit heard ‘round the world, and a blueprint for detente with the media and entertainment business.