Trump's election win throws tech regulation a curveball | Equity Podcast

OpenAI acquires "chat.com"

• OpenAI has acquired the domain name "chat.com" from Dares Sha, the CTO of HubSpot, who purchased it last year for $15 million and has now sold it for an undisclosed amount in OpenAI shares (47s).
• The acquisition of "chat.com" is reminiscent of the web 1.0 days when people made money by buying up domain names, and it may lead to a wave of similar deals for domains related to chatbots (1m36s).
• Deep Root, a Shenzhen-based company, has raised $100 million from Great Wall Motor, one of China's largest automakers, to work on automated driving systems, specifically level four driverless systems (2m32s).
• The investment in Deep Root is significant because it is a race for the company to get its automated systems out before Tesla's FSD is available in China (3m46s).
• Great Wall Motor's investment in Deep Root matters because it is one of China's largest automakers, having sold nearly a million vehicles in the first 10 months of the year (2m37s).
• The development of automated driving systems is a growing area of interest, with companies like Deep Root and Tesla working on advanced driver assistance systems (3m40s).
• The acquisition of "chat.com" by OpenAI may not be a significant deal in the long run, as chatbots are becoming increasingly integrated into everyday apps, making domain names less important (2m7s).

Deep Root's Funding and Automated Driving

• Deep Root, a Shenzhen-based company, has raised $100 million from Great Wall Motor, one of China's largest automakers, to work on automated driving systems, specifically level four driverless systems (2m32s).
• The investment in Deep Root is significant because it is a race for the company to get its automated systems out before Tesla's FSD is available in China (3m46s).
• Great Wall Motor's investment in Deep Root matters because it is one of China's largest automakers, having sold nearly a million vehicles in the first 10 months of the year (2m37s).
• The development of automated driving systems is a growing area of interest, with companies like Deep Root and Tesla working on advanced driver assistance systems (3m40s).

Impact of US Election on Chinese EV Market

• The Chinese EV market and automated driving market have become more interesting due to recent events, including impending tariffs and the US election, which may impact Tesla's ability to break into the Chinese market with its automated driving systems as a US-based company (4m3s).
• Elon Musk's relationship with Trump may influence Trump's policy towards China and EVs in China, but it's hard to predict, given Musk's unpredictable nature (4m34s).
• Tesla was the first US or Western company to build a factory in China without a traditional technology-sharing joint venture, giving Elon Musk significant influence in the country (4m54s).

Google's AI Hub in Saudi Arabia

• Google is opening an AI Hub in Saudi Arabia in partnership with the country's major sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is a significant win for Saudi Arabia in its competition with the UAE to become an international economic hub (6m19s).
• The partnership between Google and Saudi Arabia will provide the country with access to AI resources, Google resources, and talent, which could attract businesses to set up shop in Saudi Arabia (7m17s).
• The UAE has been more successful in sanitizing its image and becoming a hub for AI, having released its open-source LLM, Falcon, and having a Ministry of AI, making Google's decision to partner with Saudi Arabia surprising (6m40s).
• Google's partnership with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia raises questions about what the PIF can offer beyond financial resources, given Google's existing wealth (7m48s).
• The partnership is also complicated by Google's climate commitments, including reducing emissions and stopping the development of algorithms for oil and gas production, which seems to contradict the deal with an oil-rich nation like Saudi Arabia (8m21s).
• Saudi Arabia's state-run oil producer, Aramco, is already using AI for oil and gas production, further highlighting the contradiction with Google's climate commitments (8m46s).
• Google's climate commitments are voluntary and may not be binding, as there is no regulatory pressure to keep these promises, and companies often make pledges without following through (9m2s).

Tech Companies and Climate Commitments

• Google's climate commitments are voluntary and may not be binding, as there is no regulatory pressure to keep these promises, and companies often make pledges without following through (9m2s).
• The original climate goals set by tech companies were driven in part by the certainty of impending regulations, but this certainty has changed, and the incentive for tech companies is now focused on AI and innovation (9m30s).
• The shift in regulatory certainty may lead tech companies to punt on their climate pledges, and reporters should keep an eye on this trend (10m32s).
• Companies like Amazon are often non-specific about their climate pledges and commitments, making it difficult to compare their actions to their promises (10m50s).
• The priorities of tech companies are often driven by convenience, and their climate commitments may not be a top priority (11m18s).

Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Protein Development

• The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to the Baker lab at the University of Washington for their work on protein development, specifically their protein generation work called Rosetta fold, which uses AI and computational biology to generate molecules for various purposes (11m31s).
• The Baker lab has spun out a company called Archon, which received $20 million from Madrona and other venture firms to develop a product that combines antibodies and other medications into a single entity, increasing their effectiveness (12m11s).
• Archon's product uses a protein-based structure, similar to a beach ball, to attach antibodies and increase their chances of interacting with the desired targets in the body (12m56s).
• The structure is made up of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins, and is designed to grab one end of an antibody and stick it inside the "beach ball" while leaving the other end exposed to interact with the target (13m28s).
• Archon is working with pharmaceutical companies to develop this product, which relies on AI to generate the amino acid sequence needed to produce the exact structure required to grab specific antibodies (13m46s).

Generative AI in Pharmaceuticals and Biotech

• The use of generative AI in pharmaceuticals and biotech is becoming increasingly common, with examples such as the use of AI in drug discovery and battery development (13m57s).
• While the use of AI in biotech has been happening for several years, it is gaining more attention now, with more companies and startups emerging to apply AI to various biotech applications (14m35s).
• The biotech industry has seen AI being used in various stages, from predicting potential drug candidates to automating lab testing, with startups finding more specific applications for the technology (15m7s).
• A startup in this space might have a relatively short timeline, potentially within a year, to start selling its service to testing labs, as it's focused on the lab side rather than developing a product for direct human use (15m46s).

Toyota, Tesla, and AI Regulation

• Toyota produced 10.3 million vehicles last year, and the joint venture with Tesla and China to build a factory in Shanghai was established in 2018 (16m39s).
• The discussion will shift to AI regulation, specifically what happens now that Donald Trump has been elected president, and how this might impact companies like Elon Musk's ventures (16m59s).

Puerto Rico as an Innovation Hub

• Puerto Rico is being promoted as a hub for innovation, with a vast and vibrant ecosystem, highly skilled and bilingual talent, and competitive tax incentives (17m25s).

Impact of Trump's Election on AI Regulation

• The election of Donald Trump as president has raised speculation about the future of AI regulation, with the Biden Administration's AI executive order potentially being eliminated by the new administration (18m2s).
• The new administration is expected to be highly deregulatory, with Trump planning to cancel Biden's AI executive order on his first day in office (19m0s).
• The Biden administration's executive order on AI is expected to be dropped or minimized under the new administration, as it was not heavily restrictive and mostly consisted of pledges and reporting requirements to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (19m14s).
• The AI Safety Institute, established within NIST, is likely to be wound down or minimized, and may become a department within NIST (20m16s).
• The new administration is expected to focus on bioweapon risk and have very few regulations on AI, with a focus on security theater (20m46s).
• Tech founders and CEOs are professionally happy about the expected lack of regulation, despite some being personally sad, and are gearing up to work with the new administration (21m3s).
• The business community, including VCs, generally prefers less regulation, which is seen as good for business (21m27s).
• The FTC and NIST are expected to play a role in regulating AI, but the influence of JD Vance, a fan of Lena Khan, who has talked about regulating AI, is uncertain (22m2s).
• JD Vance's support for Lena Khan may potentially lead to some framework for regulation, but it is unclear what impact this will have (22m32s).
• Trump's election win may impact tech regulation, with some conservatives pushing for less regulation, particularly on AI, and Trump's views on the matter being influenced by Silicon Valley (22m43s).
• JD Vance, a conservative, has changed his views on regulation and is now more aligned with Silicon Valley's stance, with stopping Chinese innovation and not regulating AI being key concerns for conservative VCs who back Trump (23m5s).
• The federal government may try to set a federal policy on tech regulation, potentially taking away the ability of states to make their own regulations, which could be counterintuitive given the potential clean sweep of GOP in the executive and legislative levels (23m41s).
• States like California will likely lead the charge on regulations, with California having already signed several bills related to AI regulation, despite one bill being vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom (24m15s).
• There may be tension and hypocrisy in the regulation debate, with some arguing for states' rights while also opposing state-level regulations on AI (24m39s).
• The regulation debate is likely to be litigated in the courts, with the Supreme Court potentially weighing in on legislative wordings and the constitutionality of certain regulations (24m55s).
• Elon Musk's views on regulation may be at odds with the states' rights argument, and his influence on the debate is likely to be significant (24m3s).

Poly Market and Predictive Betting

• Poly Market, a predictive betting market, has gained significant attention and may be impacted by Trump's presidency, with potential benefits for companies like SpaceX and Tesla (26m6s).
• Poly Market is a startup that allows users to bet on the outcome of events, including elections, using cryptocurrency, and it gained significant attention after correctly predicting Donald Trump's election win, with predicted payouts of around $450 million (27m10s).
• The platform has been backed by Founders Fund and is embedded in the libertarian Silicon Valley scene, with some touting it as a better source of truth due to its crowdsourced method (27m47s).
• Poly Market's approach has raised regulatory concerns, with France considering a ban after a user reportedly made tens of millions of dollars betting on the election (27m20s).
• The platform's main competitor is Ki, which is backed by Sequoia and has been around for years but has faced regulatory issues and struggled to gain traction (28m12s).
• Poly Market has been able to circumvent US regulations by technically not allowing US citizens to bet, but users have found ways to work around this restriction (28m25s).
• The concept of predictive markets has been around for hundreds of years, but the use of cryptocurrency and online platforms has raised new regulatory concerns (29m16s).
• The SEC has brought charges against the founder of a similar platform, Bitcloud, which used cryptocurrency to allow users to bet on individuals' success (29m1s).
• The concept of a global bookie has been around for a long time and was previously regulated for good reason, but the current situation may have changed (29m39s).
• The house always wins in gambling, typically by taking a percentage of the bet or holding and investing the money in other ways, and this is likely to be the case with a global bookie as well (29m54s).
• The global bookie is not an altruistic entity and will likely produce various side effects, making it interesting to watch and track (30m7s).
• The outcome of the election may have given the global bookie momentum and attention, but it remains to be seen what they will do next (30m19s).

Equity Podcast Credits

• The Equity podcast will be tracking the situation and waiting to see what the global bookie does from here (30m22s).
• The podcast is produced by Teresa Lo, edited by Kell Bryce, and illustrated by Durban, with thanks to the audience development team and Henry Pickrall, who manages TechCrunch audio products (30m38s).