🎥 Sam Altman needs to stop doing podcasts (ASAP)

A lot of crazy stuff happened in Ai this week. Here are my thoughts and spicy takes 🌶️.

In today’s newsletter:

😎 The Big Winner: China is smoking the US in Ai

📉 Biggest Loser: Sam Altman needs to get off camera

🏆 Product of the Week: Tesla Model S,X,Y saves lives during LA wildfires

😎 The Big Winner

This week’s big winner is China. They are doing incredible work in Ai.

 Background: China released DeepSeek-R1 a fully open-sourced competitor to OpenAi who’s performance is on par with ChatGPT-o1 and comes in 95% cheaper. It’s insane.

Why it Matters: While Sam Altman’s peacocking around the White House with his chest puffed out, China is doing laps around ChatGPT. DeepSeek is the equivalent of releasing a Tesla Model 3 for $2,000. Crazy. The global arms race for Ai has only begun.

The main US competitors are OpenAi (ChatGPT), Google (DeepMind), Anthropic (Claude), and xAi (Grok). Meanwhile, Meta (Llama) is being left in the dust…

📉 Biggest Loser

Somebody needs to tell Sam Altman to stop doing podcasts. And quick.

Background: Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAi) has been making his rounds at the White House and numerous podcasts to taunt the power of Ai. He attended Trump’s inauguration, held a press conference at the White House, appears on a new podcast 1x a week, and posts on X pretty frequently. And his objective seems to be

1. Discuss OpenAi’s latest product release

2. Make predictions about the societal impact of Ai

The Problem: Sam is the wrong spokesman for OpenAi. He comes across as cold, sleazy, and out of touch. The way he talks, just doesn’t connect. He also transformed OpenAi from an open source non-profit to a closed source for-profit...which is shady in and of itself, and why Elon frequently calls him untrustworthy.

What would Steve Jobs do? As CEO, it is your job to paint a aspirational vision for your product. Talk about how and why it’ll positively impact our lives. Instead, Sam does the opposite time and time again. He paints a dystopian vision of how Ai will:

• “eliminate most current jobs”

• “make machines more human like”

• “change the social contract”

If the vision of Ai is to replace humans with robots, then we don’t want Ai. SF types are not ready for that type of pushback. They live in an echo chamber. If Ai is expected to permeate every inch of society, we need a leader who represents the best of us. One with philosophical depth and moral understanding to what gives life meaning.

A silent guardian. A watchful protector. Dare I say it. A dark knight.

🏆 Product of the Week

My product of the week goes to the Tesla Model S, Model Y, Model X, and Cybertruck which all saved lives during the LA wildfires thanks to Bioweapon Defense Mode. This is a feature that combines its HEPA filter with positive cabin air pressure to prevent any pollutants from entering the vehicle.

So when LA is covered in black smog, people could breathe healthy air in their Tesla. And don’t all cars have this? Design. Because Tesla’s don’t have an engine under their front hood, they have extra room for a HEPA filter. Pretty useful for city living or any poor air quality areas.