Gm. My European journey comes to an end today. Itās been an incredible summer, but damn if Iām not ready to sleep in my own bed. Anyway, here are my final country rankings: 1) France 2) England 3) Spain. My DMs are open for all who disagree.
ā Stephen Flanders
š TECH
Bye Bye China
S*** is getting real.
On Wednesday, President Biden did something that has never been done in American history: limit the ability of US firms to invest overseas.
The target of this groundbreaking move?
A Deep Tech Focus
The Biden rules specifically forbid US firms from investing in high-end Chinese technology sectors. This means no US investor can throw money into Chinese quantum computing, semiconductor, or AI companies.
And Itās not super hard to see why Biden singled out these sectors.
Nobody cares if a US company invests in a Chinese magazine. A magazine isnāt going to be used in a war. But quantum computing, semiconductors, and AI?
Thatās stuff that is a bit more consequential for Chinaās military.
What This Means For The Tech Industry
Obviously, this affects everyone player involved in the US-Chinese tech trade:
More firms will be forced to go the Sequoia route and break away from China.
New sources of capital will have to be found on both sides of the aisle, as the US and China both invested 10s of billions in each otherās tech sectors.
With the way things are heading, Chinaās going to have serious issues keeping up with AI due to a chip shortage, which is why they just panic-ordered $5B worth of Nvidia chips.
Itās a major move any way you slice it, and considering the state of US-Chinese relations, it likely wonāt be the last.
The Bottom Line: You can say a lot of things about Biden, but one thing you canāt say is that heās soft on China.
š AI
ChatGPT Gets Customizable
ChatGPT has been catching a lot of flak lately for potentially getting dumber and for a pretty sizeable drop in usage.
But that isnāt stopping OpenAI from nurturing its flagship product. On the contrary, OpenAI just hooked ChatGPT up with a significant upgrade.
Weāre talking about none other than customizable instructions.
Customizable instructions work exactly as youād expect. You tell ChatGPT how you want it to answer, and then ChatGPT answers all your questions that way.
At first glance, that doesnāt sound very new. People have always given ChatGPT instructions. The newness is that instructions are now natively built into ChatGPT.
In other words, you donāt have to retype the instructions every time you start a fresh conversation.
This is good for both wackballs like me who want to converse with a drunk Shakespeare, and for actual productive members of society like teachers who want the answers geared toward their studentsā grade level.
Everybody wins.
The Big Picture: With a new chatbot getting released what seems like every month, ChatGPTās competition keeps growing stiffer. Quality of life upgrades like this will be key to keeping it ahead of the pack.
šāāļø QUICKIES
What else is going on?
Appleās App Store rules are safe for now.
Slack got a huge redesign.
If youāre looking for some new drip, donāt go to Amazon.
The app formerly known as Twitter is about ābreak evenā.
Stat: 26%: The total amount of venture dollars raised was 26% higher in Q2 compared to Q1. Thereās light at the end of the tunnel everyone.
Rabbit hole: The Future Of Tech Looks A Lot Like Pixar (Digital Native)
š¤Ā FUNDING FRIDAY
If you want a boring list of startup raises, look away now. If you want the 3 coolest raises of the week, then youāve come to the right place.
šĀ FINAL JEOPARDY!
This Final Jeopardy! question stumped every contestant. Can you get it right?
Category: The U.S. Government
Clue: On August 15, 1994, 59 years and 1 day after FDR signed the original act, Bill Clinton made this an independent agency.
š ļø FOUNDERS CORNER
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āļø Looking for investors? Raizer has a database of 52,000 of them.
š¤ If youāre into AI, psychology, or philosophy, then you need to check out Generative Agents.
š DOPAMINE HIT
Spot on.
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FINAL JEOPARDY! ANSWER
The Social Security Administration