Gm. It turns out Kanye's just been tweeting whatever his generative AI apps told him to say. Maybe he should hire one of those $200k ghostwriters instead. Wait, the ghostwriters are using the generative AI apps too?!

FRESH POWDER

Looking at three funds that recently topped up their coffers.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Can't Tell Me Nothing

"I feel the pressure under more scrutiny / What'd I do? Act more stupidly."

Kanye West is buying Parler, the conservative social media platform. Elon won't stop posting memes. Trump probably said something on Truth Social, but we don't have the mental energy to check that right now.

Days after Kanye was locked out Twitter for antisemitic remarks, Parler's parent company Parlement said that Kanye made “a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again.”

Well, that's a tad troubling. Let's zoom out for a moment.

The Social Media Landscape

The Parler acquisition is happening at one of the more chaotic times in the short history of social media.

• Twitter is currently suing Elon, demanding he pay up the $44 billion he promised.

• Meta is doubling down on VR/AR and the metaverse.

• BeReal started a massive trend so big it was satirized on SNL.

• TikTok has more data on us than the IRS.

• Farcaster is adored by web3-natives.

• Snapchat is off in the corner taking selfies.

Again, no clue what's going on over at Truth Social. But you get the point. The social media landscape right now is a bloodbath for users' attention.

The Cost of Free Speech

“The proposed acquisition will assure Parler a future role in creating an uncancelable ecosystem where all voices are welcome," Parlement wrote in a staement.

Sounds great, right? A world where no one gets cancelled and all voices are welcome sounds pretty nice. There's obviously merit in the idea. But we're all enough to know where unmoderated social media goes: hate speech, illegal content, etc.

It's time to put away the politics and admit that content moderation is a necessary evil of platforms running on user-generated content. There's just too much stupidity in the world to not moderate the internet.

If you're a free speech maximalist, then consider this quote from Paul Graham. "The most important thing is to be able to think what you want, not to say what you want." Your thoughts don't affect anyone, but your tweets can.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

AI-Powered Content Creation is Booming

The AI content generation space has officially exploded.

With the rise of OpenAI's GPT-3 and DALL-E 2 came a new batch of AI content generation startups. The most recent big player is Jasper AI, the AI-powered content writing tool that announced their $125 million raise on Tuesday.

Companies like Jasper and competitor Copy.ai help ease the burden of content creation for teams. These advancements in AI allow for not only faster production of written content, but also the potential for more personalized and relevant messaging.

It's not just written content though.

Generative AI Landscape

Text. Image. Code. Video. Speech. 3D. These categories all fall under Sequoia partner Sonya Huang's Generative AI market map she released this week.

To paraphrase Shaan Puri, we saw the rise of left-brain AI with chess bots and now we're seeing the rise of right-brained AI with artwork creation.

Are Creators Screwed?

If you're any good at what you do, you'll be fine.

The best writers, coders, and artists are already using AI to improve their craft. Sure, DALL-E 2 may take away some Fiverr graphic design gigs, but there will be smart Fiverr illustrators who use DALL-E 2 to up their skills without clients even knowing.

These tools are meant to supplement human creativity and strategy, not replace it entirely. You can't expect the software to do everything for you. Trust me, we tried writing this article with AI and it was a solid 5/10. 😂

QUICK HITS

Seed Round

Stat: Cyberdontics, a SF-based robotic root canal tech startup, raised $15 million in Series A funding. As if the dentist didn't suck already, now we're getting teeth pulled by The Terminator. Awesome.

Story we're watching: "$100m seed round. launch party with all the billionaires. silicon valley is back baby," tweeted tech Twitter thoughtboi roon. Stability AI, the company behind Stable Diffusion, raised a $101 million seed round led by Coatue and Lightspeed.

Rabbit hole: 6 most interesting new crypto trademarks of 2022 (The Milk Road)

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

• Meta got their final order to sell Giphy from a UK antitrust watchdog. The GIF economy must be preserved!

• Laura Shin interviewed Terra founder Do Kwon who says he is "not on the run".

• Apple is releasing a new iPad they're calling "the iPad". Homescreen will now be referred to as "the Newsletter".

• Aptos waited to release their tokenomics until one day before they started trading. Crypto Twitter is absolutely livid.

THREE LIES AND A HEADLINE

Three of these headlines are from the satirical news publications like The Onion, while one comes from real life. Can you spot the truth amongst the fakes?

A. Twitter to promote healthier discussion by letting one user tweet at a time.

B. Fencing can be six-figure expensive, but it wins in college admissions.

C. Transportation department unveils "Good Luck" signals for pedestrians trying to c ross intersections

D. Trump sends January 6th committee a note from his podiatrist.

WEDNESDAY ROLE CALL

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FOUNDERS CORNER

The best resources we came across that will help you become a better founder, builder, or investor.

👽 Paul Graham dropped a new essay about intuitive truths aka alien truths.

🎓 a16z just launched applications for their Crypto Startup School in Spring 2023.

🧘🏻‍♂️ Meditation app Calm launched a clinical mental health offering for anxiety.

THREE HEADLINES ANSWER

B. Fencing can be six-figure expensive, but it wins in college admissions.