Nathan Benaich: The State of AI Report

* Have suggestions for future podcast guests (or other feedback)? Let us know here!* Want to write with us? Send a pitch using this form :)In episode 48 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Nathan Benaich.Nathan is Founder and General Partner at Air Street Capital, a venture capital (VC) firm focused on investing in AI-first technology and life sciences companies. Nathan runs a number of communities focused on AI including the Research and Applied AI Summit and leads Spinout.fyi to improve the creation of university spinouts. Together with investor Ian Hogarth, Nathan co-authors the State of AI Report.Subscribe to The Gradient Podcast: Apple Podcasts  | Spotify | Pocket Casts | RSSFollow The Gradient on TwitterOutline:* (00:00) Intro* (02:40) Nathan’s interests in AI, life sciences, investing* (04:10) Biotech and tech-bio companies* (08:00) Why Nathan went into VC* (10:15) Air Street Capital’s focus, investing in AI at an early stage* (14:30) Why Nathan believes in specialism over generalism in AI, balancing consumer-focused ML with serious technical work* (17:30) The European startup ecosystem* (19:30) Spinouts and inventions born in academia* (23:35) Spinout.fyi and issues with the European model* (27:50) In the UK, only 4% of private AI companies are spinouts* (30:00) Solutions* (32:55) Origins of the State of AI Report* (35:00) Looking back on Nathan’s 2021 predictions: Anthropic and JAX* (39:00) AI semiconductors and the difficult reality* (42:45) Nathan’s perspectives on AI safety/alignment* (46:00) Long-termism and debates, safety research as an input into improving capabilities* (49:50) Decentralization and the commercialization of open-source AI (Stability AI, Eleuther AI, etc.)* (53:00) Second-order applications of diffusion models—chemistry, small molecule design, genome editors* (59:00) Semiconductor restrictions and geopolitics* (1:03:45) This year’s State of AI predictions* (1:04:30) Trouble in semiconductor startup land* (1:08:40) Predictions for AGI startups* (1:14:20) How regulation of AGI startups might look* (1:16:40) Nathan’s advice for founders, investors, and researchers* (1:19:00) OutroLinks:* State of AI Report* Air Street Capital* Spinout.fyi* Rewriting the European spinout playbook* Other sources mentioned* Bridging the Gap: the case for an Incompletely Theorized Agreement on AI policy* Choking Off China’s Access to the Future of AI* China's New AI Governance Initiatives Shouldn't Be Ignored Get full access to The Gradient at thegradientpub.substack.com/subscribe