Latest Interviews

Emerging Markets Could Keep Surging

Stratford Dennis, Chris Hussey

Goldman Sachs projects MSCI Emerging Markets equities to deliver 15% returns in 2026, driven by attractive valuations, a weaker dollar, and a strategic preference for broad diversification over concentrated bets on China. The firm highlights Latin America, particularly Brazil, as a primary growth engine ahead of anticipated interest rate cuts, while also championing an "EM AI" sector expected to outperform US peers with 30% earnings growth. Analysts Stratford Dennis and Chris Hussey advise investors to monitor upcoming US employment data for Federal Reserve clarity while positioning portfolios in Taiwan, Korea, and Brazil to capture these specific opportunities.

Inside The Startup Building Reusable Rockets

Aaron Epstein, Andy Lapsa, Tom Feldman

Stokes Space, founded in 2019 by former Blue Origin engineers Andy and Tom, is developing the Nova two-stage rocket to achieve full reusability for both orbital stages and drastically reduce launch costs. Backed by nearly $1 billion in funding and operating from a 168,000-square-foot factory in Kent, Washington, the company plans to execute its first orbital launch later this year from Historic Complex 14 in Florida. The team aims to establish daily launch cadence and ubiquitous space access by integrating in-house manufacturing with a proprietary software platform to manage rigorous testing and FAA-regulated operations.

Will humans still fight in future wars?

Shashank Joshi, Torsten Reil

Helsing co-founder Torsten Reil argues that European defense must pivot rapidly toward autonomous systems to counter enemy swarms in future human-free battlefields, citing Russia's successful adaptation and the threat of being outmatched without immediate action. This strategic urgency is reinforced by Germany's tenfold increase in effective spending power and a broader shift in European manufacturing confidence, which positions the continent to lead in counter-swarm innovation despite political volatility in key nations like France and the UK. Consequently, defense investments are increasingly targeting mass autonomous deployments to ensure machines fight machines, thereby eliminating the ethical dilemma of sending personnel into no-go zones while securing European sovereignty.

Oil Market Impacts from Venezuela

Daan Struyven, Allison Nathan

Following the U.S. capture of President Maduro and the installation of an interim government, Venezuela's political transition has triggered a muted market reaction while positioning heavy crude supply for potential growth through 2030. Goldman Sachs projects that increased U.S. reinvestment could boost daily output from 800,000 to 2 million barrels, creating symmetrical short-term volatility but ultimately depressing global prices by approximately $4 by the end of the decade. Concurrently, the geopolitical fracture has driven gold prices up nearly 3% as major powers compete for commodity dominance, with U.S. refiners and energy firms poised to capitalize on the realignment of heavy crude flows toward the West.

Why relationships are declining across the world

Jonathan Rosenthal, Sue-Lin Wong, Jason Palmer

Rising global singlehood rates, driven by pandemic-induced social skill deficits and restrictive dating app algorithms, have created a demographic shift where nearly half of young adults remain unpartnered across major economies. This trend exacerbates structural gender divides, fueling the emergence of involuntary celibate movements and feminist backlash while simultaneously reshaping housing demand and accelerating fertility declines. Experts warn that failing to positively redefine masculinity risks entrenching these polarized dynamics, which will significantly impact future social safety nets and political stability.

AI in 2026: 3 Predictions For What’s To Come (a16z Big Ideas)

Oliver Hsu, Bryan Kim, David Haber

Speakers Oliver Hsu, Brian Kim, and David Haber analyze distinct trajectories for AI adoption, ranging from autonomous scientific discovery in life sciences to consumer platforms shifting focus from productivity to digital connectivity. Hsu identifies the maturation of robot learning and simulation as prerequisites for closing the loop on self-driving labs, while Kim argues that future consumer value hinges on AI agents facilitating human relationships through deep emotional engagement. Concurrently, Haber demonstrates that the most robust business models integrate AI to directly reinforce revenue generation and proprietary data loops, as seen in contingency law firms and loan servicing platforms that scale success rather than merely cutting costs.

The most influential books of all time

Ollie, Catherine, Josie DeLapp

Hosts Ollie, Brian Aldiss, Catherine, and Josie DeLapp analyze how foundational texts like *Frankenstein* and *A Room of One's Own* shifted cultural paradigms from divine to human agency while establishing materialist requirements for creativity. The discussion further evaluates *Pride and Prejudice* and the *Harry Potter* series for their economic and social redefinitions of marriage and childhood, noting Rowling's controversial stance on gender as a flashpoint for debating the limits of artistic expression. Ultimately, the dialogue concludes that literature functions as a vital vehicle for conceptualizing the future and preserving human joy against purely ideological critiques.

Four stories to watch out for in 2026

In 2026, the United States will deepen its military competition by deploying the "Golden Dome" defense shield and relying on SpaceX's Starship to maintain orbital dominance amid rising tensions with Russia and China. Domestically, President Trump will challenge central bank independence by nominating a successor to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell who supports lower interest rates, echoing global political pressures on monetary policy. Simultaneously, the nation will grapple with ideological division over its semi-quincentennial as rival commissions organize conflicting celebrations that juxtapose official historical archives with a politicized "America First" agenda, while Las Vegas hosts the controversial Enhanced Games to normalize human performance enhancement.

AI Is Coming For These 3 Industries In 2026 (a16z Big Ideas)

Ryan McEntush, Angela Strange, Sarah Wang

Ryan McIntosh, Angela Strange, and Sarah Wang identify three pivotal 2026 inflection points defining the future of American industry, finance, and software architecture. These experts forecast a transition where the U.S. must vertically integrate its electro-industrial ecosystem to match China, financial institutions must abandon legacy mainframes for AI-native data systems to unlock tenfold operational scaling, and dynamic AI agent layers must displace traditional systems of record to enable autonomous execution. Collectively, these shifts emphasize that future economic and military power depends on controlling embodied electrified components, unifying data across unstructured sources, and achieving product velocity through continuous AI-driven iteration.

Why China wants Taiwan

David Rennie, Da Wei

Mainstream Beijing officials dismiss the notion of trading Taiwan for US concessions, viewing the island as a non-negotiable historical necessity that requires decades of patriotic re-education to overcome its democratic identity. While analysts note that Donald Trump's unpredictability creates diplomatic openings to unsettle Taiwanese voters, the prevailing strategy avoids immediate military conflict in favor of a long-term timeline extending 30 to 40 years. Current discourse involves debating Taiwan-specific governance models that differ from the Hong Kong precedent, aiming for a negotiated reunification that extinguishes local democracy without triggering full-scale war.

“We Like Bonds”

Lindsay Rosner, Chris Hussey

Goldman Sachs interprets recent U.S. labor data as a temporary distortion driven by the government shutdown, maintaining that the economy remains soft rather than collapsing while projecting only two Federal Reserve rate cuts throughout 2025. The firm advocates for an intermediate-duration bond strategy between two and five years to balance yield pickup against global term premium risks, avoiding the longer end of the curve despite tight corporate credit spreads. Market outcomes will likely pivot on whether AI-driven productivity achieves a disinflationary expansion or if a sharper labor deterioration prompts a more aggressive monetary response from the central bank.

2026 Outlook: The U.S. Is the Place to Be

Ashok Varadhan, Tony

Market analysts project a 2026 economic landscape characterized by moderating inflation and a terminal federal funds rate near 3% amid a moderate easing bias. While artificial intelligence investment drives corporate capital expenditure and shifts narratives toward enterprise adoption, equity markets remain resilient with no identified frothiness despite potential credit supply pressures. Strategic guidance for investors emphasizes avoiding recency bias while anticipating policy stability from tariff adjustments and a historically swift execution of administrative priorities.

How Intelligent Is AI, Really?

Diana Hu, Greg Kamradt, François Chollet

The ARC Prize Foundation, guided by François Chollet's definition of intelligence as efficient novelty, is advancing its benchmark through the upcoming interactive Arc AGI v3, which removes all textual instructions to test agent generalization via video game-like environments. Major industry players including OpenAI, xAI, Google, and Anthropic have adopted the benchmark as a standard metric, though the Foundation explicitly warns that high scores alone do not constitute AGI and emphasizes efficiency in data and energy consumption over simple accuracy. The organization maintains a rigorous stance that true artificial general intelligence will only be declared when systems demonstrate human-level adaptability and efficiency, immediately analyzing any system achieving perfect benchmark scores for potential overfitting rather than accepting them as a final milestone.

LeadersLink Kapila Viges

Kapila Viges

Kapila Vygis, CEO of the MPN Research Foundation, leveraged the LeadersLink program to secure mentorship and partnerships necessary for establishing a large-scale real-world evidence registry for myeloproliferative neoplasms. This initiative aims to collect electronic medical records to identify disease progression biomarkers and validate "progression-free survival" as a clinical trial endpoint for the 300,000 U.S. patients affected by these rare blood cancers. By adopting a phased roadmap developed with IQVIA and input from diverse stakeholders, the foundation is addressing data quality and cost sustainability to ultimately create curative-focused treatment strategies.

LeadersLink Eszter Hars

Eszter Hars, Esther Harst

Esther Harst, a molecular biologist and CEO of the Schwarzman-Diamond Syndrome Alliance, is deploying a patient-entered data platform to address the critical lack of "patient voice" insights in treating this rare genetic disorder that causes fatal leukemia in many patients. The initiative has secured IRB approval and is preparing to launch a pilot study to mobilize the community, facilitate clinical trial matchmaking, and catalyze global collaborations through an open architecture. Building on over 20 years of biotech experience, Harst aims to expand the program to the entire SDS community early next year after validating data utility and patient trust during the pilot phase.