Latest Interviews

The Engineering Unlocks Behind DeepSeek | YC Decoded

Diana Hu

DeepSeek unveiled its open-source R1 reasoning model and V3 base architecture, delivering performance parity with top-tier proprietary systems like OpenAI o1 through novel algorithmic optimizations such as native FP8 training and Group Relative Policy Optimization. The announcement triggered significant market volatility, erasing nearly $600 billion from NVIDIA's capitalization, while demonstrating that software stack efficiency can rival the hardware advantages of major US tech ecosystems despite strict GPU export controls. This breakthrough validates a new trajectory for the industry by proving that high-cost AI development can be drastically reduced, thereby lowering barriers for startups and accelerating the adoption of accessible, locally deployable intelligence.

As a next resort: Trump’s vision for Gaza

Trump, Binyamin Netanyahu, Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Anshul Pfeffer, Avantika Chilkoti

Donald Trump's proposal to economically redevelop the Gaza Strip by relocating its two million Palestinians has drawn immediate rejection from Arab foreign ministers and the governments of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, while garnering ecstatic support from Israeli far-right figures. Analysts widely characterize the plan as practically unfeasible and morally indefensible, suggesting it may serve as a political distraction for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather than a viable diplomatic strategy. Simultaneously, rising tensions over the 1943–1944 Volhynia massacres threaten to strain Poland-Ukraine relations, while global baby industry spending surges despite demographic shifts and economic constraints.

The Future of Software Engineering

Language models are projected to reduce software development costs to near zero while driving demand for human engineers to shift from direct coding to managing autonomous agent teams. These agents are expected to assume specialized responsibilities spanning quality assurance, operations, and compliance audits, fundamentally transforming the engineering workflow. Consequently, the speaker is seeking funding for startups that provide generalist developers with tools to coordinate these large agent forces for high-volume software delivery.

Storytelling for Change: Creating Hope out of Crisis | Global Conference 2024

Jimmie Briggs, Andrea Bruce, Scott Harrison, Yunghi Kim, Eli Reed, Yoongi Kim

Prominent photojournalists and social entrepreneurs Yoongi Kim, Scott Harrison, Andrea Bruce, and Eli Reed examined how visual storytelling confronts modern challenges like AI-generated disinformation and funding crises while driving tangible policy and humanitarian outcomes. The panelists detailed specific successes, including Kim's policy-altering documentation of Comfort Women, Charity Water's billion-dollar mobilization through immersive narratives, and Bruce's locally focused publication that achieved near-universal community engagement. Unifying under the belief that ethical, human-centered reporting is essential for democracy, the group emphasized the critical need for sustained public investment in original journalism to preserve truth and foster empathy across a noisy digital landscape.

AI Exchanges: Will falling costs drive new opportunities?

Allison Nathan, George Lee, Kim Posnett

Host George Lee and guests analyze how DeepSeek's low-cost AI model challenges the economic viability of massive U.S. tech capital expenditures while triggering a shift in consensus from data scarcity to power availability as the primary industry constraint. Despite short-term market volatility, the panel highlights record CapEx commitments from hyperscalers and emerging enterprise adoption trends, including Goldman Sachs' internal AI tools and synthetic data markets, which collectively suggest a rapid transition toward autonomous AI agents and multi-gigawatt infrastructure needs. The discussion concludes with a bullish long-term outlook, predicting that declining computing costs will fuel new use cases and accelerate workforce productivity even as the sector navigates immediate supply chain bottlenecks.

How the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup with CEO Matt Caldwell

Matt Caldwell, John Waldron

CEO Matt Caldwell spearheaded the Florida Panthers' transformation from a financially struggling franchise into a Stanley Cup champion by implementing Wall Street-level financial rigor and a data-driven "grit" culture. The organization achieved this turnaround by pivoting revenue streams from traditional cable models to direct-to-consumer and Over-the-Air broadcasting while aggressively cultivating community engagement through veteran-focused initiatives and grassroots youth programs. This strategic shift not only secured the team's first championship in thirty years but also established a sustainable business model capable of thriving despite the NHL's unique salary cap constraints and the rapid evolution of sports media distribution.

B2A: Software Where the Customers Will All Be Agents

The entity introduces a "b2a" investment thesis targeting companies that build software for AI agents as primary customers, aiming to shift the internet landscape from automated impersonation to first-class agent citizenship. This strategy prioritizes funding infrastructure, logistics, and legal frameworks that enable agents to autonomously handle payments, travel bookings, and commercial contracts. Mirroring the coexistence of human and algorithmic traders in stock markets, the approach projects a massive expansion of AI-to-AI interactions across the entire internet ecosystem.

Rebel with a new cause: meeting Syria’s president

Ahmed al-Sharaa, Mamoon Alhidayat, Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Zeni Minton-Bettos, Nicholas Pelham, Ethan Wu, James Francham

Ahmed al-Shara has consolidated power as Syria's transitional president following Bashar al-Assad's removal, though his refusal to explicitly reject Sharia law and vague commitments to democratic elections have raised concerns about potential authoritarian consolidation. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan concluded its era of deflation by raising interest rates to 0.5%, driven by a virtuous wage-price cycle that has boosted bond yields despite lingering pressures on household spending. In the UK, a fifteen-year financial review disclosed that Members of Parliament earned £60 million from second jobs, with media appearances and speeches accounting for the majority of income and sparking public debate over potential regulatory caps.

Using AI to Empower Creators fr Roblox Studio Head Stef Corazza

Stef Corazza, Konstantine Buhler, Sonya Huang

Roblox is leveraging its $29 billion market-cap infrastructure and a multimodal dataset authorized by its creator community to deploy generative AI tools that increase developer output by up to 180%. These features, including code assistants and 3D material generators, are currently driving a 30% higher game publication rate while maintaining safety through strict moderation protocols. The company's roadmap aims to transition game creation from pixel-level control to intent-based design, utilizing 3D foundational models to enable dynamic storytelling and real-time visual personalization.

AI Coding Agent for Hardware-Optimized Code

NVIDIA's market dominance relies on CUDA's hand-optimized code, but emerging reasoning models like DeepSeq R1 can now generate comparable AI-optimized kernels, offering a strategic pathway to bypass the critical shortage of low-level system programmers. Founders who develop tools to automate this kernel generation can enable broader adoption of competing hardware and reduce ecosystem dependency on NVIDIA. In response to this opportunity, Y Combinator is actively soliciting applications from entrepreneurs building AI-generated kernel solutions.

AI Shake-Up and US Exceptionalism

Tony Pasquarello, Josh Schifrin, Dominic Wilson

Dominic Wilson and Josh Schifrin analyze the "DeepSeek" AI disruption as a pivotal shift challenging U.S. dominance while reaffirming persistent corporate spending driven by competitive incentives. The speakers outline a Federal Reserve likely to hold rates steady pending economic clarity, forecasting potential cuts only if labor weakens or inflation trends clearly toward 2%. Despite market volatility, the panel maintains a bullish conviction in global equities and a steeper yield curve, cautioning investors to account for underpriced tariff risks and the evolving complexity of the AI investment landscape.

Ray Dalio: How DOGE and Trump Can Solve America's Debt Crisis

Ray Dalio, DOGE, Trump, Chamath, Jason, Friedberg

Citing a Congressional Budget Office projection that U.S. government debt-to-revenue will reach 700% within a decade, the speaker advocates for an immediate "three percent solution" to slash the deficit from 7.5% to 3% of GDP. This strategy demands a rapid reduction of more than $900 billion annually through deep cuts to discretionary spending, regulatory reform, and AI-driven efficiency rather than gradual adjustment, thereby leveraging current economic strength to prevent an "arithmetic death spiral." By pledging a political consequence for missing the target, the proposal aims to trigger immediate market relief through lower interest rates while avoiding the inflationary effects of relying heavily on tariff revenue or speculative growth.

Vertical AI Agents

Sam Altman

Vertical AI agents, which are specialized software applications built on large language models to automate specific workflows, are emerging as a primary pathway to building billion-dollar startups across dozens of distinct market sectors. Industry experts highlight high-potential use cases ranging from automated tax accountants and medical billers to dedicated phone support agents and quality assurance testers. This strategy has received strong validation from Sam Altman, who explicitly stated he would focus on building vertical AI agents if he were to restart his career at age 24.

Thy neighbours, beggared: Trump’s opening tariffs

Trump, Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Henry Kerr, Jeff Carr, Andrew Miller, Tom Trevithan, Jonathan Brown, Stephen Katz

President Trump has declared a national emergency to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian, Mexican, and Chinese imports, prompting Canada to enact immediate countermeasures targeting Republican states while the administration seeks to leverage economic disruption for border security and industrial goals. Simultaneously, Denver-based Boom Supersonic successfully demonstrated its XB-1 aircraft breaking the sound barrier, advancing plans for commercial supersonic travel by 2029 through advanced carbon fiber and engine technologies. In the cultural sector, London's West End and other British venues have seen a post-pandemic surge in obligatory standing ovations, a phenomenon critics argue has diluted the meaning of applause into a coercive ritual driven by ticket costs and restored social habits.

AI Czar David Sacks Explains the DeepSeek Freak Out

David Sacks, Chamath, Friedberg

DeepSeek's release of the open-source R1 reasoning model triggered a trillion-dollar global market decline by accelerating the geopolitical narrative of US-China AI competition and challenging closed-source providers. Although the company's reported $6 million training cost reflects only the final run rather than total expenditures, its innovative algorithmic optimizations on constrained hardware have compressed industry expectations regarding China's technological timeline to just three to six months. This event signals a potential industry shift toward model commoditization, suggesting that value creation may increasingly move upstream to infrastructure or downstream to applications rather than residing solely in the models themselves.