Latest Interviews

Wes Cummins, Founder & CEO of Applied Digital: Ellendale’s Purpose Built AI Factory in North Dakota

Wes Cummins

Applied Digital is expanding its high-power density data center operations by securing a 400-megawatt contract with CoreWeave to construct a North Dakota campus utilizing stranded wind energy and designed for AI workloads. The company transitioned from Bitcoin mining to Tier 3 semiconductor-grade infrastructure after spending $5 billion on this project to ensure "five nines" reliability and extreme cooling standards for hyperscalers. With approximately 3% ownership by NVIDIA, the firm is capitalizing on the shortage of available power sites in the U.S. heartland while planning future phases that will integrate gas assets and explore nuclear options like small modular reactors.

RAISE 2025: Building AI for Security-Minded Enterprises

A French math PhD turned AI leader leveraged their academic background to build the Llama family at Meta before joining Cohere to prioritize business traction and secure, localized enterprise solutions. The speaker details a strategy where data quality and strategic partnerships, such as those with Fujitsu and RBC, drive the development of models optimized for specific languages and industries rather than pursuing Artificial General Intelligence. By focusing on grounded generation and flexible hosting options, the organization ensures data sovereignty and verifiable outputs for regulated sectors while avoiding the inherent risks of trying to mimic human cognition.

RAISE 2025 : Fireside Chat with Amit Bendov, CEO & Co Founder of Gong

Amit Bendov, Brian Bauman, Amit Bhandav

Founded by Amit Bhandav to solve CRM data gaps, Gong.io leverages autonomous AI to capture sales communication and transform enterprise productivity from manual entry to instant, context-aware insights. Operating on a maturity scale between assisted and near-autonomous levels, the platform currently handles high-volume administrative tasks while preserving human judgment for high-liability decisions. As enterprise leaders demand integrated AI for revenue generation, Gong drives adoption by eliminating briefing bottlenecks for Fortune 500 clients while fostering a unique culture that prioritizes employee personal branding and deep client relationships.

Alex Laubscher, CTO of Windsurf: Engineering at the Speed of Change

Alex Laubscher, Dimitris Bontolos

Windsurf has transitioned from a basic coding tool to an AI agentic IDE, rapidly evolving to enable enterprises to write approximately 90% of their code while tackling complex legacy systems through advanced retrieval and memory capabilities. The platform supports this high-velocity adaptation by integrating design files, reducing project iteration times from months to days as seen with partners like Ferrovial, and targeting a 99% productivity increase in software engineering. To secure global enterprise adoption, the company recently established a Frankfurt data center to guarantee GDPR and FedRAMP compliance, ensuring data sovereignty for clients in sensitive sectors while preparing to scale from 100 to hundreds of large European organizations.

Inside the GLP-1 Gold Rush: Eli Lilly CEO on New Breakthroughs, Addiction & Mental Health, Pricing

Dave Ricks, Chamath, Jason, Friedberg

Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks has steered the company to an 860% market capitalization increase and record-breaking Mounjaro sales by leveraging a massive research workforce and aggressive manufacturing expansion to secure global dominance in GLP-1 therapies. While the firm faces capital shortages in the broader biotech sector, it is diversifying its pipeline beyond weight loss to address brain disorders and developing oral formulations to improve accessibility without compromising the high R&D reinvestment model Ricks defends. Personalized by Ricks' own successful treatment, the company balances aggressive clinical innovation with strategic supply chain controls to maintain its competitive edge against emerging international rivals.

The Common Thread of All Technology: Monitoring the Situation, Ep.1

Erik Torenberg, Katherine Boyle, Eddie Lazzarin

Eric Jackson, Mark Andreessen, and other industry leaders explore how a shared techno-optimist ethos unifies diverse sectors ranging from crypto and defense to consumer hardware, arguing that American innovation culture remains the primary competitive advantage against global rivals. The discussion also addresses critical societal shifts, including the redefinition of medical authority through AI diagnostics, the misaligned incentives driving rising ADHD diagnoses, and the changing role of traditional schooling in an era of hyper-specialized learning. Finally, panelists analyze the fragmentation of internet culture and the evolution of social media platforms like X, emphasizing their function as translation layers that bridge isolated digital subcultures while reshaping public discourse.

H-1B Shakeup, Kimmel Apology, Autism Causes, California Hate Speech Law

Jason, Jimmy Kimmel, Biden, Dave Friedberg, Chamath Palihapitiya, David Sacks, Nick

David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya discuss a proposed $100,000 fee for H-1B visas intended to eliminate labor arbitrage and systemic abuses in favor of a high-skilled auction model. The dialogue also covers the Trump administration's autism research on folate receptor autoimmunity and controversial links to prenatal acetaminophen use, alongside critiques of emerging political censorship laws in California. Finally, the hosts highlight significant AI infrastructure breakthroughs, including new MIT planning frameworks and German GPU architectures that promise orders-of-magnitude improvements in energy efficiency.

Will macro fuel more stock gains?

Dominic Wilson, Josh Schifrin

Analysts project the Federal Reserve will implement two additional rate cuts by year-end to address labor market risks, targeting a terminal rate near 3% as the economy navigates mixed employment signals and structural uncertainties. This easing cycle, expected to conclude by December 2026, aims to support risk assets and sustain growth while keeping inflation pressures contained amid a bearish outlook for oil and tariff impacts. Despite valuation concerns and skepticism regarding AI capital expenditure sustainability, the prevailing view suggests that resilient fundamentals and policy shifts will maintain upside momentum for the broader market through 2026.

A Contrarian Call on Europe

Mark Wilson, Chris Hussey

Despite a historic six-month equity rally, professional investors maintain a constructive stance with deployed capital levels indicating the market remains unsretched. The event highlights a divergence where European value stocks and small caps outperform US large-cap growth, while specific opportunities arise in Chinese AI and German domestic beneficiaries driven by defense spending. Participants further examine strategies to capitalize on compressed index volatility and persistent single-stock dispersion amidst upcoming inflation data and month-end rebalancing pressures.

How much protein do you really need?

Alok Jha, Tim Cross

A recent discussion detailed the physiological role of proteins as primary structural materials while analyzing dietary guidelines that range from the World Health Organization's 0.8 grams per kilogram recommendation to sports science suggestions of up to 1.6 grams per kilogram. The presentation highlighted that excessive protein intake above this threshold offers no additional muscle growth benefits and may pose kidney risks, particularly when derived from saturated fats and processed meats. Instead of prioritizing extreme dietary calculations, experts advised combining consistent strength training with enjoyable exercise routines to ensure long-term health and muscle maintenance.

How Reliable is Economic Data?

Erica Groshen, Arthur Laffer, Alberto Cavallo, Joseph Briggs, Allison Nathan

Recent concerns regarding the reliability of U.S. economic data stem from funding cuts, a 15–20% staffing reduction at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the dismissal of its Commissioner by President Trump. Goldman Sachs research indicates that these operational constraints and declining survey responsiveness are increasing standard errors in key indicators like the CPI and JOLTS, creating a risk of data divergence. While current safeguards and institutional checks may prevent a total collapse of credibility, analysts warn that prolonged political interference and resource depletion could eventually erode market trust to the extent seen in Argentina.

From Vibe Coding to Vibe Researching: OpenAI’s Mark Chen and Jakub Pachocki

Mark Chen, Jakub Pachocki, Anjney Midha, Sarah Wang

OpenAI researchers Mark and Jakob Sutskever outline a strategic roadmap centered on GPT-5, which aims to mainstream advanced reasoning and automate scientific discovery by merging the capabilities of instant-response and deep-thought models. This approach shifts evaluation metrics from solving static competition problems to generating economically relevant insights and extending autonomous time horizons to several hours through reinforcement learning. The organization distinguishes itself by balancing protected fundamental research teams with product accountability, prioritizing talent that persists through failure to overcome current limitations in coding autonomy and physical robotics.

Eric Schmidt on AI, the Battle with China, and the Future of America

Eric Schmidt, Chamath, Jason, Friedberg

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt outlines a strategic framework where the immediate AI revolution remains underhyped and distinct from the imminent arrival of autonomous agents, while warning that Western nations must counter China's aggressive pivot toward open-weight models and advanced robotics. Schmidt anticipates a future military doctrine defined by millions of AI-driven drones that create high-deterrence stalemates rather than traditional combat, driven by the obsolescence of fixed military infrastructure. Simultaneously, he emphasizes that US geopolitical resilience depends on leveraging domestic capital markets and releasing smaller open-source models to maintain control over handheld device proliferation amidst global demographic declines.

Latin America: A New Era of Opportunity | Global Conference 2025

Carlos Diaz-Rosillo, Cate Ambrose, Iván Duque Márquez, Ilan Goldfajn, Guillermo Lasso

Moderated by Carlos Diaz-Rosillo, former Latin American heads of state Ilan Goldfajn, Ivan Duque, and Guillermo Lasso joined global finance leader Kate Ambrose to analyze shifting U.S.-hemisphere dynamics against China's growing economic dominance. The panelists identified nearshoring, critical mineral reserves, and fintech innovation as key economic drivers while warning that unresolved security issues and artificial intelligence displacement threaten regional stability and employment. They urged the United States to actively deploy development finance tools and align regulatory frameworks to capitalize on these opportunities and counter Beijing's Belt and Road influence.

Taking Bold Bets: NIH and the Future of Biomedical Science

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Erik Torenberg, Vineeta Agarwala, Jorge Conde

Secretary Xavier Becerra announced a $50 million federal investment to launch the Autism Data Science Initiative, selecting 13 teams from 250 applicants to address the rising prevalence of autism and the lack of effective therapies. Concurrently, the NIH is implementing comprehensive reforms to resolve the scientific replication crisis, centralize peer review, and prioritize early-career investigators to foster high-risk innovation. These strategic shifts aim to rebuild public trust through transparent communication, integrate AI for capacity augmentation, and tackle chronic diseases while ensuring rigorous, reproducible medical standards.