Vinod Khosla on OpenAI's Future and Investment Strategy

Vinod Khosla believes OpenAI will lead AI's transformative impact on society and revenue growth.

### Vinod Khosla on OpenAI's Future and the Role of AI in Society
* 💼 Vinod Khosla expresses optimism about the **significant impact AI will have on society** over the next **10 to 15 years**, making his investment a **strategic decision for long-term growth**.
* 📈 He notes that OpenAI's rapid revenue growth, transitioning from **minimal income to billions** in just two years, necessitates a **solid financial structure** to support ongoing capital needs, particularly in **data centers**.
* 🔄 Discussions about potentially restructuring OpenAI into a **B Corp** to facilitate further funding have been mentioned, although specific details remain **undisclosed**.
* 🚀 Khosla emphasizes the strength of OpenAI's current technical team and their ability to **produce innovative products at an unprecedented pace**, outpacing competitors in the market.
* 🌍 In his recent blog, he highlights AI's potential to **democratize wealth**, suggesting that it could **extend opportunities to nearly 7 to 8 billion people**, creating a **more equitable society**.
* 🤝 He acknowledges the importance of trust in investment agreements, noting that it is common for investors to **commit to supporting OpenAI without backing its competitors**.
* 💬 Khosla reflects on the gradual acceptance of AI technologies in everyday life, suggesting that as people recognize their **usefulness**, adoption will **naturally increase**.
* 🌱 He shares his personal experiences with AI tools, highlighting their **practical applications** in various aspects of his life, from **scientific discussions** to **gardening design**.

We've discussed many times. You wrote the first check into OpenAI. What was the rationale behind participating in this round? And we've gone over the numbers, how big they are and why it is historic. Well, the reason to participate is because I'm pretty optimistic about the impact I can have in all parts of society. It's very, very large over the next ten or 15 years. So if you're a long-term investor as I am, it makes sense. You have a fiduciary duty to your LPs, and you are a long-term investor. And as always, I always put on social media that you're coming on the show. And many people in the Bloomberg Technology audience say, Ah, does Vinod Khosla sense that an IPO is coming for OpenAI? And so he's got into this round in preparation for that. We haven't discussed an IPO. The structure today isn't set up for an

IPO. Let's talk about that structure. Have you been discussing turning into a B Corp, deciding to be more for profit? Well, Sam has publicly discussed changing the structure without talking about the specifics. And that's probably all I can say. I think it's a good idea for this company to set up, but to be set up to raise more money when needed. I think the way of perspective on opening, I think over the last two years, 20 years of rapid growth in revenue into two years, when you have that kind of growth from almost no revenue to billions of revenue, as it's been reported, you want to be set up and you will need to consume capital, especially in data centers and some other training center, those, etc.. So the perspective you should take is 20 years of growth in a normal start-up in two years and drop growth, you would see expect to see changes internal as well. How have you felt about the fact that

the founding team that you first invested in looks very different now from the team that leads the business apart from some? Well, I think the team looks different, but it's a very strong technical team, and what has been happening is streamlining it for rapid movement. As you know, the company has been producing products at a blitz rate kind of pace. Very few competitors have been able to keep up with the wide range of products and really significant capability that the company has developed. And I think the key in this race is to beat the competition, not worry about others, and frankly, to grow revenue very rapidly and which, as you said, is very rapidly. Then last month, you wrote in your blog a piece titled I Dystopian or Utopian. I read it. It's a long read, but in conclusion, you see a path to AI unlocking wealth that is basically held by less than a billion people being extended to nearer to seven 8 billion people through AI.

The bit that was missing from the piece. I felt is how it is open. I get us that you are very focused on open air guest as a leader in getting human access to artificial technology, artificial intelligence technology. Forgive me. Mm hmm. Well, at. What I spoke to in this piece is I in addressed some of the critics concerns about the dystopian things that might happen. I'm not saying there's no risk, but I addressed all of them here in specifically and then talk about the abundance it can provide. It's the most important tool they've had in human history for creating abundance and creating a fairer, more equitable, more well-off society. The company that wins and I will lead this race. I suspect more than one player will be participating. So it's not just opening I but I'm very, very bullish opening. I is executing extremely well on product, which is what matters and on revenue growth.

So I'm excited for opening. I as being a leader, but probably one of the leaders in this space. To be a leader. Do you think Sam should take equity himself in the company? That's for the board to decide. I do think Sam deserves something for what he's done, but it's not his highest priority. You know, it's far from his highest priority. V.A. What is your assessment so far of Sarah Friar? My understanding, standing speaking to some of your peers and colleagues in industry is that she prepared a pretty straightforward presentation that tried to educate those that didn't have as clear an understanding of the path forward in business model. And actually, a lot of investors got it. They looked at the presentation and went, okay, we're on board with this. What was your reaction to her into that? Well, I've known Sarah for a long time. I was on the border square now block when she was CFO there. So I've had a long relationship with

Sarah. She you're exactly right. She prepared a crisp presentation. It was simple, straightforward, said, Here's where we are today. Here's where we expect to be a year from now. Much more than that is not that predictable interest. Compelling. Obviously, it was compelling to me. Otherwise, we wouldn't have invested that. And what's interesting is you say, Look, it won't be the only one, but you want it to be the leading player. There was some consternation that within the documentation there was a push that anyone who backs open air can't back its competitors in the future. Is that normal? Is that something that you want to see in such documents? You know, in very large bags. This is pretty normal. And it isn't a requirement. It's not a legal commitment, it's a mutual understanding. And we operate a lot on trust. So investors committed to get behind open the eye and not its competitors.

And that's pretty normal, especially at this scale. Then I'd like to end our conversation by just talking about technology. Every day I have a conversation, we chat GPT for a voice input or I talk to matter A.I. through the Ray-Bans, and sometimes my wife looks at me baffled, and or in the street in San Francisco, or my colleagues here in the bureau. And I say all that to ask the question of when you think the tipping point is the large body of people out there, AI, to understand how they're supposed to be using this daily, or believe that they should be using it daily. Well, and I put my email address on my business card in the eighties and had dinner with my business school friends. They laughed at me all night, so I'm familiar teng's. I'm wearing AirPods, which would have seemed strange and years ago, but so people do adjust it. Some people adjust faster. I think what the question you have to

ask is chatty, pretty useful to you, and it's extremely useful to me in a wide range of tasks and yeah, generally useful to me very broadly. Even my Tesla driving is incredibly valuable to me, so that's all I need. So focus on what's useful, not the perception of it. And in the end, it'll spread everywhere if it's actually useful to more people. Quick last on. What's your favorite thing currently to use? Chachi Beautiful. Oh, wide range from falling scientific stuff. I participated in a scientific meeting there. I didn't have a background. It was extremely useful in interpreting things that were being said for me. I also used it to design my garden.

Khosla on OpenAI's Mega Round, Leadership in AI Space

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Vinod Khosla participated in OpenAI's funding round due to his long-term optimism about the company's potential impact on society.

He has not discussed an IPO for OpenAI, as the current structure is not set up for it.

Khosla believes that changing the company's structure to raise more money when needed is a good idea, given the rapid growth in revenue over the past two years.

The founding team of the company has changed significantly, but the current strong technical team is focused on rapid product development.

The company's unique capability and wide range of products have allowed it to outpace competitors.

The leader emphasizes the potential of AI to extend wealth to a larger population and is bullish on OpenAI's execution and revenue growth in the race for dominance in artificial intelligence.

The speaker expresses excitement about their leadership role and believes Sam deserves equity in the company, though it's not his top priority.

Sarah Friar's straightforward presentation effectively educated investors on the business model, leading to their support.

The mutual understanding in the documentation to not back competitors is common in large investments and is based on trust.

The speaker discusses their daily interactions with AI technology, such as ChatGPT and Matter A.

through Ray-Bans, and questions when the general population will recognize the need to use AI daily.

They emphasize the importance of AI's usefulness in various tasks, including driving and interpreting scientific meetings.

The speaker believes that if AI is genuinely helpful to people, its adoption will spread naturally.