AI market shifts to overdrive, rock star pay packages, fewer bankers and lawyers😎, AI dating tips, and more excitement...
Masters of the (shrinking) Universe
In a poetic move that foreshadows the downsizing of Wall Street we have been predicting, Goldman Sachs has rolled out AI tools that could replace a legion of spreadsheet jockeys (a.k.a. junior bankers). Goldman Sachs has 10,000 people currently using the new GS AI Assistant, ‘The first generative AI-powered tool to reach this scale,” says Goldman Sachs CIO Marco Argenti. If this move cuts the ridiculously usurious banker fees for entrepreneurial companies (7 percent off the top for an IPO—yikes!), we are all for it.
The GS AI Assistant enhances productivity by assisting with tasks such as summarizing complex documents, drafting communications, analyzing data, coding, and translating research into multiple languages. It integrates with various large language models (LLMs), including OpenAI’s GPT-4o, Google’s Gemini, and Claude 3.7 Sonnet, operating within Goldman’s secure compliance framework to ensure data privacy. This is a perfect case study of how AI will reshape the white-collar world.
Shout-out to GS boss David Solomon, one of our first 10 paid subscribers. Looks like reading The Rap is helping him outflank his competitors in AI. Good on you, mate! 😎🤙🏼
The AI market is witnessing an exponential surge in activity among high-rolling investors, private companies, and Magnificent Seven Tech Bros. The signals point to AI developer salaries going up, up, up, a boom in private AI company M&A, and a lot of people making a lot of money, but in a fiercely competitive market. Here is a sample of the recent flurry.
Meta made a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI to secure high-quality training data for artificial intelligence models and bring Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang into Meta’s leadership to head a new Superintelligence Research Lab. The deal gives Meta a 49% non-voting stake in the data labeling startup, nearly doubling its value to $29 billion from the company’s last round in May 2024. The deal made the 28-year-old MIT dropout one of the most lucrative hires in history.
Scale AI’s investors who have enjoyed this valuation bump include Accel (which led the latest round), Tiger Global, Founders Fund, Coatue, Nvidia, Amazon, Intel Capital, AMD Ventures, and ServiceNow Ventures. Meta’s recent Llama 4 models have faced a lackluster reception from users for poor performance and generic responses. Scale AI is a C300 top company.
Speaking of Scale AI, its upstart competitor, Surge AI, had more than $1 billion in sales last year, outpacing Scale AI, which posted $870 million in sales. Another secret is that Surge is profitable, while Scale isn’t. Data labelling companies are hired by AI developers, such as Meta, Google and OpenAI, to teach their models the difference between good and bad content and grade what the models can produce.
Recruiting AI software talent has become so competitive that Zuck is now leading Meta's effort, carrying $100 million pay packages in his back pocket to play catch-up and make it all happen. Zuck is spending his days pumping out WhatsApp messages to the craftiest entrepreneurial minds and product creators in AI, as well as hundreds of researchers, scientists, and infrastructure engineers, to join his new Superintelligence Lab. Meta has hired three researchers from OpenAI’s office in Zurich, who focus on multimodal AI and have pedigrees from Google DeepMind.
It has not been a slam-dunk effort for Meta's new recruiter-in-chief. Zuck has attempted to recruit OpenAI cofounder John Schulman, Bill Peebles, the co-creator of OpenAI's Sora video generator, and OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever but couldn't pull any of them over the finish line. Meta invested in Sutskever's new AI startup, Safe Superintelligence Scale AI, earlier this year and is in talks to hire Daniel Gross, SSI's CEO, and Nat Friedman, a former GitHub CEO and Microsoft executive. Zuck also entertained buying Perplexity AI, the leading AI search startup, recently valued at $14 billion, but the discussion apparently 'mutually dissolved.
Meta is also in advanced talks to acquire PlayAI, a Y Combinator-backed startup based in Palo Alto that utilizes AI-powered voice replication technology to create highly realistic, human-like voice assistants.
Apple is also seeking to bolster its AI capabilities and reduce its reliance on its Google search deal, which is currently under scrutiny in an ongoing antitrust case. Rumor has it Perplexity engaged in a bit of deal-making dance with Adrian Perica, Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions, and Eddy Cue, Apple's chief of services, as well as various AI decision-makers, but no announcement has been reported yet. If they were to strike a deal, it would be the largest acquisition in Apple's history to date. One twist is that Perplexity is close to a deal with Samsung to integrate its features into Galaxy devices, which could complicate Apple’s plans.
Meanwhile, OpenAI’s chief, Sam Altman, has been left making counteroffers to his team members that Meta has tried to poach, promising them even more money and influence in their jobs if they stay. Sam has also been on a spending spree of his own. In a dramatic move, OpenAI acquired Jony Ive’s startup in a $6.5 billion, all-equity deal, allowing the visionary designer and chief architect of the iPhone, as well as his design firm, LoveFrom, to take over creative and design control at OpenAI. Jony and Sam have been collaborating for two years on a new generation of AI-powered devices, including headphones and other devices with cameras. Good luck with that one, boys.
"The big secret about Apple, of course, is—maybe it’s not so big a secret—is that Apple views itself as a software company. The software is the user experience. It's the soul of the product."
—Steve Jobs, in 2011
In a conversation with Steve Jobs immediately after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, I asked him if he had considered a hardware keyboard similar to the very popular BlackBerry phone at the time. I have never seen a person say 'No!' as fast as Steve did. It makes sense because he always saw Apple as ultimately a software company. Our view is that the 'aiPhone' will look just like the next version of our iPhones, with one big exception. All the apps we see and rely on today will morph into AI bots, which we will largely command with our voices to accomplish tasks we already do, but with greater ease and efficiency. It will be a better world because we will all spend much less time looking at our screens and will hopefully be less distracted.😎🙏🏼
As creepy as the camera-equipped Meta Ray-Band smart glasses seem,Zuck just might be onto the new, hands-free form factor we will all desire to interact with our bots. Kids today seem to love wearing glasses even for fun if their sight is fine.🤓
—Anthony Perkins, founder & editor of Cryptonite
Your invitation to the first annual Silicon Valley ‘25
Distinguished Members of the Cryptonite community:
Cryptonite editor and founder Tony Perkins and his fellow Silicon Valley OG, Tim Draper of Draper Associates, invite you to the first annual Silicon Valley ‘25 (SV’25). SV’25 is an invitation-only gathering of 600 CEOs and founders from the Cryptonite 300 top Web3 private companies, along with their venture capital backers, as well as distinguished members of the business press, bloggers, analyst communities, and other industry thought leaders.
When and Where
—September 16th & 17th (Tues. & Wed.)
—The Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center (on the grounds of San Francisco’s Presidio National Park)—99 Moraga Ave., San Francisco, CA
—Tickets include breakfast, lunch, and two outdoor cocktail receptions.
—Only 600 exclusive member tickets are available, so act now!
Come join the conversation
The SV'25 program centers on conversations between entrepreneurial thought leaders and risk capitalists about how Web3 innovation can create new efficiencies, opportunities, and wealth and further decentralize power away from institutions we no longer trust.
Three Cryptonite 100 top Founders/CEOs and two VCs will present and participate in an interactive conversation on topics hosted by top members of the technology business press. Including Tim Draper's chat, Tony Perkins will host nine fireside chats with top industry thought leaders.
How quantum computing ignites breakthroughs in AI, materials science, cryptography, drug discovery, and secure communications. More from Gok3.
The Bitcoin Metaphor and the downsizing of Wall Street. Where DeFi and TradFi meet. More from Grok
The tokenization of real-world assets, including real estate, public stocks and bonds, fine art, and VC equity investments. More from Grok3
Should we create a digital USD to compete with China’s digital yuan (e-CN¥)? What role do stablecoins play, and are they viable over the long run? More from Grok3
"The decentralized future is not just about creating new applications; it's about rethinking how we organize society. You shouldn't have to trust any single person, institution, or centralized organization to transact and get things done."
Can Hollywood and corporate media survive the Creator Economy, the artist-to-fan token model, and AI-powered creativity? More from Grok3
Farm-to-fork certified organic food for all, with sustainable water, forest, and agricultural management along the way. More from Grok3
How AI, armies of bots, and predictive analytics will remake the modern corporation. More from Grok3
How professional service firms survive AI automation—or not. More from Grok3
AI-powered drugs, therapy, and diagnostics will create exceptional patient service and health outcomes. More from Grok3
How AI and autonomous AI-powered robots, killing drones, and robotaxis - Oh my! More from Grok3
Do we have nothing to fear but fear itself? Mass job elimination and self-annihilation? More from Grok3
If you are a founder of a Cryptonite 300 company or a VC that has backed one, and you would like to participate in the program, reach out to Tony Perkins at theeditor@cryptoniteventures.com.
We would be honored if you could join us at Silicon Valley ‘25 and participate in the ultimate insider event. There is no other event on the planet that will illustrate where global Silicon Valley innovation is taking the world. There are only 600 tickets available, so act now!
SV’25 is presented by Voting Block USA (VB USA), a 501 c3 non-profit, nonpartisan, grassroots project dedicated to educating the public on how Web3 innovation will impact our daily lives and professional futures. VB USA is supported by The Draper Family Trust and Draper Associates and produced by Cryptonite Ventures.
The shoal of lawyers just got thinner
The other bills entrepreneurs are allergic to are those from lawyers ($2,000 an hour😳). But fear not; AI is finally here to shrink the shoal and their fees. Harvey, a three-year-old leader in AI for lawyers, closed $300 million in new equity at a whopping $5 billion valuation. Based in San Francisco, Harvey offers an AI-powered platform that utilizes GPT-4 technology to automate tasks such as contract analysis, legal research, and document drafting. Legal services that once cost $10,000–$50,000 could drop to $1,000–$5,000 or less, which will ease the pain for cash-strapped founders.
Harvey’s explosive growth is a testament to the gigantic disruption the legal industry is now confronting. The company boasts customers like Paul Weiss, as well as in-house legal departments at KKR and PwC. ‘If you expand as quickly as we are, you just need to do raises like this,’ says CEO & cofounder Winston Weinberg, who is a lawyer.
The Series E is co-led by Kleiner Perkins and Coatue and counts Sequoia, GV, DST Global, Conviction, Elad Gil, Open AI Startup Fund, Elemental, SV Angel, Kris Fredrickson, and REV (the VC group LexisNexis owner RELX Group) as participants. Harvey is a C300 top company, as are fellow San Francisco-based EvenUp and Oakland-based Everlaw, two other legal AI companies.
BigTech continues to optimize AI to slash overhead
The Junior Bankers and top-of-their-class Associates are not the only ones in AI's bullseye. Salesforce’s mercurial cofounder and CEO, Marc Benioff, says ‘AI is automating 30% to 50% of the work’ at the SaaS Kingdom, particularly in software engineering and customer service.
Given that Marc B is leading a company-wide push to get customers to adopt AI agents, it makes sense for Salesforce to show they are drinking their own AI Kool-Aid.
Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Chairman, Satya Nadella, have both stated recently that AI is generating around 30% of the companies’ software code.
The AI code business boom is boosting the valuation prospects for Anysphere, the creator of the popular AI coding assistant Cursor. Anysphere has raised $175M in venture capital to date, with its last round earlier this year giving the company a $10 billion valuation. There are now rumors on the street that a new round of investors want in at a $20 billion valuation. Key Anysphere early backers are led by Thrive Capital and include Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and Benchmark. Cursor has already helped define coding as a key application for large language models.
In a company-wide memo last week, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy rather ambiguously noted that AI apps will ‘reduce our total corporate workforce over the next few years.’😳
AI commercials and the decline of the art
Aspiring AI filmmaker PJ Accetturo bootstrapped an AI-generated parody pharmaceutical commercial called Puppramin (see below), using Google's Veo 3 filmmaking tool with its groundbreaking AI cinematography capabilities. Apparently, Puppramin went viral and generated 400 applications to join PJ's new AI Studio. 'I'm a perfectly mediocre director,' says PJ, and we have to agree. For now, PJ is the first big AI director in space, and he's looking at being a 'really big fish in a [very] small pond.'
The Year of the Robotaxi has arrived…as we predicted
Waymo, Google's robotaxi company, said it will begin mapping Manhattan south of Central Park and down to the Financial District. The effort takes five employees to manually drive five cars around the city, collecting data to create high definition maps of roads, buildings, and signage that will later be used to launch commercial services in the area. Waymo's commercial roll-out will directly compete with Uber, which controls 75% of the city's ride-hailing market, as well as with distant second Lyft.
Tesla's long-awaited robotaxi launch took off a week ago in Austin, Texas, with essentially a babysitter in the passenger seat of each autonomous Model Y keeping an eye on the vehicle. There did not appear to be any incidents on day one as people shared their first rides on social media. ‘Super smooth experience. The future is here. RIP Uber,’ one rider wrote.
Elon, who had been openly worried about autonomous cars safety, shared several clips on X of the rides on Sunday, calling them the ‘culmination of a decade of hard work.’ The initial service excludes airports and operates from 6 a.m. to midnight, with limitations due to inclement weather, according to the invitation. By mid-afternoon on Sunday, the cars had completed 112 trips, totaling 499 miles.
The Bumble AI fumble
The third-largest dating site, Bumble, announced it would lay off 30% of its workforce as its founding CEO, Whitney Wolfe Herd, had returned to the company in an attempt to revitalize the service. Bumble shares rose by more than 20% on Wednesday following the announcement.
Bumble has struggled to stay relevant with Gen Z and navigate slowing growth following its 2021 IPO. Ms. Wolfe Herd, who founded the company in 2014, stepped down as CEO in 2024 and was succeeded by Lidiane Jones, a former executive at Slack. But Jones only lasted about a year in the role.
While all of the top three dating apps — Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge — use AI matchmaking to enhance their algorithms, analyze user swipes, preferences, and behavior to suggest matches, and optimize profile photo selection, it still feels like these brands are playing early Web2 ball.
Top three ways to find a mate online
Based on recent data, the top three dating apps in 2025, ranked by usage (downloads and active users) and success stories (reported relationships, marriages, or meaningful connections), are Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge
#1 Tinder has 105.8 million average monthly visits, with an estimated 60 million users in the U.S. alone. Tinder is credited with facilitating long-distance relationships and some marriages, but its reputation tends to lean toward casual hookups. Average Monthly Cost: The free version offers additional features for $25–$50 per month, providing unlimited likes and the ability to see who has liked you.
#2. Bumble receives an average of 90.6 million monthly visits. It's popular in North America and Europe, particularly among women who prefer to initiate contact. About 30% of U.S. adults have used it, and its success rate for relationships is higher than that of Tinder. Monthly Cost: The free version and $20–$40/month, offering features like extended match time and seeing who liked you.
#3. Hinge has 26.2 million in monthly revenue, indicating strong user engagement. It's popular for its "designed to be deleted" slogan, targeting serious daters. 72% of users reported a second date after matching, and 90% of first dates arranged via Hinge are positive. Subscriptions start at $20- $50/month for features like unlimited likes and advanced filters.
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AI-powered Gen Z love💜
The dating apps may not have reached peak AI proficiency yet, but Gen Z is at the forefront of leveraging AI to do its dating dirty work. A Wingmate study found that 41% of Gen Z use AI to help dump mates, with women slightly more likely to use the tool to do so than men. Half of those 10 to 29 say they use AI to write emotionally sensitive messages, apologies, or manage relationship conflict. One-third seek dating advice from their bots, with 57% claiming they'd trust AI advice over that of a friend. Others believe that dating is 'simpler' with AI, as it helps them converse with more people.
Pura Vida (Pure Life)
It makes intuitive sense to us that the state of our health begins with and ultimately emanates from our gut. It is, therefore, not surprising that a new study from the Medical University of Vienna highlights that folks with prior gastrointestinal issues are more likely to experience post-COVID syndrome (PCS) viral fatigue. That is a persistent state of exhaustion and low energy that some people experience after recovering from the acute phase of a COVID-19 infection.
The study concludes that ‘understanding the interaction between viral infections, immune responses, and gut integrity, and monitoring gastrointestinal symptoms and biomarkers in at-risk patients could lead to more effective diagnostic and treatment strategies.
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