In Europe, Accel Banks on a Turnaround Over the Next 6 to 9 Months

**Connie Loizos** (0:00)
Hi, I'm Connie Loizos.

**Alex Gove** (0:01)
And this is Alex Gove.

**Connie Loizos** (0:03)
And this is StrictlyVC Download.
Hello, and happy Cinco de Mayo, dear listeners. We're just back from dinner in Margarita's with friends, and very excited to be lazy blobs over this weekend. Though, you know how that goes. You kind of imagine maxing and relaxing, and instead it doesn't quite happen the way that you envision it will. It has definitely been a busy week, one that, for me, started in Los Angeles. I was down at the Milken Institute Conference that attracted something like 4,000 attendees and 700 speakers altogether. Snoop Dogg was there, Ashton Kutcher, a lot of other people. I was down there to talk with Brad Lightcap, the Chief Operating Officer of Open AI, who is, for what it's worth, both personable and polished while also candid. Unfortunately, we cannot share more of that sit down because it was off the record, which is a shame because we enjoy the conversation and think you would have too. In better news, we did connect this week with Harry Nelis, Long, a partner at Accel's London office, and also a trumpet player, if I'm remembering correctly. I had not talked to Nelis in nearly five years, and I thought it was time to get caught up on what he's been doing, which includes leading investments in some notable companies in Europe, including the German data processing company, Salonis, along with showroom privé and funding circle, both of which are now publicly traded companies. I accidentally woke up just 10 minutes before we were hopping on a Zoom together, which you will definitely hear in my voice. But I enjoyed our chat all the same and I hope that you will too. Among other things we discussed is whether Accel, like some other firms that raised very big funds just as the market was shifting, is considering releasing some of its LPs from those capital commitments. We'll get to that in just a minute after Alex shares more about a story in the news this week that caught his eye.

**Alex Gove** (2:13)
Yesterday, we included a story in the newsletter about a Google researcher who leaked a critique of Google's AI efforts, complaining that Google was losing ground to open source AI projects. That story hit home today with the publication of a piece in the New York Times entitled, The Next Fear on AI Hollywood's Killer Robots Become the Military's Tools. The military is, of course, deathly afraid that AI-powered weapons could dramatically accelerate the pace of war, making decisions much faster than humans could control. The ability of artificial intelligence models to pump out disinformation, coupled with their susceptibility to hallucinations and misinformation, only adds to these fears. Up until now, we have been hoping that depriving China and other countries of advanced chipsets might delay the use of artificial intelligence by our adversaries. Also, Google's BARD and OpenAI's ChatGPT have controls in place that limit public access to dangerous information such as how to build an atom bomb. But as the Google researcher points out, Google and OpenAI are no longer the only game in town. Open source models, this person writes, are faster, more customizable, more private, and pound for pound, more capable. They are doing things with $100 and 13B per ams that we struggle with at $10 million and 540B per ams, and they are doing so in weeks, not months. In other words, these countries don't need those advanced chipsets. This may sound alarmist, but it's not only possible, but probable that rogue nations like North Korea are exploring how they can embed open-source AI into their nuclear weapons systems. And as The Times points out, so far, there are no treaties or international agreements that deal with such autonomous weapons. So enjoy your weekend, everyone. We'll sort this out, right? Up next, Connie's interview with Harry Nelis of Accel. But first, a word from our sponsor.
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