US startup fund will donate to pro-AI candidates – 12/15/2023 – Tech

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American pro-AI fund will donate to candidates

The American fund Andreessen Horowitz, one of the world’s leading investors in startups, said it will start making donations to politicians.

The criteria: the candidate must support “an optimistic technology-enabled future” and avoid “misguided regulatory policy.”

The announcement was made by founder Ben Horowitz. It comes shortly after a manifesto in which his partner Marc Andreessen says it is a lie that technology destroys jobs and increases inequality.

Why does it matter: Donations from technology billionaires to politicians are not uncommon, but from companies, yes.

The a16z announcement (as the fund is also called) comes amid a dispute between two ideologies regarding the advancement of AI (artificial intelligence):

↳ Those who argue that the tool should not be slowed down and that it will bring great benefits to humanity – a16z is one of the main financiers of startups in the area, including that of Brazilian Daniel de Freitas.

↳ And those who preach a slower and more moderate advancement of technology, because it could, in the future, generate risks for human existence.

The duel was also at the center of the great recent controversy in the sector, the coming and going of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT.

While he supports the rapid evolution of AI, most of the board that fired him and then had to resign were linked to the moderate development movement of the tool.

What Andreessen Horowitz says:

• “AI has the potential to lead all of humanity to an unprecedented quality of life and should not be stifled in its infancy”;

• “Our regulatory regime and processes are built on a model of rudimentary industrial revolution-era technologies”;

• “We risk harming many more people than we save with our ‘safety’ measures”;

• “Every penny we donate will go to like-minded candidates [às nossas] and oppose those who seek to harm America’s advanced technological future.”

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Bag at the top

The Brazilian Stock Exchange closed at its all-time high in nominal values ​​this Thursday, when it rose 1.06% and reached 130,842 points.

Which explains: the recent increase comes after the president of the Fed (American BC), Jerome Powell, reinforced the market’s feeling that the interest rate hike cycle in the USA is over.

↳ The good mood among investors increased when he said that there are already discussions among committee members about starting to cut the rate – they calculate three cuts of 0.25 points each for 2024.

↳ Expectations for lower interest rates in the US mean greater risk appetite for investors, who withdraw resources from US Treasury bonds to seek higher returns. The scenario benefits the Stock Exchange and currencies of countries considered more risky, such as Brazil.

In the US, the Dow Jones also reached its all-time high, while the S&P 500, the main American stock index, is at its highest level since January 2022.

In the yearthe Ibovespa registers an increase of 19.23%. In addition to abroad, the progress of the government’s economic agenda in Congress and the above-expected growth of the economy accompanied by low inflation also helped the index in 2023.

Yes but…Although the Stock Exchange has reached a nominal record, it is still far from its historical peak when we consider real values, adjusted for inflation, according to Economatica calculations.

• The Ibovespa peak was 177,098 points, when corrected by the current IPCA, and 212,305 points when corrected by the IGP-M, both reached in May 2008, before the subprime financial crisis.

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