Remember me
“It’s amazing the amount of people that showed up to this, considering we’re at war,” Andreessen Horowitz general partner David Ulevitch told me in a breakout room at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, a few blocks away from the White House. I met Ulevitch this morning at the venture capital firm’s American Dynamism Summit, between panels on defense manufacturing, wartime AI, and the new space race.
The fourth annual conference was held to celebrate the firm’s American Dynamism fund, which has raised a total of $1.776 billion (yes, in honor of America’s 250th birthday) to invest in start-ups it believes are working “in the national interest.” That includes companies working on autonomous weaponry, industrial manufacturing, critical minerals mining, and space travel.
The founders, investors, and officials who did assemble here today represent many millions in government contracts, with tech products embedded into our nation’s military operations and lobbying efforts helping to shape the daily political narrative. But today, many of them found themselves confronting something of an existential crisis, as the weekend’s dramatic events have revealed new and shifting fault lines in the already fragile coalition between the Trump administration and the technology sector.
Even Palantir CEO Alex Karp, who took the stage to the sound of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” as his company’s stock price continued to tick up thanks to the firm’s extensive defense contracts, seemed to be feeling unusually reflective.
It was hard at times to follow the argument the characteristically frenetic CEO was trying to make, but the general theme was clear: Silicon Valley has made some enemies, and if it doesn’t adapt quickly, it will pay the price. “The wolves are at the gate, and they already have tasted blood,” he said. “Using technologies in the context of eviscerating Fourth Amendment rights in America is something left and right in this country actually don’t want.” It sounded like a fair enough warning for his own company to keep in mind.
He seemed aware that he might even have enemies in that very room. “I’m viewed as the batshit-crazy guy who is often telling you something you don’t want to hear,” Karp said, addressing the crowd. “And you may not like it, but it’s probably right.”
White House senior policy adviser for AI Sriram Krishnan and Meta president Dina Powell McCormick.Yassine El Mansouri.
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