As I’m sure you’re aware, the talent wars and funding wars going on in the world of artificial intelligence has reached a fever pitch. Nine-figure pay packages and ten-figure funding rounds for “startups” have become the norm.
Much of this is covered in a specialty publication called The Information, and a story yesterday caught my eye:
I had never heard of SandboxAQ before, but evidently it has managed to hook onto the hottest fads in the world right now simultaneously: quantum computing and AI. It was formed in the realm of Sergey Brin, and it has a massive amount of backing.
It is also led by a chap whom, based on what I’ve read about him, I’d be very, very uneasy to be anywhere near: Jack Hidary. I mean, take a look at that face. Looks like an above-board fellow, eh?
Let’s not jump to conclusions, however. He’s leading the place for a reason, which is probably a certain strategic lucidity and a fount of insights which lesser morals are simply incapable of producing.
Let’s enjoy one of his more recent chestnuts:
Got that? Economy is ACTUALLY not based on language, like you and I have thought all this term, but NUMBERS! So, all your financial analysis based on adverbs, dangling participles, and classic sonnets has been a grand waste of time.
Numbers? Got it? Good! Let’s move on.
Sandbox is ostensibly valued at many billions of dollars (naturally, based on what you just read) and is drowning in cash.
The money was raised based on the projection of $90 million of revenue in 2025 (which would be almost 60 times sales) but let’s just say they don’t appear to be on target.
First off, they’ve logged $10 million for the first quarter. Yeah, but they’ll probably ramp up, right? Not so fast.
It turns out that virtually ALL of the meager revenue they pulled in was in the form of “grants” from – – you guessed it – – organizations run by Sergey Brin himself. In other words, actual sales of this multi-billion dollar giant are maybe a couple of hundred thousand bucks from firms who want to dabble in something new, and the rest is self-dealing.
It gets worse, though. Remember the stunningly-good-looking chap earlier in this post? Turns out he likes the ladies.
It also turns out he’s happy to have them travel in style, all at the company’s expense. The rank and file are less than thrilled with this arrangement of their leader as well as his constant companion Little Jack whooping it up all around the world.
I mean, it’s nice work if you can get it, right?
The grift and open theft are just getting worse by the day in this new economy of ours. I have every confidence that about a year or so from now we’re going to look back and wonder what we were collectively thinking. In the meanwhile………..
