Enterprise Weekly #446: Biden's Safe AI Executive Order, What It Means for Startups, and More
As an enterprise software VC firm — if you are or know anyone thinking about founding an enterprise software startup — we’d love to meet! Please reach out to chat. 📩
This week, the Biden administration announced an Executive Order on “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence.” As the most direct and powerful top-down statement that we’ve seen from any government, it covers 8 expansive goals:
Create standards for AI safety and security
Protect privacy
Advance equity and civil rights
Stand up for consumers, patients, and students
Support workers
Promote innovation and competition
Advance US leadership in AI technologies
Ensure the responsible and effective government use of the technology
According to our portfolio company Arthur, there's a lot of risk accrued from the increasing use of LLMs – see their blog series on the real-world harms of LLMs When LLMs Don’t Work as Expected and Even When They Do. We asked Arthur’s Chief Scientist, John Dickerson for some more thoughts on the news:
Today is a highly volatile time in the anti-trust landscape as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) brings suits to many incumbents, and it’ll be interesting to see how that bleeds into the GenAI landscape. Given the Executive Order looks to “promote a fair, open, and competitive AI ecosystem,” by “…encouraging the FTC to exercise its authorities,” this is a positive sign for startups looking for their David and Goliath moment.
To note, Executive Orders aren’t permanent. And there are still many questions left unanswered regarding implementation, funding, staffing, and enforcement, including how the various agencies – and their respective verticals supported by enterprises and startups alike – respond. While it’s likely we’ll see staffing up on the US government side sooner rather than later, we’d be surprised if there’s much more movement than that in the coming months or even a small number of years. Only time will tell!
Read more about how this impacts AI’s future here and here.
🗓️ Join more events:
November 6th: Entrepreneurs Roundtable with 5 startup demos and a Q&A with Jon Lehr
November 14th: NY Enterprise Tech Meetup with the David Politis, Founder of BetterCloud on his “Founder Survival Guide: 50+ Rules to Live By...Lessons Learned the Hard Way”
📚 Read more news:
The Business of Open Source Podcast: Advice for Open-Source Founders from a Seed-Stage VC with Amanda “Robby” Robson
TechCrunch: 10 Years Since The Term ‘Unicorn’ Was Coined, We’ve Almost Come Full Circle
Pitchbook: Modest A16Z Fund Step-Up Ratchets Back Years Of Breakneck Asset Growth For VCs
Reuters: Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted of Multi-Billion Dollar FTX Fraud
Vendr: Q3 2023 SaaS Trends Report
WSJ: CIOs Assess Whether Microsoft’s AI Copilot Justifies Premium Price
📚 Read more (th)reads:
Company: Arthur
Role: Growth Manager
Tech: AI Monitoring & Explainability
Funding: $60.3M from Work-Bench, Index Ventures, Acrew, Plexo Capital, Homebrew
🌟 Company of the Week 🌟
Freeplay raises $3.3M led by Conviction Partners
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • Boulder, CO
Founders: Ian Cairns (CEO), Eric Ryan (CTO)
Stockpress raises $1.8M led by Argon Ventures
Future of Work • Seed • Boston, MA
CipherStash raises $3M led by Skip Capital
Risk / Security • Venture • Sydney, Australia
Memox raises $3M led by Swiss Prime Site
Future of Work • Series A • Zurich, Switzerland
1337 raises $4M led by Credo Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Pre-Seed • New York, NY
P0 raises $5M led by Lightspeed Venture Partners
Risk / Security • Seed • San Francisco, CA
zeroRISC raises $5M led by Cambridge Angels
Risk / Security • Seed • Boston, MA
ESG Flo raises $5.3M led by Rho Ignition and Tola Capital
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • New York, NY
Sprout.ai raises $5.4M led by Amadeus Capital Partners and Praetura Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • London, England
Wraithwatch raised $8M led by Founders Fund
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • Bozeman, MT
Spotted Zebra raises $9.3M led by Nauta Capital
Future of Work • Series A • London, UK
Brickeye raises $10M led by BDC Capital and Graphite Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Venture • Toronto, Canada
Guidde raises $11.6M led by Norwest Venture Partners
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series A • Belmont, CA
Promise Robotics raises $15M led by Horizon Ventures
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series A • Toronto, Canada
Ambiant.ai raises $20M led by Andreessen Horowitz
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Venture • San Jose, CA
Betteromics raises $20M led by Sofinnove Partners and Triatomic Capital
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series A • Redwood City, CA
Xage raises $20M led by Piva
Risk / Security • Series B • Palo Alto, CA
Abridge raises $30M led by Spark Capital
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series B • Pittsburgh, PA
Arteria AI raises $30M led by GGV Capital U.S
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series B • Toronto, CA
Graylog raises 30M led by Silver Lake Waterman
Risk / Security • Debt • Houston, TX
Oro Labs raises $34M led by Felicis
Future of Work • Series B • Palo Alto, CA
Chainguard raises $61M led by Spark Capital
Risk / Security • Series B • Kirkland, WA
FusionAuth raises $65M led by Update Partners
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Venture • Denver, CO
Shield AI raises $200M led by U.S Innovation Technology Fund
Risk / Security • Series F • San Diego, CA
NEXT Insurance raises $265M led by Allstate and Allianz X
Future of Work • Venture • Palo Alto, CA