Imagination in Action - 2025

What an incredible week at Google DeepMind and Stanford University Department of Computer Science for "The Next Revolution of AI." It was inspiring to be surrounded by so many brilliant minds, all working at the intersection of deep tech, entrepreneurship, capital, research, and social impact.

The summit was a powerful reminder that artificial intelligence is far more than just a buzzword; that the technology can both inspire, and delight. I had a great time catching up with old friends, and making plenty of new ones.

AI is the connective tissue transforming industries from healthcare and finance to energy and infrastructure. The conversations went beyond theory, focusing on how applied intelligence is actively reshaping the systems we rely on every day.

Our key takeaways:

🚀 Innovation is accelerating. Velocity is the new moat. To win, you should test more in a week than your industry will in a year.

🏄‍♂️ Only job that will survive the AI wave, entrepreneur. Think clearly, break down ideas, and build.

🤺 Open vs. Closed Source LLMs. While closed source models outperform their open sourced counterparts, the emerging world may adopt the open source framework given the cost of admission. And in doing so, what impact will that have on the frontier model landscape.

Thank you to John Werner, the Imagination in Action team, the host sites, and all the speakers for a truly visionary event.

A few personal highlights:

🎵 Being handed a mic by the legend, John Sviokla, and demo'ing Google Gemini's AI Studio DJ tools during the closing reception

🎬 Discussing content, engagement, product, early childhood learning (and our kids) with Mark Pincus and Bing Gordon

🔮 Meeting with countless founders who are building exciting AI powered solutions around the world