You can listen to the latest episode of Opening Bid, where our guest is none other than Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo and founding partner at AME Cloud Ventures. The podcast is available on:
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Jerry Yang’s words of caution come as no surprise to seasoned tech players, who know that too much hype can sometimes spell disaster. The exponential market run-up in artificial intelligence stocks such as Nvidia (NVDA) has left many investors wondering if the space is ready for prime time.
A Seasoned Tech Player’s Perspective
Jerry Yang has spent his entire career betting on technology and has seen his fair share of waves come and go. As a doctoral student at Stanford, he co-founded ‘Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web’ with his friend David Filo in 1994. The website directory gained steam immediately and eventually became Yahoo (an acronym for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle), which was incorporated and launched in 1995.
Explosive growth fueled by the rocket-ship-like adoption of the internet led them to take the company public in 1996. However, things took a turn when Alibaba (BABA) founder Jack Ma approached Yang with an investment opportunity that would ultimately benefit both parties.
Yang’s experience with Yahoo has taught him the importance of not getting caught up in hype cycles. "When we were building the company and the internet was being built, there was no playbook," he said. "It was literally the Wild West, and you were trying to figure out what [everything] looked like."
Fast forward to 2024, where Nvidia became the most valuable public company in the world, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT boasts a valuation of $157 billion. However, no profits have been generated yet.
A Word of Caution from Tom Siebel
Fellow tech veteran Tom Siebel, founder and CEO of C3.ai (AI), recently spoke on Opening Bid that generative AI was "getting pretty frothy," providing "important technology services [and] solves some very real problems." However, he also cautioned that leaders at these companies "think they’re building God in a box."
While some may be skeptical about the current state of AI, others are bullish on its potential. "If you go now to certain parts of [San Francisco], it’s AI central," Yang said. "The amount of talent [and] people that are starting to put not only capital but resources and energy into AI is astounding."
Whether the current hype surrounding AI is justified or not, one thing is certain: the space has captured the imagination of investors and entrepreneurs alike. As Jerry Yang so aptly put it, "I think it’s going to be part bubble, but the reality also is going to be really incredible."
Tune in to Opening Bid, where Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzio fields insight-filled conversations and chats with the biggest names in business and markets. You can find more episodes on our video hub or watch on your preferred streaming service.
Jerry Yang is a seasoned tech player who has spent his entire career betting on technology. He co-founded Yahoo with David Filo and has since become an early-stage investor at AME Cloud Ventures, making bold bets on technology like quantum computing with Rigetti Computing (RGTI).
