In this conversation recorded at the Hill & Valley Forum 2025, Josh Kushner, Founder of Thrive Capital, sits with Jacob Helberg to discuss his firm's investment approach and America's AI leadership strategy. Kushner emphasizes that maintaining U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence is "the most important moment in our lifetimes," advocating for policies that secure American access to critical AI inputs: talent, compute, and energy. He urges leaders to treat AI competition as a crisis despite America's current leadership position, warning that AI systems built without democratic values could have extraordinary consequences for the Western world. Kushner also shares his optimism about embodied AI and robotics creating new economic opportunities while enabling domestic manufacturing.
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Josh Kushner on the critical importance of AI built with American democratic values
(01:34) Overview of Thrive Capital's investment approach
(03:33) Thrive's five-pronged investment strategy in artificial intelligence
(06:33) Why American leadership in AI is crucial and how public-private partnership can secure it
(09:20) Kushner's perspective on DeepSeek and the dangers of supporting Chinese AI models
(11:54) The future of embodied intelligence and AI's expansion into robotics
(14:31) How AI and automation will ultimately create more prosperity despite job displacement
(15:40) Policy advice for Washington: treating AI leadership as a national crisis despite current advantages
(18:00) The importance of first principles thinking in both entrepreneurship and policy making
