The cover of AI Valley

AI Valley

Gary Rivlin, 2025

Follow Reid Hoffman and Inflection AI through the generative AI rush, and see why Silicon Valley's startup machine may lose this boom to Microsoft, Google and the other giants.

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22 parts, about 32 minutes to read.

Why read it

Follows one well funded chatbot startup from founding to absorption to ask whether generative AI leaves room for startups at all
Shows why compute, data and talent costs tilt AI toward the tech giants, and how that changes who gets rich
A veteran tech reporter with close access, weighing insiders' hype against his own tests of the product

Who it is for

Founders deciding whether to build an AI startup
Investors trying to judge the AI funding boom
Readers who want the backstory behind ChatGPT's arrival

What the summary covers

Preface1 min
Introduction: Trillion Dollar Ambitions2 min
The Creators1 min
Lonely Boy1 min
The True Believers1 min
DeepMind1 min
Smart Friends2 min
Hit Refresh2 min
Banging on the Table1 min
With Great Powers1 min
MeAI2 min
Speaking Human2 min
The Shiny New Thing1 min
“Kevin Roose, I Love You”1 min
Cerebral Valley1 min
The Super Enthusiast1 min
Pi2 min
Springtime in AI1 min
A Delicate Balance1 min
All Gas, No Brakes1 min
The Land of the Giants3 min
Epilogue3 min

Recommended by

Steven LevyAuthor of Hackers, Crypto, and Facebook: The Inside Story
For now, it’s a ripping read for humans.

About the author

Gary RivlinJournalist and author who has worked for publications including the New York Times
- Born 20 June 1958; grew up in North Woodmere, New York
- Graduated from Northwestern University
- First book Fire on the Prairie (1992) won the Carl Sandburg Award for best non fiction book of the year
- Won two Gerald Loeb Awards for business journalism, in 2001 and 2005
- Shared a Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for reporting on the Panama Papers

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