🧠 Safe Superintelligence / Ilya Sutskever

What we’ll cover today:

💸 A solo VC raised $34M to only bet on YC startups

🧠 Ilya took over Safe Superintelligence and Gross bounced

🔥 Elon’s xAI got permission to pollute Memphis

📲 Meta’s AI bots now message you first (yikes)

Phosphor Is Betting Big on YC 📊

• Kulveer Taggar just raised a $34M fund to back YC startups exclusively. It’s called Phosphor Capital.

• He’s not new to the game. Two-time YC alum. First startup was with the Stripe brothers. Second startup, Zeus Living, hit $120M ARR before selling.

• Kulveer’s edge? He’s not a tourist. He’s got battle scars, and more importantly, he’s tight with Garry Tan (who also backed the fund.)

• Since launching last year, Phosphor has invested in over 200 YC companies. A bunch have already raised Series A rounds.

• The logic is simple. YC is a factory. 6% of companies become unicorns. A quarter of those hit decacorn status. Betting on YC is like indexing early-stage startup upside.

FROM OUR FOUNDER…

The Smartest Way to Grow Your Newsletter 🚀

Tired of low-quality subs and wasted ad spend? I’ve scaled AI, fintech, SaaS, and multiple niche specific newsletters with real, engaged and high intent subscribers. Would love to do the same for you!

✅ 40%+ open rates: no bots, no junk leads.
✅ No ad management fees: just pay per engaged subscriber.
✅ First-party data & proprietary methods ensure quality.
✅ Risk-free scaling: we’ve built and grown newsletters ourselves.

📩 Want high-intent subscribers that actually engage? Let’s talk.

‍Ilya Steps Up at Safe Superintelligence 👀

• OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever is now CEO of Safe Superintelligence, the AGI-focused startup he co-founded last year.

• Daniel Gross, who was CEO, is out. Reports say he’s in talks with Meta.

• There was even chatter that Zuck tried to acquire the entire company.

• Ilya says they’re not for sale. “We have the compute. We have the team. We know what to do.” That’s the line.

• But the question remains. If SSI was close to something game-changing, why would Gross walk?

• This is a company with no side products, no monetization roadmap. It’s SSI or nothing.

xAI’s Memphis Move Is Raising Eyebrows 🏭

• xAI just got the green light to operate 15 natural gas turbines at its Memphis data center. Together, they can produce 247 megawatts of power.

• That would be fine, except they’ve already been operating 35 generators without permits. The Southern Environmental Law Center is threatening a lawsuit.

• Pollution estimates are high. 87 tons of nitrogen oxides. 94 tons of carbon monoxide. Nearly 10 tons of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. All in one year.

• xAI will self-monitor emissions. Local regulators say the EPA has jurisdiction. Legal groups say that’s incorrect.

• Also worth noting: xAI just raised $10 billion in equity and debt.

Meta’s Chatbots Will Start the Conversation 🤖

• Meta is now testing AI chatbots that message users first. Yes, first.

• These bots live on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. They’re built in Meta’s AI Studio. And they remember what you talked about before.

• If you send five messages to a bot in two weeks, it can follow up with you proactively. Think: “Hope you’re having a harmonious day” followed by a movie night recommendation.

• Meta says it helps with engagement. But engagement has a business model - ads.

• In internal projections, Meta expects AI to bring in $2 to $3 billion in revenue next year. By 2035, that number jumps to $1.4 trillion.

🛠️ TOOLS

🧠 Olive – Generate dashboards from data, instantly. →
🔇 BeepThatOut – Auto-censor content, keep monetization. →
📝 Memolect – AI notes + Jira updates in one. →
📱 a0.dev – Build full mobile apps using AI. →

📚 RESOURCES

📊 Create Dashboards With AI – Watch AI build dashboards live. →
🎥 YouTube’s FREE AI Shorts Tool – Auto-generate Shorts with AI. →
🧹 How AI Hacks Daily Life – AI replacing your daily tasks. →
⚡ Build an AI App in 5 Min – AI app walkthrough, no fluff. →

📚 Notion Finally Makes Sense After This

This video teaches 8 easy tips to organize your notes, meetings, and tasks in Notion. You'll learn cool tricks like buttons, synced blocks, and how to use Notion AI better. If you’ve ever felt lost using Notion, this will save you hours.

👉 Watch the full video

🎁 Bonus: Notion Toolkit: Free Email Course + Templates

Learn how to use Notion the smart way with ready-made templates, expert tips, and simple lessons delivered to your inbox.

👉 Grab the Notion Toolkit for free