NEWS YOU CAN’T MISS

Google’s Ex‑CEO Warns: AI Will Surpass Humans by 2031

Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google and influential figure in AI and national security policy, recently caused a buzz when he described a shared belief among tech leaders in San Francisco about the rapid advancement of AI.

What Did Schmidt Predict?

Schmidt outlined a bold timeline for AI development and warns that governments are dangerously unprepared for AI’s speed, calling it "under-hyped."

1. 1 Year (by 2026): AI will replace most programmers and match elite mathematicians.

2. 3–5 Years (2028–2030): Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) arrives—AI as smart as the best human thinkers, artists, and scientists.

3. 6 Years (by 2031): Superintelligence (ASI)—machines smarter than all humanity combined.

He argues this will happen through "recursive self-improvement"—where AI writes its own code, learns without human input, and accelerates its own growth.

He called this the San Francisco Consensus because “Everyone who believes this is in San Francisco.”

In other words, it’s a shorthand for the optimistic (or alarming, depending on your view) timeline that AI will soon surpass human intelligence—a view held by many in Silicon Valley but not necessarily by outsiders.

My take: What Schmidt is saying is very likely but I’m not totally convinced by his timeline. That said, almost 100% of my Silicon Valley friends agree with him. 😲

Regardless of when AI becomes far “smarter” than all of humanity, I believe we need to pay more attention today to how we will govern AI that will learn how to replicate and accelerate itself without human input. 

Listen to the full interview here. I always find interviews with Schmidt really insightful.

Should Your Teen Skip College For a $5,400/month Internship?

Palantir is offering high school grads an unusual deal: forget college—come work for us instead.

The company just launched the Meritocracy Fellowship, a four-month paid internship for high school graduates who aren’t enrolled in university. The internship places fellows directly on full-time teams and pays about $5,400 a month.

Co-founder Peter Thiel’s own fellowship pays students $100,000 to build instead of study. Thiel Fellows have gone on to found massive projects like Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency. Collectively, companies founded by Thiel Fellows are valued at over $220 billion.

This move taps into a growing sentiment in the industry: that top talent doesn’t need a degree, just proof they can deliver. But not everyone agrees—some argue a degree still shows discipline and valuable exposure. So here’s the question: if your teenager got an offer like this, would you let them skip college to take it?

Africa Sets the AI Agenda

Last week in Kigali, Rwanda, the inaugural Global AI Summit for Africa brought together over 1,000 participants from more than 95 countries to chart Africa’s course in the global AI landscape.

The summit’s theme focused on leveraging AI for inclusive economic growth, workforce development, and innovation.

Africa sees both opportunity and challenges in AI.

• With Africa’s youth (over 60% under 25) projected to form the world’s largest workforce by 2035, sessions covered opportunities in jobs and skills, projecting AI’s economic impact in Africa at $2.9 trillion by 2030.

• According to a new report from Caribou, Genesis Analytics, and the Mastercard Foundation, up to 40% of jobs in Africa’s outsourcing sector (call center work, data entry, and administrative tasks) could be automated by 2030.

Leaders like President Paul Kagame and Nigeria's Bosun Tijani called for Africa to define its own AI strategy—one that builds infrastructure and develops talent tailored to the continent’s needs.

The summit also saw the launch of a $60 billion Africa AI Fund to support infrastructure, talent development, and innovative startups.

Meet Bo Li, CEO and Co-founder of Virtue AI

Celebrating this week's Woman in Tech 🥳: Meet Bo Li, CEO and co-founder of Virtue AI, a company focused on addressing AI security challenges.

Originally from China, Bo earned her PhD in Computer Science from Vanderbilt University and then joined the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a faculty member in 2018.

In April 2024, Bo co-founded Virtue AI, which has built a unified platform designed to secure AI systems with three main tools:

• VirtueRed, which automatically tests AI models for over 320 risks like data leaks or hallucinations;

• VirtueGuard, a real-time monitoring engine that catches harmful or sensitive AI outputs across text, image, and more;

• and VirtueAgent, secure AI agents built with strong safeguards for use in sensitive fields like finance and healthcare.

The company just raised $30M in seed and Series A funding — a strong vote of confidence in Bo’s vision for trustworthy AI. 😎