Silicon Valley VCs navigate uncertain AI future

For Silicon Valley venture capitalists, the world has split into two camps.

For Silicon Valley venture capitalists, the world has split into two camps: those with deep enough pockets to invest in artificial intelligence behemoths, and everyone else waiting to see where the AI revolution leads.

The generative AI frenzy unleashed by ChatGPT in 2022 has propelled a handful of venture-backed companies to eye-watering valuations.

Leading the pack is OpenAI, which raised $40 billion in its latest funding round at a $300 billion valuation, unprecedented largesse in Silicon Valley's history.

Other AI giants are following suit. Anthropic now commands a $61.5 billion valuation, while Elon Musk's xAI is reportedly in talks to raise $20 billion at a $120 billion price tag.

The stakes have grown so high that even major venture capital firms, the same ones that helped birth the internet revolution, can no longer compete.

Mostly, only the deepest pockets remain in the game: big tech companies, Japan's SoftBank, and Middle Eastern investment funds betting big on a post-fossil fuel future.

"There's a really clear split between the haves and the have-nots," says Emily Zheng, senior analyst at PitchBook, told AFP at the Web Summit in Vancouver.