After such a consequential week for AI, with the leading labs demonstrating real progress, today's news feels especially timely: @SVAngel is launching Project Blueprint, a comprehensive effort to forge consensus among industry leaders and lawmakers around durable solutions to the hardest AI policy challenges so that all Americans can benefit from AI's opportunities. And we've brought on @JayCarney to run it.  We are encouraged by the reaction of Sam Altman, Dario Amodei and Demis Hassabis to the launch of Project Blueprint: Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI: "We have before us a technology of immense and still-unfolding wonder. I believe AI has the power to heal people, to discover cures and to deliver abundance on a scale the world has never known before. But we need a way for the world to build trust in the technology so that we can all get to share these benefits. National safety requirements for the most capable systems are a great first step, ideally building towards a global framework for advanced AI models. I’m glad Ron is bringing the people building AI and policymakers together to help move that work forward.” Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder, Anthropic: "AI is advancing faster than our institutions can adapt, and the most important decisions about how it is developed and deployed will be made in the next few years. If those decisions are to serve the public, they can't rest with AI companies alone. Industry and policymakers need to work through them together, with an honest, shared understanding of what these systems can do. We're glad to support Project Blueprint's effort to make that possible."  Demis Hassabis, chairman and co-founder of Google DeepMind and the chief scientist of Alphabet: "We have long said that AI development needs to be both bold and responsible. We support bringing industry and lawmakers together around public policies that promote both innovation and safety."

The tech community has lost an icon. Ben Rosen was my friend and mentor since Altos Computer went public in 1982. He was a star tech analyst at Morgan Stanley, and we became fast friends. Ben went on to become a venture capitalist at Seven Rosen Partners. When Ben retired from Seven Rosen Partners, I had just left Altos Computer, and we decided to angel invest together. Ben was in New York pursuing angel investments on the East Coast, and I was covering the West Coast. Sure enough, Ben found our first “hit” investment on the West Coast, the Ask Jeeves search engine. Ask Jeeves gave me my knowledge of the search space to pursue our investment in Google a few years later! More important than investing together was our friendship, our mentoring, and love of founders. Ben was kind, gentle, humble, and smarter than everyone else in the room, but never said so. I am so thankful to him for our friendship and for launching my investing career, which led to the founding SV Angel where we have invested in close to 1,000 companies. Ben was the foundation of it all. I send deepest condolences to Ben's dedicated wife, Donna, and sons, Eric and Jeff. God Bless Ben!

I want to share some difficult news. I was recently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and I want you to hear it directly from me. Treatment is starting immediately and will include multiple strategies over the course of about a year. While I will be stepping back from some of my usual activities, I will continue to support SV Angel founders, who I love with a passion. SV Angel remains unchanged. Topher has made all of our investment decisions for the better part of the last decade, and Ronny joined as Managing Partner in 2024. They bring experience from nearly every major technology cycle in Silicon Valley and are now focused on partnering with founders building the future of AI. SV Angel has a deep, experienced team that remains fully focused on supporting exceptional founders. With a more focused and balanced schedule, I can prioritize treatments while helping SV Angel founders at inflection points like we always do! I’ve chosen not to share the specific type of cancer since I don't want speculation about my prognosis. I appreciate your understanding and respect for this. I am optimistic about my prognosis. I am fortunate to have the best/amazing team of UCSF doctors in San Francisco, and as you know, I never back down from a fight. Thank you for your support, it means a great deal to me.