James Breyer, founder and CEO of Breyer Capital, spoke at the 2018 WEF in Davos, Switzerland.
Adam Garica | CNBC
Jim Breyer, a venture capitalist and early investor in Facebook, said on Wednesday: meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been reinvigorated by the company’s recent efforts in artificial intelligence.
“After the election, I exchanged many messages and spoke to him,” Breyer told CNBC’s Sarah Eisen on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “He’s doing really well.”
Mr. Breyer knows Mr. Zuckerberg well, having first invested in Facebook in 2005, when it was an upstart social media site led by a 21-year-old Harvard dropout. This turned out to be one of the most lucrative investments in the history of the venture industry. Breyer said Zuckerberg’s “original vision” was to connect billions of users through social media platforms.
Last year, Zuckerberg made developing and investing in generative AI one of Meta’s top priorities, saying the company plans to spend billions more on AI infrastructure. Meta, which is building the Llama family of large-scale language models, has also launched a competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Breyer said he sees Meta emerging as a “top two or three” player in the AI space within the next five years.
Mr. Breyer, who founded Breyer Capital in 2006 and retired from Facebook’s board in 2013, said, “I feel like what he’s doing now with AI and what he’s doing from a technology perspective.” I feel like I’m really liberated and moving towards that.” And I think Meta is in a better position in AI than anyone else through our many open source efforts in AI. ”
Zuckerberg has been trying to smoothen relations with President Donald Trump since his election victory as Meta seeks to establish itself as a front-runner in AI. Mr. Mehta has made a series of moves to appease the Trump administration. In the weeks leading up to President Trump’s second term, Meta shifted its moderation policies to remove third-party fact checkers, which Zuckerberg said would help “restore freedom of expression.” Ta. Mehta also added UFC CEO Dana White, a longtime friend of Trump’s, to its board of directors.
Mr. Zuckerberg attended Mr. Trump’s inauguration on Monday, along with several other tech CEOs. In addition to OpenAI, which was selected on Tuesday as part of President Trump’s joint venture on AI infrastructure, Meta also competes with Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI. Musk has emerged as one of Trump’s closest advisers, leading his new Government Efficiency Advisory Board.
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