Peter Thiel: “We are experiencing a historic turning point, perhaps even the most important moment since the launch of the iPhone.”

According to the tech investor, this will have dramatic consequences for Google. Also, Elon Musk is planning his own city and Silicon Valley Bank’s stock plummets 60 percent.

Good morning! While you slept, work continued elsewhere in the digital scene.

The top topics:

The tech investor Peter Thiel sees the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a groundbreaking force that could lead to an upheaval in the world of technology. In an interview with the “Handelsblatt” he said: “We are experiencing a historic turning point, perhaps even the most important moment since the launch of the iPhone. In any case, this moment will change Silicon Valley.” According to Thiel, this will redistribute power in the Valley. “For the past ten years, Silicon Valley has been traveling in a kind of sleeper car. Now everyone will be rudely awakened.” The consequences will be dramatic, especially for the search engine market leader, the Google-Mutter Alphabetaccording to the billionaire.

Europe also has too few visions for the future, Thiel told the newspaper. However, he sees no problem in the automation of complex work using AI: “I would rather focus on the positive effects.” The son of German emigrants who lives in Miami once founded Paypal with, invested early in Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX and promotes with his Founders Fund young technology companies. For the future, the external investor sees Facebook Potential in the biotech sector, especially in the area of ​​longevity, the fight against death. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt]

On the founding scene: As with many other startups, there was at Tier recent layoffs. As found out by the start-up scene, this affects more employees than the e-scooter company communicates to the outside world. In the research of our editor Nina Anika Klotz you can read everything about the background. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]

And here are the other headlines of the night:

Elon Musk is apparently designing his own city. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the tech billionaire is planning a new location next to his company’s facilities Boring and SpaceX. This is said to be called “Snailbrook” (in German “Schneckenbach”) and is relatively close to Austin in the US state of Texas. According to deeds, land registers, and people familiar with the project, Musk has purchased a large tract of land. At meetings with landowners and real estate agents, the Teslaboss described his vision as a kind of Texas utopia along the Colorado River where his employees could live and work. [Mehr bei Wall Street Journal und Business Insider]

The shares of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) fell more than 60 percent on Thursday as investors panicked. The bank lost a market value of $9.4 billion. SVB, 40, is heavily involved in tech startups, making her particularly sensitive to industry cycles. The bank’s CEO, Greg Becker, addressed the leading venture capitalists and called on them to remain calm. [Mehr bei Axios, CNBC, The Information und Financial Times]

Discord joins the hype about artificial intelligence (AI). “We’re seeing one of the most exciting moments in technology development,” said Jason Citron, CEO of the San Francisco-based company, which allows groups of users to chat via text, video and voice. Discord announced it would revamp its bot called Clyde, which will then be used by the OpenAItechnology should be driven. Users can call up the AI-powered Clyde to answer questions or help plan meetings, for example. [Mehr bei Techcrunch und Reuters]

Also Baidu rushes to finish China’s first ChatGPT equivalent ahead of scheduled launch. As the “Wall Street Journal” reports, employees of China’s largest search engine operator are working around the clock until the planned rollout on March 16. The chatbot, dubbed Ernie Bot, is still struggling to perform some basic functions. Baidu plans to gradually introduce Ernie Bot and initially only offer it for testing to a limited group of users. [Mehr bei Wall Street Journal]

quarterly figures: Oracle has reported shrunken revenues for the past third quarter. The software provider’s total revenue rose 18 percent year over year to $12.4 billion last quarter. Operating income for the quarter was $3.3 billion, down 18 percent from the same quarter last year. The stock fell 5 percent. The AllbirdsShares fell more than 17 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday. Previously, the direct-to-consumer brand had forecast that revenue would fall between 20 percent and 28 percent in the coming quarter. [Mehr bei CNBC und The Information]

Our reading tip on Gründerszene: The Lily-CFO Michael Andersen joins Grover. This fuels speculation about a possible IPO of the Berlin startup. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]

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Happy Friday!

Your Gründerszene editors