At SF Tech Week, the AI 'gold rush' shows no signs of slowing down (www.businessinsider.com)

San Francisco Tech Week, hosted by Andreessen Horowitz, returned this year as a full-throated showcase of an AI “gold rush”: over 1,500 events across the city, a16z’s Speedrun Demo Day featuring 61 founders chosen from 14,000 applicants, and a striking shift in market sentiment as OpenAI’s valuation leapt from $157B last year to roughly $500B today. Founders, VCs and operators described palpable exuberance — from ferry meetups under the Golden Gate to robot-yoga sessions — and investors reported that well over 90% of showcased startups are AI-focused, spanning fintech, generative tools and robotics. For the AI/ML community this confirms two trends: mainstream capital and talent are accelerating productization and rapid iteration, creating abundant opportunities for startups and research teams to commercialize models and build vertical applications; and market dynamics are intensifying pressure on differentiation, compute/talent access, and responsible deployment. The influx of funding and hype can drive a “tech supercycle” but also inflates valuations and raises the odds of many failures alongside a few big winners. Practically, expect faster model-to-product cycles, intensified compute competition, and a higher bar for proving real-world ROI and safety to attract sustainable investment.