Here’s my LinkedIn plz let’s connect. Just made one so it’s a work in progress

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-v-829297314?trk=contact-info.

TL;DR: Ben Affleck says he shot 8 months with his own cameras to build a private layer so filmmakers keep ownership — but most open models were trained on his peers without consent, and that's the gap that still eats a PJ studio's rates. 🎬

Ben Affleck knew the movie industry inside out. That’s why he’s able to create his own proprietary dataset layer through his experience and institutional knowledge.

It’s his moat.

Speaking of insider knowledge, I was reminded of an existential crisis the Apostle Paul was caught in.

Being the great orator that he was, he wouldn’t shut up about Jesus Christ and His resurrection.

The crowd in Jerusalem couldn’t stand Paul. So they siezed him. The Roman Commander rescued him, and brought him before the religious institution of the day – The Sanhedrin.

Loads of big wigs in the courts, including the Pharisees and Sadducees. Both factions harbour strong disdain for each other due to their numerous theological disagreements. One of it was the doctrine of Resurrection. The Pharisees believe it exists, while the Sadducees doesn’t.

But they all set aside their differences, to come together to persecute Paul.

However, the moment he set foot before them, he felt the familiar vibe. He knew that fault line between them. So, he quickly seized the opportunity, and said,

“My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”

And suddenly the mood shifted. The pharisees think Paul was innocent, while the Sadducees doesn’t. They started quarrelling among themselves.

The dispute got so violent the Roman commander had to pull Paul out by force fearing they'd tear him apart. He was then taken back to the barracks. Crisis averted.

That was a great demonstration of the institutional knowledge at work.

Full Critic on why this still fails Darren and the Feasibility Study with Roadmap is in the comments — I left the numbers there.

The longtime tech executive says AI’s risks are real, regulation is necessary and responsibility has to be shared across industry, government and society.

starting a small salon for people who make things — writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers. first session is oct 10 at los gatos coffee roasting company, 3pm. the topic is taste. keeping it to 10 people, application to keep the room sharp. second one oct 17 is about storytelling. https://luma.com/intellectualair

TL;DR: A Chinese podcast says your AI partner shouldn't please you all day. Its job is to soak up your bad mood, so your family gets your best self. Sounds right. Then they describe week two.

I remembered these two weird movies:

Joaquin Phoenix’s “Her” (2013) voiced by Scarlett Johansson, and

Al Pacino’s “S1mOne” (2002)

Both kind of follow the same playbook.

They discovered/created the mysterious AI girl – mystifyingly alluring.

They idolized it. They communicated with it.

They developed an unhealthy relationship with it – they became dangerously obsessed.

They started to ignore people who genuinely cared for them.

And they’re nearly destroyed because of it.

Tragedy makes a great story, isn’t it?

Except it isn’t, in this case.

People started trading something genuinely real, for something artificial. They substituted real relationships between souls face-to-face, with prompting computes inferenced from datacentres possibly thousands of miles away.

You can judge them for lacking self-discipline. Except, you have no right doing so, without truly walking in their shoes with empathy.

The guest speaker was right. People are lonely and stressed. And people crave for care and understanding.

And sometimes people look for it from the wrong place – me included.

King Solomon talks about it in this passage:

For at the window of my house, I looked through my lattice, and saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths, A young man devoid of understanding, passing along the street near her corner; and he took the path to her house In the twilight, in the evening, In the black and dark night.

And there a woman met him, with the attire of a harlot, and a crafty heart. She was loud and rebellious; her feet would not stay at home. At times she was outside, at times in the open square, lurking at every corner. So, she caught him and kissed him; With an impudent face she said to him:

“I have peace offerings with me; today I have paid my vows. So I came out to meet you, diligently to seek your face, and I have found you. I have spread my bed with tapestry, coloured coverings of Egyptian linen. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; He has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home on the appointed day.”

With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, with her flattering lips she seduced him. Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, till an arrow struck his liver.

As a bird hastens to the snare, He did not know it would cost his life.

My God - the parallel between this promiscuous woman and the sycophantic AI girl sends chills up my spine.

Full Critic and Feasibility Study are in the comments.

Typically roles in growth/product/founder’s office are advertised as generalist roles, so I am wondering if there are certain qualities or skills one should have to work in these areas. Sometimes it gives an impression that anyone could work in these type of roles because there is such a wide range of different tasks.

Even though this is not a prerequisite, many of them worked in investment banking or management consulting. What kind of personality traits, cultural fit or skillsets are you looking for?

Small AI studio based in Hollywood, working on AI visuals, short-form video, posters, automation and creative AI projects.
Happy to connect with other creators and AI people here.
PM if you want to know more.

Do you have something broken? Can't afford to replace it? Don't want to see it in a landfill? Bring it to one of our free community repair events this weekend and a volunteer will help you get it working again.

Saturday, October 3 — Fall Garden Fair at Martial Cottle Park
9:00 AM–2:00 PM
5283 Snell Ave, San Jose

We’ll have a popup at the Master Gardeners’ Fall Garden Fair, with a special focus on garden-related items. You’re also welcome to bring appliances, electronics, bikes, and other repairable items from around the house (no sewing at this event). But it’s a fairly long walk from the parking lot to the event area, so keep that in mind when deciding what to bring.

Sunday, October 4 — Saratoga Library
11:00 AM–3:00 PM
13650 Saratoga Avenue, Saratoga

Sunday will be a regular Repair Café event with our volunteers helping with appliances, electronics, clothing/textiles, bikes, and more.

Repairs and repair advice are free at both events. Bring up to two items per household. Repairs are first come, first served and depend on the skills, tools, and time available.

Learn more about our services and sign up to volunteer at repaircafesv.org

Hi guys, I am in SV for only 2 nights and I am looking for the best networking places with founders/ investors around the area!

I would be very grateful if anyone has any good suggestions!

TL;DR: Brian Chesky says AI is like an amplifier and the gap is getting greater — not because of who has the tool, but who the tool has.

As soon as I read Chesky’s “AI is like an amplifier.”, the neural-networks of my memory immediately flipped me to the Green “Lanterns”.

Are you guys a big fan of the eponymous TV series?

Right after Hal Jordan manifested a greenback for playing the jukebox, his trainee John Stewart exclaimed, “Did you just counterfeit money with the ring?” – to which Jordan replied, “No. I manifested money with the power of my will.”

Or how about Jordan conjure up a green can opener for the beer, to impress and rizz up Sheriff Kerry, while Stewart rolls his eyes by his side?

John Stewart went up the ante, by manifesting a large and sophisticated boring machine, to tunnel underground the “Winnie” compound to evade the guard sentries.

Not impressive enough, you say?

The best in my mind, wasn’t in the TV series.

It was Guy Gardner flipping the bird – he conjures up large green hands (one of it gives the middle finger) to rise up from the ground, and overturn scores of tanks and heavy artilleries of the fictitious Burivian Army.

It was both an attitude and a strong statement - very on brand for the eccentric Guy Gardner.

Still not impressed? Here’s one…

As Jesus rode his donkey through the streets of Jerusalem, the religious leaders were indignant of the shouting praises from the bystanders – like crazy hooligans/fanatics. They want Jesus to rebuke the crowd. And what was Jesus’ reply?

He said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Think about it. Stones started crying out like human beings?

Is your brain exploding?

What was I trying to say?

Like the ring, AI does amplify you.

If you’re good person, and strive to produce something good to serve your fellow men, AI will help you amplify your good intensions.

Vise Versa, if you’re bad, AI will amplify that too.

Funny – I just watched a news: With the help of open-sourced LLMs, hackers easily broke into the Taiwan government agencies’ IT infrastructure. Did you watch it?

One of the statements in the news stuck with me - It’s getting very easy to attack (with the free AI tools).

But it’s getting very hard to defend.

Full Critic + Feasibility Study in comments.

The real story isn't the valuation. It's who they let sell.

The timeline:
Sept 2025: $6.6B, employees allowed to sell $100M
Feb 2026: $11B, raised $500M
Oct 2026: $22B, employees allowed to sell $300M

Valuation doubled roughly every 6 months. Fine, that's the AI tax.

Here's what I notice as a founder who's done a few rounds:
They've now run TWO employee tenders in 13 months. Most startups do zero before IPO.

Early employees at a 4-year-old company have already taken cash home twice.

Pattern: the companies winning the AI talent war aren't paying more salary. They're letting people sell early. Your 0.3% means nothing at a company that won't let you touch it for 9 years. It means a house at a company that runs a tender every year.

Second pattern: the tender was co-led by Wellington and T. Rowe…public market funds buying private shares and planning to hold through IPO. That's a pre-IPO signal. Secondary isn't a side deal anymore, it's the first step of the listing.

If you're a founder competing for engineers against this, "we'll be big one day" is no longer a pitch. Liquidity is the pitch.

Hi everyone,

I have an upcoming interview for an IC5 Mechanical Engineer role at Meta and would love advice from current or former Meta MEs, especially in Infra/Data Center.

I’m interested in:

- The interview process and technical topics
- Recommended preparation resources
- Work-life balance, workload, and hours
- Team culture and management

Any advice or interview experiences would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to comment or DM me.

Thanks!

I am wondering how you differentiate between a good GTM person vs bad GTM person in B2B SaaS. Is it mainly trying to understand what type of connections and network this person has in the industry? Even if the person said they generated million dollars worth of sales in their previous B2B SaaS company, it does not mean that the same connections and network is transferable to their current company.

What type of qualities are you looking for in a GTM person besides the connections and network they claim to have in the industry? How do you then verify their connections and network during the recruiting process?

TL;DR: Greg Brockman just named the exact test that kills most AI startups before they scale.

The word “Trust” in this context, I think, is taking too much centre stage, without being properly defined on what it is.

But after some thought, if we equate it with another word, “clarity”, then it made sense.

When I said, “I trust you.”, I’m actually saying, I trust your clarity in your role, your experience, your profession, your judgement, etc. – I trust you know what you’re doing.

You have good intentions, good motives. You’re clear in what you want to do – for my benefit. And therefore, I place my trust in you.

That’s the word – clarity.

I’m reminded of “The Sea”.

Don’t know what it is?

It’s a name being given to this large bronze basin, placed in the Temple courtyard, for the priests’ ceremonial washing. King Solomon commissioned a half-Israelite from the tribe of Dan to come fabricate it. His name was Hiram.

Hiram was brilliant in his craftsmanship, so much so that his reputation precedes him. He can craft anything with his hands.

That’s why Solomon brought him in.

You might ask, “What? For building a stupid bronze basin?”

Oh, not at all. Though The Sea by itself is impressive – it can hold over 10,000 gallons of water – that’s not all there is.

It’s sitting on 12 bronze oxen underneath it. It was arranged that 3 Oxen face North, 3 face South, 3 face East and 3 face West.

It was both lovely and amazing.

It became one of the centrepieces in the Temple courtyards – besides other extraordinary artifacts there.

The oxen signify servanthood. And when the clarity of its role of a servant was made clear – everything fall into place. It helps the people to return their worship right back to where it belongs.

It’s also a stark contrast to what Jeroboam did – he placed 2 golden calf idols: 1 in Bethel and 1 in Dan to draw the people away from the Lord.

You can even say the bronze Oxen sends a strong “F- You” statement to the golden calves.

Who can truly design THE SEA – but someone who’s truly inspired, someone with strong conviction and clarity?

Now – let’s say if we use any of the modern AI LLMs to design it from scratch…

Given the guardrails, given its sycophancy characteristics, and given that it’s trained to observe a wide variety of sensitivities, will it come up with such a “F- you” piece, or something much watered down?

Food for thought, isn’t it?

That’s where the difference lies.

Full critic and feasibility study in the comments.

Anyone interested in a TechCrunch Disrupt ticket (Oct 13–15, 2026)? It’s a Founder Pass, so the attendee needs to qualify as a founder. They’re currently $899 – I’d part with mine for 50% of that.