AI’s Been Good to VC’s So Far…(cue guitar riff)

I was in Las Vegas recently and everybody everywhere was wearing Eagles concert t-shirts. The Eagles are having a moment, one might even call it a senior moment, at the Sphere in Vegas where they are playing an extended run.  They are the talk of the town and apparently the show is amazing, even with hearing aids.

I was pondering this phenomenon and it occurred to me, since the reason I was in Vegas was for the HLTH conference, that the other thing that was every-freaking-where was chatter about AI.

Honestly, you can’t go 10 minutes in my world without hearing that acronym.  I was at a dinner meeting yesterday that had nothing at all to do with AI and one guy had to break the spell and say, “Well we have been here 2 hours talking about healthcare and no one has brought up AI yet.”  You could hear all the air immediately leave the room as 12 people looked at each other and very loudly thought, “Really?! You had to ruin such a nice meal?”

Recently I did a virtual panel about AI and I asked the participants to fill the chat section with the “REAL” meaning of the “A” and the “I”…I got some great responses.  My personal favorites:  Augmented Income, Authoritative Ignorance, Astronomical Inaccuracy, Antithesis [of] Information, …there were some funny ones.

Yeah, yeah, I know AI is for sure a thing and it’s going to be everywhere eventually.  Don’t come at me for dissing it.  I’m just so tired of hearing about AI in healthcare when people are barely using it except for pre-authorizations and other super exciting stuff.

So, ok, you might ask – Eagles/AI – what’s the connection? Well, for reasons only the squirrels in my brain know, talking to fellow Vegas elevator patrons about the Eagles immediately prompted me to hear the Joe Walsh guitar riff we all know and love (well, we all know and love it if we are over 40, anyway – and for those of you under 40, shame on you – Joe Walsh is a member of the Eagles). The words that my brain squirrels sang along with the music were “AI’s Been Good to VCs so Far.”  I swear I hadn’t even been drinking.  Yet.

OK, squirrels; challenge accepted:

AI’s Been Good to VC’s So Far (an homage to Joe Walsh of the Eagles*)

I have investments, way overpriced
Ain’t no returns yet, they tell me that’s nice
Stock price is up, but worried it falls
The next venture fund will pay for it all

They say I’m crazy and I think they are right
We’re all looking for clues in the vast data mine
AI’s been good to VCs so far

The valuation was five-eighty-five
I lost my mind, and paid them that price
I have a SAFE note, warrants on the back
I pray to god that they’re soon in the black

They’re building chatbots, their users can’t wait
Large language models, say their product is trained
So I’m at my home office, on another board call
Just told us launch is delayed until Fall

Lucky I’m sane after all the miscues
(Everybody say, “AI’s cool, ” “AI’s cool”)
I hope the CEO really knows what to do
AI’s been good to VCs so far

Hallucinations, bias galore
It’s no surprise since they’re coding offshore
Their neural network can’t be explained
Somebody tell me why I feel short-changed

Outlook is hazy and they’re on their last dime
(Everybody say, “AI,” “AI”)
I keep on funding, hope I someday know why
AI’s been good to VCs so far
Ah, yeah, yeah

*original lyrics found HERE

Badass video of Joe Walsh singing Life’s Been Good found HERE