Variant invests in technology that expands autonomy.
New York
Joined October 2019
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Autonomy != automation.
Automation is the frontier of tech and finance. Autonomy is about increasing freedom to build, customize, and act on your own terms.
Focus on the latter can be a winning strategy for startups to compete with scaled incumbents.
who should own your AI? @sabina_beleuz weighs ins at LOCALHOST this weekend
excited to speak at LOCALHOST this Saturday, NYC’s sovereign AI hackathon. localhostai.nyc
my prediction: as distillation makes it harder for labs to maintain their edge, they’ll put their best models behind enterprise contracts and lobby for rules that make open-weight competitors harder to build. i'm thankful that there's a community hacking on open weights + harnesses + hardware now. thanks @DistributedMarz and @BrennerSpear for having me. 🤖
Domain-specific models don’t rely on economies of scale like the frontier labs; they build their moat through cornering verifiability.
Our investment in Physical Superintelligence (PSI) is premised on the belief that solving hard physics problems is an instance where domain-specific models will win.
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If you want to learn how watermarking AI generated text works, I helped write this in-depth explanation while I was at Cravath.
cravath.com/a/web/vvmaTCtntJ…
Anthropic says new Claude models will embed invisible watermarks in all generated text, everywhere Claude is offered.
The watermark is part of the text, it isn't metadata: "it will travel with the text when it's copied and pasted elsewhere, and may persist through some editing."
This starts with models launched on or after August 2, 2026, under an EU AI Act code Anthropic signed. Anthropic is still working on adding it to current models. The rollout is worldwide.
A second wave of AI companies automate the full outcome and deliver it directly to customers.
We’ve been using a loose framework for identifying which workflows are ripe for disruption via automation vs. those that will be dominated by augmentation.
We learned a similar set of rules building autonomous systems on public blockchains. There are a number of lessons that are increasingly relevant other areas where autonomous systems can scale (and where they remain limited.)
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Proud to share that the @Ventuals team is joining Phantom: @AlvinHsia, @EmHsia, and Aris Samad start with us this week. I’ve been following their work for a long time, and am so excited to work alongside them at Phantom. phantom.com/learn/blog/the-v…
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Quantum is going to become an increasingly investable category
Four broad surface areas:
1. Quantum proofing (eg @projecteleven)
2. Quantum hardware, eg quantum computers / chips
3. Quantum software that runs on existing hardware
4. Quantum-enabled applications
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Incredible execution by the Levl team
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> Crypto never had a choice: open APIs were the starting condition, ... It had to learn to build around that. Now everyone else will too.
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Huge win for self-custody 🦾
Today @phantom received first-of-its-kind no-action relief from the @CFTC. We can now connect users to regulated derivatives markets and event contracts without registering as an introducing broker.
phantom.com/learn/blog/phant…
Variant retweeted
Today @phantom received first-of-its-kind no-action relief from the @CFTC. We can now connect users to regulated derivatives markets and event contracts without registering as an introducing broker.
phantom.com/learn/blog/phant…