Bryan Lam

Federal US AI regulation may be stalled, but we're starting to see targeted regulation address AI issues closer to the root. Some of these interventions are smartly aimed at outcomes, rather than pre-deployment requirements, whose effectiveness remains relatively uncertain. TL;DR, it doesn't matter if a "risk" is high or low... if a single child or person suffers due to the things your model generates, you could be in trouble. Fraud, nonconsensual sexual material (aka Deepfakes), and election interference are among the many things that AI developers now need to guard against, legally, when serving residents of California.

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San Francisco's political landscape is taking an innovative turn as mayor-elect Dan Lurie appoints OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to his transition team. This strategic move signals a fresh approach to bridging the gap between city government and the tech sector at a crucial time for San Francisco. What makes this particularly noteworthy is how it represents a shift in how cities might leverage tech leadership to address urban challenges - from public safety to economic revitalization. The inclusion of both Altman and former Twitter CFO Ned Segal suggests a deliberate strategy to reconnect with the tech community while maintaining the city's position as a global innovation hub. Key developments to watch: ▶️ How this tech-government partnership influences public safety initiatives ▶️ Impact on downtown revitalization efforts ▶️ Response from other tech leaders and companies ▶️ Potential new policies to attract and retain tech talent ▶️ Balance between innovation and traditional urban governance https://lnkd.in/gMJ3yvk9

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I get asked a lot about getting started in trust and safety, what to read, and where to start. This is a pretty comprehensive list that is worth a look. #TrustAndSafety

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To anyone who was following my Roblox saga, I have an update! (If you missed the story and want to catch up, I'll link the original post in the comments. ⬇️) Long story short: My son charged $600 worth of Robux without my permission, despite parental controls being in place. This led to an epic thread of suggestions, commiseration, and lots of sympathy from many kind folks here on LinkedIn. Timeline: Friday: Discovered the charges on my credit card and got my child to confess. <busted!> Saturday: Since it was a Roblox issue, I started there. 🔸 Emailed Roblox customer support and received a response instructing me to fill out a form. 🔸 Submitted the form with all the details and waited. Monday morning: Received a reply from Roblox saying they couldn’t help because the Robux were purchased through Apple, and I needed to contact Apple directly. 🔸 Spent way too long figuring out how to do Apple chat instead of making a phone call (introvert problems). 🔸 Finally connected with a helpful representative via iMessage, who listened and said he would start claims for each charge. 🔸 He gasped when I mentioned there were 51 separate charges (sorry, dude). Monday afternoon: Apple gave me "provisional adjustments" while they investigated. Tuesday: Got a barrage of alerts from Apple letting me know my balance had been adjusted. 𝗜 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝘄𝗲 $𝟬 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 $𝟱𝟵𝟴 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝘂𝘅! 😮 Five stars for Apple Card support, truly. They were so helpful and efficient—plus, they made my neurodivergent brain happy by letting me handle everything via text. . . . Now, here's the question: does this change the consequences for my kid? I haven’t told him I was reimbursed, but I also don’t think it’s fair for him to have to earn $600 to pay me back when I’m no longer out of that money. However, I still want the consequence to be meaningful and connected to what he did, so it actually teaches him a lesson. (I am confident he won't do 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 again, he is pretty distraught with guilt, but other things will come up.)

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As part of my #StandWithCrypto, earlier today I did something for the very first time: I called the White House, my house representative Rep. Jared Huffman, and both California Senators (preemptively!) Senator Alex Padilla and Senator Laphonza Butler to encourage a YES vote on the #FIT21bill 🧵 Phone calls!?!! Well according to @aseoconnor: from the perspective of an elected official's office "one phone call has the impact of about 100 letters. Why? The activation energy of a phone call is so high." I learned a little something from each call: ✅ The White House comment line was exactly what you might expect: leave a message, maybe someone listens to it. ✅ The DC office of Representative Jared Huffman: phone number was clearly listed on his House website. Line was answered by a friendly staffer who listened carefully and then thanked me for my input. Refreshing. Constituent experience: A+ ✅ The DC office of Senator Alex Padilla: phone number also clearly listed on his Senate website. Straight to voicemail. No surprises. Constituent experience: B ❌ The DC office of Senator Laphonza Butler: phone number is not listed on her Senate website anywhere obvious. Multiple searches required to find it. When called, it goes straight to voicemail. Almost seemed like her office is not interested in feedback. 🤔 Constituent experience: D- Now... let's see what happens with #FIT21 vote. 🤞

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Start-up scene. SF, NYC? U.S? How about Canada? Here are some thoughts. I hear a lot of comparisons all the time about U.S having a better start-up ecosystem than Canada. With no doubt, SF shows an advanced, amazing, well-oiled system for founders to operate in like Andrew Yeung talks about below. That’s why so many successful companies come out of SF. BUT. Not everyone has the means or desire to go the U.S at the beginning of their journey especially considering financial burdens, wanting to be close to friends, family, and community. I think the key is to make sure your mindset keeps up. As a founder, there will always be 4/5 people around you that think like you, help you grow, and have an obsession for solving the problem they are passionate about. You only need that many. Find those people. Hangout with them. Build cool things with them. That’s how growth oriented community starts. I found my community at NEXT Canada and University of Toronto Entrepreneurship. The more we do that, the more we build the start-up eco-system in Canada. How you live in your own mind matters. First explore what your mind wants, desires, and needs. Surround yourself with people who help you grow. Not those who keep you stagnant (unless that is what truly aligns with you). Yes it absolutely HELPS to live in SF and network, sleep, and breath start-up. The culture there is great for building a company. BUT since not everyone has the resources to go to another country, I’d start creating the SF mindset in your own head, and build the next Amazon. Because you can.

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where’s OpenAI ‘s sama? oh look. he’s in elon’s shadow. makes sense. he’s shorter. Lol. the island of cannibals that is silicon valley has a new co-chair as mayor of sf. unelected. uninfluential in washington. has weasled his way into a transition team for sf. I wonder is watching elon w trump he found his trump locally in sf. sama is a mirror. he was for pg. he was also for many others. including elon. I guess this is a way to perhaps shore up political points locally in sf. to protect himself as best as he can. washington is a country wide, global game. kinda reminds me of another rebranding. im just jenny from the block. https://lnkd.in/e_jNXXRD if ai companies are to flourish OpenAI Google Microsoft Amazon Apple will require that startups are not somehow impeded. this is a game of davids and goliaths. where the slingshot appears innocuous. that is llms, transformers, access to privileged data. this out of no-where announcement demonstrates that this is a defense tactic by sama. he speaks fondly of sf and has done nothing until now. so his disingenuous nature finds yet another loop hole to worm into. we would be more supportive of his efforts except he’s created an industry for himself through a con game approach. why is he ceo of OpenAI when he’s there 6-7 hours a week. forgive me. isn’t a ceo supposed to be singularly focussed. his game is getting funding that invests in companies that he’s already invested in and as it’s a non for profit there are no conflicts of interest applied. wow. he uses other peoples money to invest in what he’s already invested in. sounds like y combinator showed him how to play the sv players. the next trick will be to do something no one has ever done. take a multi-billy non for profit and flip to for profit. as a non for profit there is no reporting required. there are tax incentives. a moral narrative to spin. then. oooops. how do we monetize this. we believe he will not succeed. to do so would cannibalize capitalism as it’s structured. it also would create a new pathway for universities which are by definition research centres. creating this precedent would alter their business. given that elon has beef with sama. and elon has never been more on top of his game. well. we find local political maneuvering is a way of squirming. OpenAI investors chiefly Microsoft are about to be thrown under the bus. unwittingly. recall it’s the talent at OpenAI that makes it special. the a team has left. the b team is in place. 2025 will not be good for OpenAI elon will have his revenge. 44 millys invested. for what. for sama to throw his weight around. he’s a lightweight. just look at him. lol. source: https://lnkd.in/e9WtQ48k < . >

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Last night's Technology Association of Oregon panel discussion on raising capital for AI ventures was full of interesting takeaways. The event brought together leading PNW VCs, CEOs, and funders to share their perspectives and best practices. Here's what you need to know: ➡ The AI/ML space is rapidly evolving, presenting huge opportunities for startups tackling real business problems. VCs are actively seeking out the most ambitious and disruptive companies in this domain. ➡ Having an "unfair advantage" is key - whether that's proprietary data sets, unique domain expertise, or unparalleled access to customers. AI ventures need strong differentiation to stand out. ➡ Build relationships early with VCs, even before you're ready to raise. Their insights and connections can accelerate your journey. The PNW venture ecosystem is highly collaborative and accessible. ➡ Don't be deterred by the perceived lack of local funding. Great companies with compelling visions will get funded, period. Leverage the PNW's strengths in developer/engineering talent. ➡ Recognize and proactively address the potential downsides of AI - from data privacy to model bias. Building responsibly is both an obligation and an opportunity. ➡ Move fast, be bold. Raising capital is always hard, but fortune favors the brave in this space. With the right team, tech and traction, you can build a world-changing business here in the PNW. Thanks to the fantastic panelists Diane Fraiman (Voyager Capital), Geoff Harris (Flying Fish), Jon Maroney (OVF), Chris Sestito (Hidden Layer), Jon Turow (Madrona) for sharing their insights, and to Kristy Edwards for moderating!

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If you want a straightforward explanation of the "ad tech" Google antitrust trial happening now, with metaphors that clearly help you understand what is at the heart of it and what it means for our industry, this 20 minutes is for you. https://lnkd.in/eTMjpjFa

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Check out my co-founder below illuminate an important subject on the value of #nationalsecurity focused investments 

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With LLMs running locally on smart phones, I suspect many of the traditional action/reactions we routinely conduct are about to change. That the time spent on Search is going to get upended is clear to see thanks to ChatGPT. What might not be, is the time spent in Email. We moved the mailbox outside the door onto the cloud; taking the fetch, sort and take action workflow online. What if we never have to check email ever again thanks to a combination of agents running locally and on the cloud?

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Taking stock of Tempus on its first day of trading: What it means to the company and other Chicago tech startups, and how its debut performance compares to other local IPOs. https://lnkd.in/gMjn95-V

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This article really spoke to me. I love nature (and nature photography) and yet, when I saw some of the photos of this weekend's aurora going viral on Instagram and X, I quickly realized that some of the most widely-shared images were AI-augmented. We're now in a place where AI is may be shifting conversations around media from "trust but verify" to "verify before trusting," and this highlights the need to propagate trustworthy content provenance and authentication tools quickly. #ai #aurora #c2pa #authenticity #socialmedia #auroraborealis #midjourney #stablediffusion #contentprovenance #trust #artificialintelligence https://lnkd.in/dWktsCte

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Over the past few years I put together an unbiased Los Angeles tech and startup resource center, let's call it an online "LA Tech Hub" for the community to easily be informed and connect with one another. Here's the thing - I never clicked "publish" fearful I wouldn't be refueled in my community work. To empower me to make it live... I NEED YOUR INPUT How do you suggest this LA Tech Hub be monetized? Do you think it should be; (please lmk in the comments) ▶ contributions? ▶ one time fee? ▶ annual fee? ▶ sponsors? ▶ affiliates? ▶ grant? ▶ free? Or do you envision another method that would be loved filled to operate this thing so that both me and people in the community are mutually energetically thriving. It's out of ideation mode and exists, it's built, just never "shipped". To give some background on WeAreLATech "online group" history... 1 ) In 2014 created a WeAreLATech Facebook group 2) In 2016 created an LA tech Slack group 3) In 2021 created an LA tech Twitter group 4) In 2022 created a geo based WeAreLATech group using Saturday app I dunno about you, but none of us want another FKIng digital chat group :) I get it. I'm in one of the best most engaged business groups on Discord and I don't even log into that one much. So yea, I get it - we don't want more online groups. My vision isn't to create yet another social network, think of this as a digital resource center for everything Los Angeles tech and if people wanna connect, they can. Like let's take Zach Sekar and Jerry Pullman's awesome LA tech telegram groups. Justin Gordon's Luma events with free hikes and coffee meetups. (BTW I'll place both their links in the comments below so you have them). This WeAreLATech Hub is a place to know all the places to go, people to know, things to do in LA tech produced by all community organizers, best co working spaces, LA investors, etc. And if a person in there wants to leave a "like" sure go ahead, or "comment" cool, but it's not expected. Me and my incredible amazing wonderful grateful for her teammate, would be running it. We'd tag team to make sure we handle everyone's needs and keep our greater LA Tech community connected. In end, we'd have a high level of care for you. Whatever this LA Tech Hub becomes it will be by invite only so there's no 🤮 douchebags in it 💜 no self promoting internet marketing shenanigans. Just good collaborative supportive people who want to lift one another up in this crazy tech world we live in. Okay your thoughts please, any help would be much appreciated. How do I make sure I am refueled? I'll share what would make me feel amazing is if every person in LA tech or moving to LA for tech contributes something like $30 bucks one time. Or something higher like $99 bucks would enable us to be able to gift each person a WeAreLATech tee shirt too. If everyone contributed then it could operate with ease. Sadly, I don't think most want to contribute. People usually pay for fandom or hype. Ok, your thoughts?

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Earlier this year I had an in-person meeting with someone who has a lot of knowledge & connectivity in the policy / regulatory world. He was visiting NY from DC. The meeting wasn't planned but we ended up chatting for an hour and a half, including an impromptu product demo. At the end, he told me: "I have a completely different understanding and perception of Unit after our conversation". It was nice to hear it, but if you know me, you know I'm mostly focused on what we haven't achieved yet. I left concerned. I was reminded that there's so much work ahead of us purely around explaining embedded finance to regulators and policymakers. There are plenty of details to it. The products and approaches of financial infrastructure companies like Unit have evolved over the years - a lot! - while the industry grows. It's growing for the right reasons- it offers better financial services to tens of millions of businesses, independent workers and individuals. If you want to understand our work, just come and talk to us. You can be a regulator, bank, or media outlet. You can be a skeptic too :) With that in mind... I'm excited to speak at the American Fintech Council Policy Summit in Washington, DC next week! Other speakers in the event include current + past leaders at the regulatory agencies (Federal Reserve, OCC, FDIC) and innovators (Affirm, Klaros Group, Thread Bank, Lincoln Savings Bank, Cross River & more). I'll be part of a panel moderated by Evan Weinberger (Bloomberg Law) on building the safest and most resilient future of finance. Excited to jam with Laura Kornhauser, Matt Michaelis and Christian Widhalm. If you're there and we haven't met, drop me a line at [email protected]. You should also say hi to Amanda Swoverland and attend the round table that Alex Acree leads: should banks build, buy or partner? See you in DC!

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In my 4+ years in the dYdX ecosystem, I’ve consistently admired the team's ability to innovate on emerging technologies and scale billion+ (and in one case, trillion+) dollar products—while strategically sunsetting old versions to focus on 10x larger opportunities. Solo - L1 Spot & Margin Trading: https://lnkd.in/e36dudcx L1 Perps: https://lnkd.in/eUUQPQrt V3 - L2 Perps: https://lnkd.in/eWudVbW7 “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”—and this requires a strong product vision and technical prowess to embrace tech that improves exponentially. The dYdX Chain, launched 1 year ago, has already generated $250B in volume, $50M in USDC protocol fees distributed to stakers and validators, and onboarded 20K traders. Still not the biggest exchange yet, but it's getting there. And if anything, it's a major step toward achieving the goal of democratizing access to financial opportunities. dYdX Unlimited launched this week which unlocked the next stage of growth with Instant Market Listings, Megavault, an affiliate program, and much more. All code is fully open-sourced and run by 60 independent validators, running the network in a permissionless manner.

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