Alok Sama spent years in corporate finance as a managing director at Morgan Stanley before joining SoftBank as CFO and plunging into founder–CEO Masayoshi Son’s world of high-speed the shift involved many eye-opening experiences which he later shared in a memoir titled The Money Trap: Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble (St you’ve worked with many founders and CEOs during your time as a banker and investor as well as in your time at SoftBank International What do founders have in their DNA that lets them balance truly audacious vision with attention to detail When I worked for [SoftBank Group CEO] Masayoshi Son there wasn’t an apology—that’s just the way he rolls But then you see a quality in them you really admire and feel a certain kind of loyalty and a personal commitment I think that is harder for professional managers to achieve as they rely on conventional incentives and organizational structures to get people to buy in It takes a special kind of individual to be a successful founder Vik Malhotra: The Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky famously described it as “founder mode.” Alok Sama: Masa Son is in founder mode on steroids That includes microscopic attention to detail he would want to know what fees we were paying the lawyers I would be on these three- or four-hour calls with Son-san trying to figure out how to optimize capital allocation One incident really sticks in my mind—we were on with the Sprint network team “I spent a couple of hours looking at your network in Houston You have a blind spot downtown in the shopping mall and I’ve got a fix for it.” It’s that level of obsessive detail because we associate Masa with big-picture vision It’s an infectious idealism and desire to make the world a better place using technology And this is how they get people like me to buy into their vision with the same degree of but working for Son-san was a treat and a high point of my career Vik Malhotra: How much do founder–CEOs think about culture Is it something they actively seek to shape A lot of tech founder culture is about individualism and unleashing creativity Google’s “airport test” is a prime example—if you were stranded at the airport for a few hours with your colleagues they need to be interesting enough for you to want to be stuck there with them Putting people like that together fosters a certain type of creativity and out-of-the-box thinking I think that’s the key distinguishing feature of the Valley It was a huge learning experience for me—I almost had to unlearn everything I had known before that I came from the Wharton School and Morgan Stanley where I was schooled in a very nerdy form of finance And then I entered the world of dealmaking Son-san style you characterize Son-san as someone who can see the future How does he stay current on what’s happening to keep that attunement to the future sharp Alok Sama: I can’t claim to have unpacked the mystery of Masa Son He surrounds himself with smart people he respects and he will call them up or have them in his conference room and scribble on his whiteboard The ideas he comes up with are frequently outrageous or sometimes downright silly Vik Malhotra: People sometimes say he’s crazy He’s crazy in a technology sense in that he lives in the future A lot of people think of him as this consummate risk-taker or gambler I think that’s a mischaracterization because he’s proven his ability to spot technology megatrends repeatedly one of his finest deals was back in 2006 before I joined He went from being one of the richest men in the world to being down to his last billion And he made this completely audacious bet on Vodafone Japan the mobile carrier that was bleeding money with $600 million or $700 million in negative cash flow And he did the acquisition based on a handshake from Steve Jobs that when something like a smartphone was introduced by Apple He just had this vision of what smartphones would be and how they would change the world He sees these things a long way ahead of others and you’re in some sense reading tomorrow’s headlines Another aspect that earns him the crazy label is that he deliberately cultivates this image of being unpredictable This enables him to get deals done quickly because people don’t want to mess with that unpredictability “I don’t really want to go up against this guy because I can’t predict his next move.” [Uber CEO] Dara Khosrowshahi said this beautifully when SoftBank invested in in Uber even though SoftBank was investing in many of Uber’s competitors globally: “I’d rather have their capital cannon behind me than against me.” Vik Malhotra: You also worked with Nikesh Arora who was president at SoftBank when you were CFO He’s now the chair and CEO of Palo Alto Networks and the value creation story there has been quite something Alok Sama: Nikesh is the brightest person I’ve worked with What I loved about working with him is that he forces you to up your A game The few times where I was a little bit ahead of him just felt like huge wins and I’ve seen people wilt in the face of it The brilliance of Palo Alto Networks is a clearly articulated That cybersecurity market has been so fragmented and Palo Alto Networks makes life easier for chief technology officers by meeting all of their needs They’ve built a winning suite of products that are a case study in how to string together product acquisitions Vik Malhotra: You left your career in corporate finance to do a master of fine arts at New York University Alok Sama: I did not start with the intent to write this book I’ve had a closet ambition to become a writer since I was a kid I wouldn’t wish being a writer on anyone if you’re looking to make a living I was at a stage in life in my 50s where I said so it’s now or never.” So I enrolled at NYU for an MFA degree and while there I experimented with fiction and other genres but I was encouraged to write about my own experiences It became clear that what I’d been through in this compressed period of six years at SoftBank had a narrative arc for me personally and also for this larger-than-life character Masayoshi Son Vik Malhotra: The high-stakes dealmaking and situations you describe in the book often involve elements of seeming outrageousness and excess That must have been quite a shift for you after your years in investment banking A lot of people think it’s in bad taste to talk about flying private and all that but I wanted to describe what I experienced Having a Gulfstream V at my disposal made me feel like a rock star And I would wager he has a Gulfstream VII on order One of the first deals I did was in India in 2014 I looked at the business model with a very conventional top-down framework: What’s the size of this market And you quickly conclude that this business is absolutely worthless The negotiation around price was horse trading almost comical for someone with my background Imagine a world with autonomous cars—it completely upturns the business model.” Of course you have to think about who owns those cars and how much they cost but trying to put numbers around that in 2014 That’s what was so magical about Son-san and the way he thinks about the future Vik Malhotra: You must have had to find a balance between the classic corporate finance thinking and recognizing that there’s huge upside in this tech world where business models get disrupted all the time Alok Sama: I was threading a needle the whole way through I realized that if I had been with Masa when he decided to invest $20 million in Jack Ma’s Alibaba what are you thinking?” It’s not as if Jack had a vision of: “I want to create the Amazon of China.” He was thinking he had a B2B business model and had no experience as an entrepreneur or businessman and had a vision of how things might unfold in China on the Arm Holdings [semiconductor company] deal and the company was trading at 48 times earnings because it had this rare position of being one of the only listed There were no synergies to justify that premium this valuation is based on a world where Arm is shipping 17 billion chips to markets and assuming that might increase by 20 or 25 percent per year I think the increase is going to be exponential And soon the chips are going to be connected His mark-to-market gain on Arm is over $100 billion So you end up being a facilitator in those situations because you say your piece and lay out the analytics for him Vik Malhotra: That deal is all the more fascinating because at the time and now it’s very much the epicenter of everything that’s happening with AI and that goes back to Masa’s days as a teenager He tells this endearing story about how he had an emotional reaction to seeing a photo of an Intel chip on the cover of PC Magazine and has been obsessed with semiconductors ever since And Arm was a company that he had been watching for the longest time One thing people underestimate is just how hands-on Masa is in executing a change in strategy In this case it was positioning the company to be dominant in the design of intelligent processors at the edge of the network That’s why the Stargate [AI infrastructure] project involves two technology partners—Nvidia which owns the market for chips in servers in data centers which has positioned itself to do the same at the edge of the networks on automobiles Vik Malhotra: The deal with Sprint and T-Mobile also looked unlikely at the outset and also given the legal opposition and doubt around regulatory issues Their bonds were trading at 30 cents on the dollar Masa had bought the company on the assumption that he’d be able to pull off a quick merger with T-Mobile There were a lot of machinations we had to go through and Masa was able to reengineer the company’s cost structure to keep it going until we were able to eventually pull off the T-Mobile merger I think the end result has far exceeded expectations because of the combination of the T-Mobile brand and Sprint’s spectrum assets and all the synergies from a horizontal merger like this At one point we were looking at maybe a $10 billion or more loss some of it realized well in excess of $25 billion Vik Malhotra: You mentioned the Stargate AI infrastructure initiative [led by SoftBank Alok Sama: There was no doubt in my mind that this was the direction Masa would move in Arm Holdings is at the center of the semiconductor ecosystem and SoftBank Energy is one of the biggest generators of solar power in the world Energy to run data centers is critical to AI and completely in character with Masa’s style of dealmaking the classic SoftBank playbook is to invest in a technology company while creating a joint venture with the investee company for Japan It’s worth a lot more than the parent company has created a joint venture with OpenAI to serve the Japanese enterprise market Vik Malhotra: After DeepSeek released its large language model chatbot in December 2024 you wrote an article for The Times in which you said that such advances are not a threat but rather an accelerator You compared it to the 1700s when improved steam engines burned coal more efficiently but coal consumption increased as better steam engines led to more innovation and increased use of them Alok Sama: That is what the British economist William Stanley Jevons described in what we now call Jevons paradox—it’s a combination of a declining cost curve and network effects I think DeepSeek is a real breakthrough that will make it easier for people to build and accelerate the implementation of AI To the degree those technology trends are accelerated you end up seeing an increase in the demand for processing of all variety both at data centers and at the edge of the network and I’m wary of going short on anything to do with technology Alok Sama is former CFO of SoftBank, and the author of The Money Trap: Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble. Vik Malhotra is a senior partner in McKinsey’s New York office Comments and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not represent or reflect the opinions or positions of McKinsey & Company or have its endorsement This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Closures & Delays Sports | Iowa State Running Back Abu Sama On Dealing With Expectations Iowa State running back Abu Sama called his 2024 season a learning experience Sama earned his first start as a freshman in 2023 and exploded for 276 yards of rushing in a win at Kansas State and finished the season with 614 yards His output dipped to 587 yards as a sophomore Sama had to deal with massive expectations after an impressive freshman season Sama says he is still learning what it takes to be successful both on and off the field The Cyclones open next season against Kansas State in Dublin Iowa (RI) – UNI football coach Todd Stepsis is not ready to name a starting quarterback coming out of Nevada (RI) – Former Iowa State defensive back Darien Porter hopes to make an immediate impact for the Las Former Iowa star Caitlin Clark scored 16 points in 19 minutes of action in her return to Iowa City as the Track and Soccer on the Monday schedule Girls Golf Siouxland Conference meet at Sheldon Algona DC — Congressman Randy Feenstra (R-Hull) has announced that his office will host two in-person passport fairs — one in Office: 712-324-2597 | Text: 712-324-2597 | Studio: 712-324-5377 Contact us: newstips@kiwaradio.com Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application we announce the peaceful passing of Alfred "Al" Sama surrounded by a loving and extended family that cultivated his lifelong passion for service his love of food and his incredible work ethic Al was a proud graduate of Saint James elementary and high schools in Penns Grove where in his younger years he perfected the beautiful cursive penmanship he kept throughout his life and where he was a football team captain and homecoming king where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Engineering and played varsity football Al served his country as a member of the U.S Merchant Marines - supporting American troops by delivering supplies overseas during the Vietnam War His travels as a Merchant Marine took him around the world to both Asia and South America - an experience he fondly recalled while watching the Philadelphia Eagles' recent victorious performance in São Paulo Al earned his MBA at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania This advanced education prepared him for a distinguished career in business operations where he held leadership positions in the chemical Al was admired by colleagues and friends alike Alfred was a cherished son of Francis Bruno Sama and Alda Sama (née Clemente) and the devoted brother of Frank Sama Jr. He shared a beautiful marriage with his beloved wife Julia (née Kelly); his stepchildren Mark Daddazio and Jennifer Rakus (née Daddazio) He adored his role as “Pop Pop” to his three grandchildren—Devon and Carson Sama—never missing an opportunity to spoil them and even introducing them to the concept of "ice cream for dinner." particularly his beloved Phillies and Eagles He enjoyed daily walks with Donna around their community of Old Forge Crossing in Devon and found joy in traveling on special trips to Alaska Al's faith played a central role in his life He also served on the board and finance committee of the Old Forge Crossing community and was a proud historical reenactor at Valley Forge Park working as a school bus driver for special needs students—a role he found deeply meaningful and unwavering dedication to his family and community He will be profoundly missed by all who knew him Relatives and friends are invited to Al's Visitation 9:00-10:00 AM on Friday Interment SS Peter & Paul Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations be made to the American Cancer Society - https://www.cancer.org/ - in Al’s memory Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Book a visit hosted a special screening of the critically acclaimed documentary For Sama (2019) to celebrate its 5th anniversary The screening was followed by a panel discussion featuring filmmakers and activists Waad al-Kateab For Sama is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war A love letter from a young mother to her daughter the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo and gave birth to Sama—all while cataclysmic conflict rose around her media@mei.edu 202-785-1141 x241 events@mei.edu 202-785-1141 x202 development@mei.edu 202-785-1141 x2505 mej@mei.edu 202-785-1141 x210 artsculture@mei.edu 202-785-1141 x2509 communications@mei.edu 202-785-1141 © 2018 Middle East Institute All Rights Reserved | Accessibility Policy | Built by Social Driver. Alok Sama, advisor to private equity major Warburg Pincus has rich experience in the investment banking space He worked as the President and CFO of Softbank Group founded hedge fund Baer Capital and is currently He tells Nesil Staney that he worries about companies with no product plan or revenues getting valuations of $5-$10 billion Which were the most challenging deals during your tenure at SoftBank The most challenging situation by far was Sprint which was struggling when I joined Softbank in 2014 and could have meant tens of billions in losses The multi-year project of engineering the merger with T-Mobile – as described in the book … —  led to ten There has only ever been one person at the helm of Softbank How did you beat competitors during deal banking I think when people get caught up in momentum there is that fear of missing out (FOMO) and this is when mistakes are made Son is at his best when he identifies technology mega trends and makes transformative acquisitions to ride these trends as he did with Vodafone Japan and Arm Holdings.  What are the best and worst deals inked by SoftBank in its history?  The acquisitions of Arm Holding (which I led) and Vodafone Japan (before my time) are the best The former was based on a vision of AI at the edge of network while the latter was based on a vision of smartphones dominating the world I hear WeWork India is turning out to be a success and I guess it is because it was always run like a real estate business that it is.  Is your advisor role at Warburg Pincus and other investment funds vastly different from your job as an investment banker Is there a bubble in technology investments What are the best investment themes around the world Both provide the infrastructure layer for the internet and AI respectively.  At the height of 2000 bubble Cisco traded at over 200 times where Nvidia appears to have peaked at 35 times last year There has been a correction recently in public markets valuations in the tech seven have not really been out of touch with fundamentals I do worry about the AI hype in private markets Some of these numbers – startups with no product or plan let alone revenue being valued at $5-10 billion is a little silly Does the moral of your book – The Money Trap align with your philosophy It is a honest attempt to describe my experiences in a way that people I am driven by intellectual curiosity and a desire to learn it is my way of understanding and learning.  April saw a 3% increase in automobile retail sales in India and a pause in the global tariff war were key factors While all segments except commercial vehicles saw growth cautious consumer behavior and price hikes impacted the market Affirm spinoff Resolve raised $60m from investors including its parent company.. SoftBank just led a $40bn funding round into OpenAI and is backing the $500bn Stargate AI project announced by President Trump Big bets haven't always gone well for the investment fund - is this time different Alok Sama was a close advisor to Masayoshi Son as the SoftBank CEO transformed his telecoms and investment business into a tech empire While that period saw some inspired dealmaking it is also remembered for a series of Vision Fund investments that resulted in heavy losses Now SoftBank is back with a new series of deals, leading a $40bn investment round into OpenAI This is the largest ever funding round for a private tech company SoftBank is also a lead partner in The Stargate Project a massive AI infrastructure initiative aimed at investing up to $500bn in the United States by 2029.  But Sama thinks Son’s new AI projects will be different “The Vision Fund was way ahead of its time [in 2016] in terms of [there not being] a corpus of that size to be invested in for AI-related things You just didn’t have enough opportunity,” he tells Global Corporate Venturing “It’s now realistic to think in terms of investing $100bn and potentially a lot more in AI infrastructure And they are addressing what is a very legitimate bottleneck which is data centre infrastructure in the broadest sense Not just the data centres: the real estate the Nvidia and other chips that go into these servers not to be reminded of the $100bn Vision Fund The fund threw large amounts of capital at tech startups serving Son’s ambition of bringing “happiness to all” through technological development It became notorious following disasters like WeWork’s failed IPO and the collapse of portfolio companies that had received heavy investment Sama recalls this pivotal time at SoftBank in his book The Money Trap He joined the company as CFO in 2014 and spent the next five years by his boss’s side before leaving the company in 2020 he says he is confident that Stargate is not a repeat of the Vision Fund This time the market can handle the injection of capital and SoftBank is well-placed to help with infrastructure “One of the things which probably hasn’t gotten enough time in the media is that SoftBank used to be one of the biggest generators of solar power in the world,” he says a renewable energy project platform backed by SoftBank “It’s a very significant business And that’s part of what SoftBank will bring to the table: power infrastructure.” “One of the things which probably hasn’t gotten enough time in the media is that SoftBank used to be one of the biggest generators of solar power in the world.” So now the Japanese technology company is once again trying to set itself up to become a leader in the tech of the future. This is the story of Son’s career: amid the failed ventures, there are spectacular successes. He was an early investor in Alibaba the Chinese e-commerce giant; he persuaded Steve Jobs to give him distribution rights to the iPhone in Japan – supposedly before anybody else knew of the phone’s existence; and he acquired the UK AI chip design company Arm for $31bn in 2016 which went public in 2023 and closed at $65bn on its first day Arm’s market capitalisation is over $110bn It might look like there is a hint of the roulette table to all of this but Sama thinks describing Son as a gambler is a “mischaracterisation” “[Son] says he’s a crazy guy who lives in the future you’re reading tomorrow’s headlines,” he says So he has no issues with levering up or betting the company 10 times over because he’s just so sure of himself and his view of where the technology is that there is no risk.” Sama’s book chronicles a time starting in the late 1990s, when internet stocks were soaring and “smug” bankers were outpaced by young overnight tech billionaires. Sama, who started out in investment banking, joined SoftBank in 2014. Masayoshi Son reportedly thinks of the company as an empire and there was certainly something imperial about the business Sama joined The Money Trap follows Son’s monomaniacal dealmaking campaign, where he charged around the globe looking for partners who could help him change civilisation through technology. Sama recounts how Son disturbed Arm’s chairman’s sailing holiday with an acquisition bid, cut short a meeting with Deutsche Telekom executives that he found condescending and fascinated Narendra Modi with his techno-optimism This is against a backdrop of countless private jet flights meetings with figures like Mark Zuckerberg – who boasts of killing a chicken – and a smear campaign against Sama and SoftBank Group president Nikesh Arora that unsettles the emperor’s inner circle with its unprecedented generosity of capital is described as popping up on Silicon Valley “like that alien and transformative Space Odyssey monolith,” changing the venture capital landscape overnight Its spectacular losses after the tech bubble burst are covered in the epilogue “I think the media loves the story of a multibillionaire brought down to Earth – hubris Sama was never directly involved in the Vision Fund’s management but he did raise concerns with Son at the time about the wisdom of some of the investments but along the way he made over $100bn in Arm [at the February market cap of $170bn] And that makes up for a bunch of WeWorks or some of the other accidents along the way.” Son retreated from the spotlight after the Vision Fund became a byword for VC failure just as he had disappeared twenty years earlier when the dot com crash wiped out almost all his net worth But now he is making another return to the stage with the Stargate Project and a prominent partnership with OpenAI Arm is now expected to release its own in-house chip this year in a move to disrupt the semiconductor design sector And through the Vision Fund’s successor, Vision Fund 2, SoftBank remains one of the most prolific investors on GCV’s CVC Funding Round Database It is still backing futuristic tech through its investments in companies like Helion which is making a neutral atom quantum computer “There is something very special about [him],” he says of Son “It goes back to [his depiction in my] book and the number of times he talked about changing the course of humanity And this thing about happiness for everyone Stephen Hurford is a junior reporter for Global Corporate Venturing Which corporates are backing which startups Find details about global CVC units in the CVC Directory Comprehensive data on the current trends in corporate investment GCV provides the global corporate venturing community and their ecosystem partners with the information insights and access needed to drive impactful open innovation Across our three services - News & Analysis and the GCV Institute - we create a network-rich environment for global innovation and capital to meet and thrive At the heart of our community sits the GCV Leadership Society providing privileged access to all our services and resources SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / February 18, 2025 / Sama responsible enterprise AI with agile data labeling for model development and supervised fine-tuning today announced the launch of Agentic Capture a feedback framework for multi-modal agentic AI Built on Sama's configurable capture platform this new framework is capable of managing the types of multi-modal complex use cases necessary for agentic AI across a variety of industries built on Sama's extensible data labeling platform accurate annotation through the use of high-quality rubrics and instructions The framework's precision insights and transparent reporting provide a deeper understanding of the AI agent's behaviors and its impact on model goals and offers the human in the loop (HITL) validation necessary to effectively iterate on model performance AI agents are models that can act autonomously to make decisions, take actions and learn from interactions to help solve problems or achieve specific goals. The agentic AI market is expected to explode over the next five years, moving from a current value of USD 5.1 billion to USD 47.1 billion by 2030 The success of these agents will hinge on their ability to effectively mimic human behavior which will require ingesting data from multiple modalities This new functionality is a step change from today's current large language models (LLMs) which while useful in augmenting human capabilities are limited by their inability to process multiple modalities Sama's Agentic Capture framework makes it easier to integrate multiple types of data into the AI model while providing the consistent human judgement needed to effectively utilize that data "Sama works with some of the leading AI model builders in the world and that has placed us at the forefront of innovation While LLMs have taken center stage for AI models We are in the early stages now of seeing the impact AI agents will have on the industries and companies we work with," said Duncan Curtis "Agentic AI is on the precipice of exploding in capabilities and use cases and our new framework is designed to make it easier to leverage data - whether text-based audio or video - to enable AI agents to autonomously complete their tasks We're excited to continue working closely with our partners to build out a robust framework that meets the burgeoning needs of this technology." Use cases for AI agents run the gamut from human-like customer service in retail and insurance; to optimizing production in manufacturing; fraud detection in finance; resume screening recruitment and training in human resources; analyzing consumer behaviors in marketing and much more Sama's data capture framework builds on the company's decades of experience assessing and improving AI models Sama's proprietary HITL approach has consistently provided models with feedback from expert annotators validating a model's behavior and ensuring it is performing to standards This feedback is woven throughout the entire model development process LLM optimization and ongoing model evaluation ensuring clients can develop models in a more responsible way which routinely delivers a 98% first batch acceptance rate Sama is a global leader in data annotation solutions for computer vision Our solutions minimize the risk of model failure and lower the total cost of ownership through an enterprise ready ML-powered platform and SamaIQ™ actionable data insights uncovered by proprietary algorithms and a highly skilled on-staff team of over 5,000 data experts 40% of FAANG companies and other major Fortune 50 enterprises trust Sama to help deliver industry-leading ML models Driven by a mission to expand opportunities for underserved individuals through the digital economy, Sama is a certified B-Corp and has helped more than 68,000 people lift themselves out of poverty. An MIT-led Randomized Controlled Trial has validated its training and employment program. For more information, visit www.sama.com press@samasource.org LinkedIn Announcements: Lisa:Training AI agents is even more complex than training LLMs which is why I'm excited to announce the launch of Agentic Capture a framework built for training multi-modal AI agents Even in well-established procedural workflows the actions taken by human agents are often cryptic and cluttered with superfluous information it's frequently unclear why they occurred or how to address them-leading to AI agents that fail to recover and adapt Agentic Capture transforms raw agent traces into interpretable steps enabling effective oversight and meaningful improvements in AI agent performance Strategic guidance that helps organizations develop a clear roadmap by defining the data and workflows necessary for effective feedback and alignment A process-focused feedback system that enables continuous improvement based on detailed performance analysis Proactive error detection that identifies model behavior gaps early and improves model understanding If you're in the process of training an AI agent - let's chat Wendy:I am excited to announce the launch of @Sama's Agentic Capture a feedback framework specifically designed for multi-modal agentic AI This framework addresses a critical gap in the AI industry: the ability to effectively build and improve AI agents while maintaining comprehensive oversight The solution combines strategic guidance with a sophisticated monitoring interface enabling organizations to track AI processes and implement meaningful improvements based on detailed performance analysis and seamless integration with existing infrastructure help improve gaps in model understanding resulting in higher performance If you're struggling with your AI Agent's performance reach out and I can connect you with our team of solution engineers Duncan:Product teams know the struggle: building reliable AI agents is hard the logs are often a maze of cryptic traces and superfluous information You're left wondering not just what went wrong but how to fix it-and how to prevent it from happening again Here's what makes our framework a game-changer for product teams: A powerful trace analysis system that converts complex agent logs into clear actionable insights-making debugging intuitive rather than overwhelming Built-in tools that allow domain experts (not just engineers) provide meaningful feedback on agent behavior Proactive error detection to identify model behavior issues before they hit production An implementation approach that integrates seamlessly with your existing cloud infrastructure We built this because we faced many of the same problems If you're looking to make your AI agent development more transparent and effective We’d like to share more about how we work and what drives our day-to-day business How we use your information depends on the product and service that you use and your relationship with us To learn more about how we handle and protect your data, visit our privacy center Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process We’ve detected that JavaScript is disabled in this browser Please enable JavaScript or switch to a supported browser to continue using x.com You can see a list of supported browsers in our Help Center Help Center Semafor Business’ signature interview series,  On The Record, brings you conversations with the people running, shaping, and changing our economy. Read earlier conversations with Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz and THL CEO Scott Sperling. describing in a memoir out this week his mindset as a Morgan Stanley investment banker approaching mid-career burnout in 2014 when a chance encounter changed his course: At a wedding in Italy standing slightly removed from the others” and with “the wizened appearance of Yoda.” like the tale Mark Zuckerberg recounted over a dinner in Tokyo about shooting a bison and having the head stuffed and placed in then-Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg’s office who is now an advisor to private-equity firm Warburg Pincus as I recall from my reporting at the time — his growing unease with the risks SoftBank was taking in particular its enabling of Adam Neumann But he doesn’t cast himself as the voice of sanity getting shouted down He revels in the financial engineering that he brought to the party and more than once expresses his admiration for “the master of debt,” Michael Milken whom he first meets as a young MBA student at Wharton and again 30 years later when the rehabilitated junk-bond king proposes a debt swap to help alleviate Sprint’s financial woes and neither will the rock star hedge fund managers,” he writes “because when it comes to irrational exuberance we are no better than Uber drivers punting on Tesla stock.” This conversation has been edited and condensed for length and clarity Liz Hoffman: You write pretty cynically about Silicon Valley and Wall Street It certainly was huge. It was ambitious. It was based on Masa’s vision of how AI might transform the world. And I think he struggled to find, obviously, more bets like Nvidia and ARM. I don’t believe it was a disaster. I think what has followed — you know, Tiger Global and others — I think that’s when people got carried away You were there in 2016 when Saudi Arabia and the UAE were pouring money into the tech scene Their challenge is to get people to really invest in technology in the region My sense is that most people are still running over there to get capital That’s going to become a little bit tougher when [Gulf governments] discover that they’re not necessarily getting the inward commitments that they’re looking for You were a tech investment banker at Morgan Stanley when the dot-com bubble burst which provided the plumbing for the internet Nvidia is doing the plumbing for the hyperscalers bringing up these massive data centers Nvidia trades between 35 and 40 times forward earnings which is just not outrageous for a company with 75% margins and growing as fast as it is And the big investments that Microsoft and Google and Facebook are making — it’s a monumental number but if they’re overinvested $15 billion here or there Investors won’t get hurt in the same fashion Where things are a little bit different is the private market. I look at OpenAI being valued at $150 billion and I scratch my head. Look who’s invested; it’s Microsoft and [reportedly] Nvidia and Microsoft uses capital to buy Nvidia chips And I’m not suggesting OpenAI isn’t worth a lot The jury is out as to whether it will be as scalable with the same platform effects as Google once had you tell Masa that if he wants to bet on AI because they’re going to end up being the big beneficiaries I actually took that line from [investor] Yuri Milner. Back in 2016, I asked him, ‘Why aren’t you thinking about AI as the next big thing? Why are you talking about food delivery?’ which he was really into at the time His answer was that the big chunk of the value creation from AI is going to be captured by the biggest companies you express some concern about the risks and the leverage Is there anything you’d have done differently ‘why didn’t you stop him?’ And my response is do you think he would have done Alibaba?’ And I would have been wrong Sign up for Semafor .css-w8sqnb{text-transform:capitalize;}business As the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) looks toward its future with a recently-acquired one-acre plot of land added to its riverside property the 44-year-old museum has selected notable architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron to create a comprehensive campus plan The Basel, Switzerland-based firm won plaudits for its 2000 redesign of the Tate Modern, in particular for respecting the structure of the original power station building while renovating it to house contemporary art. The firm also designed the Tate’s 2016 Switch House addition the museum campus plan will “thoughtfully integrate SAMA’s unique location along the San Antonio River and its historic brewery buildings while addressing the evolving needs of the city’s residents and visitors.” Neff called the historic 19th-century Lone Star Brewery buildings housing SAMA “fantastic,” but said the complex wasn’t purpose-built for art which has created challenges for storage and loading as well as for sightlines and circulation through the galleries “This really was a test case for adaptive reuse,” Ms The new campus plan will address those issues as well as the museum’s role “within the broader context of San Antonio,” as “a critical node” along the city’s River Walk linking downtown to the Pearl brewery district Herzog & de Meuron’s aim will be to amplify the charm of the existing buildings and outdoor spaces “As stewards of the last remaining green space along the Museum Reach” — as the River Walk’s northern expanse is called — “and owners of the largest property adjacent to the river this master plan will serve as a critical roadmap welcoming space for the community to enjoy.” which includes opportunities for community input is expected to be completed by the end of June 2025 and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" HAA Cultural Events Calendar Your Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb “The use of this footage was unauthorised and done without my consent,” said the Palestinian DJ Palestinian DJ Sama’ Abdulhadi has criticised US Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris for the unauthorised use of footage of her DJing in a campaign video In a statement posted on Instagram yesterday (22nd October) captioning the post: “I am Sama’ Abdulhadi I don’t endorse any US political party.” The video in question was published on YouTube by the Harris-Waltz campaign and includes footage from Abdulhadi’s set at Detroit’s Movement festival “The use of this footage was unauthorised and done without my consent,” Abdulhadi wrote stressing that any implication of her support for Harris is “totally and utterly false.” She added that the clip was "deeply offensive to my social and political beliefs" and characterised it as "misleading political advertising by VP Harris's campaign." In March this year, a report delivered to the UN Human Rights Council said that there are "reasonable grounds" to believe that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza The DJ’s comments come amid her long-standing advocacy for Palestine, as seen in recent projects such as her 'fabric presents' mix Profits from the launch event of that release were donated to The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund From 2021, revisit DJ Mag's cover feature with Abdulhadi. We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution. I don’t believe at all that [it] would be worse than what we’ve been through what we lived through,” says Syrian activist and filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab as she celebrates the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship to Syrian opposition groups who was forced to flee her hometown of Aleppo with her family in 2016 and now resides in the United Kingdom says the end of Assad’s rule has reignited the “dream of a free Syria.” Her Oscar-nominated documentary film For Sama offered a rare glimpse into Syria’s civil war The devastating personal account was filmed over the course of five years during the uprising in Aleppo and is dedicated to Al-Kateab’s daughter Sama as we continue to look at the fall of the Assad regime with activist and award-winning filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab She was forcibly displaced from her hometown of Aleppo with her family in 2016 The devastating account was filmed over the course of five years starting in 2011 during the uprising in Aleppo Amidst airstrikes and attacks on hospitals Waad falls in love with one of the last remaining doctors in Aleppo When protests against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad first began in 2011 she was a young economics student who began filming on a cellphone Behind those pictures are sandbags to protect from shelling where we’re joined by Waad Al-Kateab As we listen to the bomb exploding as you’re with your baby tell us where that was in Aleppo and what your hopes are for the future I don’t have maybe the right words really to explain I don’t think any Syrian have seen the light at the end of the tunnel and then so much crying and pain and grief and mourning It’s just — I’m so happy and grateful for where we are today AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk about what hope you have for the future since the Syrian revolution started in 2011 that was the time when I and so many other Syrians have felt that we belong to this country we do have the same feeling exactly as 2011 This conversation about what’s going to happen next we were thinking about that like 11 and like 13 years ago I think it was just so much of no end and no hope I don’t believe at all that would be worse than what we’ve been through this for 13 years of being sieged in our own cities if we are now on the other side — and we are — I don’t believe that whatever happened will be worse than what we’ve been through already AMY GOODMAN: Are you concerned now about the possibilities the leading the way for the overthrow of Assad; the leader of HTS How will everyday Syrians or Syrian civil society control the future but they are coming on a long list of concern this is one thing which is definitely important and fair there’s much more things to be looking at which I think you mentioned that earlier on at al-Jolan area and the bombing of some areas and stuff in Syria there’s so many players who are working on Syria and this is — I think it’s something we’re still trying to process and understand It was not matching what was going on on the ground and how this group and other groups who are — were leading this battle today are thinking We’re looking at all the footage that’s coming out groups where we are organizing what’s going on in the new liberated cities And what we are hearing from people on the ground are very much similar to what we have seen in the statements AMY GOODMAN: The voices of Syrian women are so often underrepresented Your journey from student activist to award-winning filmmaker has been extraordinary How do you see your role fitting into the future as a storyteller and an advocate I think we’ve seen this dream of free Syria like 13 years ago and we thought at some point this will never be happening We have so much lobbying within our community the Syrian people were divided by the Syrian regime for years to see this future that’s coming together And this is now the reality of the situation and our hearts still with everyone who’s still waiting for their beloved ones who they were disappeared in Assad’s prisons for so many years AMY GOODMAN: And how old is your daughter today AI-powered travel experiences tailored for the modern traveller at next week’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM) taking place in Dubai Qatar Airways to unveil Arabic-speaking version of Sama at ATM The airline will showcase its solutions including Sama’s AI booking Multi-Sensory Experience and Qsuite – Next Gen the airline will unveil Sama’s new Arabic-speaking capabilities bringing enhanced accessibility and cultural relevance to the world’s first AI-powered digital human cabin crew Qatar Airways Group chief executive officer are delighted to participate in this year’s Arabian Travel Market to help shape the future of travel and connectivity Our innovative approach to enhancing travel experiences is built on the spirit of collaboration and we look forward to joining renowned industry leaders to advance our knowledge exchange.” defence and space news from the Middle East Scott Riner sees beauty in all forms of art colorful expression through paint on canvas or a cleverly turned written phrase on a page Recently named as the new site director at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Altoona the Dysart resident plans on building on his success as site director at the Bedford location it seemed natural for him to add similar responsibilities when the Altoona location position opened earlier this month who left for a management position at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg Riner said he often visited the galleries there while pursuing an English degree with minors in communications and theater he was commissioned by the Saint Francis University Center for Fine Arts to write the 2023 fall theater production “Ekphrasis,” a one-act play inspired by Cara Livorio’s “Return to Eden” art collection which was staged in the Sullivan Gallery at SAMA Loretto but the creative skills of the performance arts translate well He has strong communication skills and the ability to speak and network and bring people together I could see he would be a really good fit.” While it’s the first time Altoona and Bedford have shared a site coordinator Ward said she and other board members saw his hiring “as a new opportunity especially after seeing his strong success in Bedford It’s a great opportunity when going through a change to try something different.” The museum system celebrates its 50th anniversary next year and is examining how to move forward into the future he’s fresh out of school and we’re in this era of change as an organization He has a fresh perspective and he’s done a great job of immersing the museum into the community at Bedford,” Ward explained “Having someone younger we’ll be better able to engage the next generation I’m excited to see him tap into younger people.” is co-mingling the various forms of artistic expression combating “pretentiousness” and “challenging what it means to be a museum of all the arts.” he brought in local musician Coltt Winter Lepley and Zach Bryson of Nashville for a concert Stephen George of Bedford and another member board of director for SAMA said the Lepley-Bryson event and an upcoming holiday-themed event in partnership with Bedford and Chestnut Ridge high schools will bring in people who haven’t stepped through the art gallery’s doors “We live in a day and age when people want to be constantly engaged and entertained I want to go against the pretentious air that is sometimes associated with art Riner said he’s been reaching out to donors coordinating with artists for upcoming exhibitions and more “There’s really no such thing as a typical day,” he said He alternates his physical presence between the two galleries and said advances in technology makes it easy to stay connected because phone calls are easily automatically transferred to his cellphone He’s well into planning a new fundraiser for a to-be-determined date in March called “Exotic Eats,” that draws on his previous experience and connections as a butcher at a grocery store in Loretto Entertainment for the evening will feature a local actor and custom Attendees will be engaged in a variety ways Engagement is key to the museum’s future He’s been here (Bedford) a short time but he’s very hard working He knows what he wants to do and goes about doing it Megan Riner and Elizabeth Yeager; and brother Education: 2019 graduate of Cambria Heights High School and 2023 graduate of Saint Francis University with a bachelor’s degree in English and minors in Communications and Theater Employment: Site director at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Altoona and Bedford; previously worked as a butcher at Smithmyer’s Superette (February 2023 to July 2024) which benefited Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital (2022); wrote which benefited the Patton Public Library (2016) Awards/Honors: At Saint Francis University he received Outstanding English Major in 2023 and Theater Award in 2022; second place winner of DES National Writing Contest (2021 2022) and first place winner of DES National Writing Contest (2020) Antis Township will apply to the state Department of Community and Economic Development for a $250,000 grant to .. Copyright © 2025 Central Pennsylvania Newspapers LLC | https://www.altoonamirror.com | 301 Cayuga Ave. Maid Sama was serialized in Hakusensha’s LaLa magazine until September 24 and now fans can see the adorable couple in a new story that explores the “sweet moments” from right before Misaki and Takumi started officially dating The chapter was included in the March issue of the LaLa DX shojo magazine Sama Bali is a senior product marketer for AI solutions at NVIDIA she spearheaded product marketing for machine learning solutions at Amazon Web Services Her experience spans notable technology companies including Dell Launched this week in limited availability, NVIDIA Holoscan for Media is a software-defined, AI-enabled platform that helps developers easily integrate AI into their live media applications and allows media companies… Read Article In the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, generative AI is captivating imaginations and transforming industries…. Read Article already a familiar figure in Qatar Airways’ immersive virtual reality platform is now breaking new ground with a first-of-its-kind conversational flight booking system Seamlessly replacing traditional online forms Sama transforms booking flights into an intuitive Sama is designed to replicate the ease and clarity of a human conversation Travelers can start their booking journey from any point—be it destination Sama intelligently tailors recommendations based on user preferences or even crafting personalized travel itineraries booking with Sama is akin to having a personal travel agent available at their fingertips intuitively refining flight options in real-time and significantly simplifying the entire booking experience This innovation represents Qatar Airways' commitment to pushing boundaries in customer service by seamlessly blending cutting-edge technology with a personal human touch fundamentally transforming how customers interact with and perceive the brand Already known through Qatar Airways' immersive QVerse experience, Sama is expanding her role to inspire travelers as a digital brand ambassador on social media. Through her Instagram presence, @SamaOnTheMove she connects with travelers by sharing genuine insights Sama's digital journey is crafted to resonate deeply with travelers blending AI innovation with real-world inspiration engaging travelers in a meaningful and authentic way This dual role as both AI travel agent and brand ambassador places Sama at the intersection of technology and genuine human connection enhancing Qatar Airways' digital brand presence and redefining the future of travel engagement and he reminded everyone of his talent on Saturday at Houston In the first three games of the 2024 season, the Cyclones' sophomore starting RB and Southeast Polk alum hadn't shown the home-run athleticism that made him a breakout star as a freshman His longest rush entering Week 4 was just 17 yards But in the fourth quarter against the Cougars Sama finally broke out with a 77-yard touchdown run the play was initially stopped well by Houston's defense until Sama emerged from the swarm of bodies to find daylight Abu Sama statsAt the two-minute timeout against Houston Sama had 11 carries for 101 yards and one score Sama had 29 carries for 124 yards and zero TDs on the season Sama tallied 84 carries for 614 yards and six TDs.