Updated: Feb 19, 2026 – 5 episodes
OpenAI is nearing the completion of the first phase of its funding round, which is expected to raise $100 billion, significantly increasing its valuation to potentially over $850 billion. This funding round includes strategic investments from major players such as Amazon, SoftBank, NVIDIA, and Microsoft, highlighting the intense interest and competition in the AI sector as the company approaches the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Three very different takes here — start with Better Offline for the bear case. They argue that OpenAI's $100 billion funding is unsustainable, highlighting the fragile system of debt and subsidies propping up AI valuations. Last Week in AI offers a mixed perspective, questioning the profitability of AI model providers amidst fierce competition. For a bullish outlook, The a16z Show is your go-to, where they liken AI's transformative potential to electricity and emphasize rapid revenue growth. Begin with Better Offline to understand the skepticism and then contrast it with The a16z Show's optimism.
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Podcast Episodes Covering This Story
The host presents a critical view of the AI funding landscape, arguing that the massive investments in companies like OpenAI are unsustainable and based on a fragile system of debt and subsidies rather than genuine demand or profitability.
“The AI bubble is really a stress test of the global venture capital, private equity, private credit, institutional and banking system and its willingness to fund all of this forever, because there isn't a single generative AI company that's got a path to profitability. Every single part of the industry is fueled by a kind of subsidy, debt or equity.”
The host presents a critical view of the AI funding landscape, suggesting that the hype around OpenAI's valuation and the overall AI sector is misleading and unsustainable.
“The AI bubble is just NVIDIA being handed money and then handing it to people. They're very profitable as well. They do great. Everyone else, not so much. For AI data center deals to make sense, most startups would have to start becoming direct users of AI compute while also spending more on cloud compute services than they've ever spent.”
At a glance
The host critiques the inflated valuations in the AI sector, suggesting that while the numbers are impressive, they mask a troubling reality of unsustainable business models and potential future losses.
Key quote from this episode
“Right now, AI startups are big, exciting news for the limited partners funding large language model companies. Things feel exciting because the value of the assets under management, AUM, are going up, which is nothing dodgy, per se, but it's just how VCs value things... on paper it feels a lot like a lot of VCs got in on companies worth billions of dollars, right? On paper, that is.”
Last Week in AI
#235 - Opus 4.6, GPT-5.3-codex, Seedance 2.0, GLM-5
Date posted: Feb 16, 2026
At a glance
The podcast segment explores the competitive landscape of AI model providers, questioning the sustainability of profitability amidst rising competition and potential margin pressures, which contrasts with the bullish sentiment surrounding OpenAI's massive funding round.
Key quote from this episode
“Is being a model provider going to stay profitable, given that there's not many players in space, but the players in the space are very competitive? Now, also true, enterprises are willing to pay top dollar for whatever is best... but if things are getting neck to neck... the margins have to start falling, right?”
At a glance
The host emphasizes the unprecedented scale of investment in AI and its implications for the market, framing it as a transformative force akin to electricity, which contrasts with the more cautious tone of traditional funding discussions.
Key quote from this episode
“So the build out is massive. And this bodes very, very well for our portfolio companies that are building on top of it. At the same time this is happening, the input cost and input quality is getting remarkably better, like faster than Moore's law. So sort of 100x declines, greater than Moore's law decrease. At the same time, the models have been improving in sort of frontier capabilities by a double factor every seven months.”
At a glance
The podcast segment emphasizes the rapid revenue growth of AI companies like OpenAI, suggesting that the anticipated funding round is a reflection of the broader market's confidence in AI's potential rather than just a financial maneuver.
Key quote from this episode
“If you just add up OpenAI and Anthropic on a run rate basis, they added almost half of that. So I think if you were to do that same comparison for 2026... the AI companies, the model companies will be something like 75 to 80% as much. So it's just staggering how quickly that has happened.”
Sentiment Overview
Bullish (2)
Bearish (3)
Mixed (1)