These gigantic valuations for AI startups are only there because the startups aren't choosing to exit yet - big demand, low supply. Whilst acknowledging my lack of a crystal ball, I would imagine that once the few biggest companies have had their fill of acquiring AI startups for billions at a time, the remaining startups won't be so desirable any longer.
YC needs to make sure they actually have a market to sell these startups to before their valuation starts dropping again. Predicting that requires a certain kind of intuition, whereas 'traditional' software startups have a more predictable lifecycle. I'm not the 'hype type' myself - I don't really trust stocks without intrinsic value behind them :)
I'm really curious to know why my root comment saying 'this investment strategy is very risky and would make me nervous' has loads of upvotes, but my parent comment here - which I think has broadly the same message phrased in a different way - has three downvotes. Please enlighten me :)
YC needs to make sure they actually have a market to sell these startups to before their valuation starts dropping again. Predicting that requires a certain kind of intuition, whereas 'traditional' software startups have a more predictable lifecycle. I'm not the 'hype type' myself - I don't really trust stocks without intrinsic value behind them :)