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Poolside CEO says most companies shouldn’t build foundation models
Poolside co-founder and CEO Jason Warner did not mince words, stating that he believes the majority of companies should not build foundation AI models. Warner, a former CTO at GitHub and VC at Redpoint, made these comments during his keynote speech at the HumanX AI conference in Las Vegas on Monday.
Warner emphasized that he doesn’t think anyone who doesn’t consider intelligence to be the most important commodity in the world – alongside electricity – should attempt to build a foundation model. He described building such models as being akin to a “printing press for cash unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the world” or alternatively, as having the power to “change and bend the arc of humanity in a way that we’ve not done before.”
Warner pointed out that his company is actively pursuing artificial general intelligence (AGI) through software. He suggested that if companies see foundation models as nothing more than a means to raise venture capital funds, they should simply build a wrapper on an existing foundational model instead.
According to Warner, building a foundation AI model cannot be the only product of a company. Instead, such models should be part of a larger product. He believes that this is especially important in a competitive landscape. “You can’t do simple on one side and hard on the other,” he said. “It doesn’t really make sense, because if you’re going to go for everything, go for everything.”
Warner also revealed that his company plans to launch a consumer application at some point in the future.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/10/poolside-ceo-says-most-companies-shouldnt-build-foundation-models/
