Reid Hoffman Needs Silicon Valley to ‘Stand Up’ In opposition to the Trump Administration
Reid Hoffman doesn’t do a lot in half measures. He cofounded LinkedIn, after all, and helped bankroll firms together with Meta and Airbnb of their startup days. He has additionally normal himself, through books, podcasts, and different public appearances, as one thing of a public mental—a pro-capitalist thinker who nonetheless insists that tech is usually a drive for good.
Most just lately, Hoffman has emerged as one in all Silicon Valley’s most outstanding defenders of artificial intelligence. His latest guide, 2025’s Superagency, makes the case that AI gained’t diminish human capability however will as an alternative amplify it. In our dialog for this week’s episode of The Big Interview, Hoffman readily riffed on AI’s utility for just about all the pieces, whether or not you’re searching for a analysis assistant or a second opinion in your blood work. Hoffman even relied on AI to make one of the vital unconventional—and maybe uncomfortable, relying in your view of AI-generated creativity—Christmas presents I’ve heard of recently. (And no, he didn’t get me one.)
No matter you consider Hoffman’s utopian views on AI, credit score the place due: He’s additionally a really outspoken critic of President Trump—a uncommon trait in a tech world that’s grown more and more quiet, or cozy, in the case of the cruelties of the US administration. Hoffman’s overt political opinions haven’t been with out consequence: Trump has twice threatened to launch investigations into him, most just lately calling on Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi to dig into Hoffman’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein. (In 2019, Hoffman apologized for his mid-2010s relationship with Epstein, which he says associated solely to fundraising for MIT. He has subsequently referred to as for the federal government to launch the Epstein files in full.)
Regardless of these threats, Hoffman isn’t pulling punches: After we sat all the way down to tape this episode in mid-December, he readily referred to as out the administration for degrading American authorities, criticized his friends for preserving their heads down, and urged Silicon Valley to cease pretending that neutrality is a advantage. If solely extra billionaires have been saying it.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
KATIE DRUMMOND: Reid Hoffman, welcome to The Large Interview. So glad to have you ever right here.
REID HOFFMAN: I am glad to be right here.
We like to start out these conversations with some very quick questions. Little warm-up. Are you prepared?
Nice!
Voice memo or textual content message?
Textual content message.
Cooperative video games or aggressive video games?
Cooperative video games.
The largest distinction between you and Elon Musk?
Sanity.
What’s the toughest lesson you’ve ever needed to be taught?
Oh gosh, there’s an entire lot. Most likely when to surrender.
Who do you would like would run for president in 2028?
Sanity.
Sanity for president.
Sure, precisely. , it is humorous, I most likely cannot give a great reply to that query. I imply, the folks I might need to run for president most likely will not.
Oh, that is too dangerous.
Sure.
You may’t say their names?
Since I’ve tried to influence them to take action, I believe it is most likely rude.
I am fascinated. Subsequent time we discuss, I will drive you to inform me. What’s your one, private, killer use case for AI?
Nicely, I simply generated a vacation Christmas album as my Christmas present for all my mates.
I assume all of them know that it’s AI generated music?
Sure. And it is on data. We put it on data.
So it is out of your coronary heart into the AI …
Sure.
… to their Christmas tree.
I’ve all the time had this want to have Christmas music that has irony in addition to affection for the vacation. So, there is a track on ugly sweaters and, you already know, all of this kinda stuff. Versus the “holly, jolly Christmas,” you already know, one thing that truly has some humor. Virtually like what “Bizarre Al” Yankovic would do if he was doing a Christmas album.
