Is DEI Really 'Anti-Merit'? Plus: Microsoft Teams' Antitrust, Ilya's 'Safe' AI & More (Full Episode)

What lies at the intersection of 'diversity' and 'meritocracy'? Learn how Silicon Valley insiders defy polarized pop narratives to build talented teams with diverse perspectives.
In this week's episode, Amir Shevat joins Chris and Yaniv to discuss:
- Tipping the Scale: The seasonal 'meritocracy vs. diversity' debate returns to Silicon Valley. Scale AI CEO Alexander Wang suggests replacing DEI with MEI ('merit, excellence and intelligence').
- Thinking Cap: Ilya Sutskever takes a few parting shots at OpenAI as he launches a new startup, SSI ('Safe Super Intelligence'), focusing on AI safety. But can an AI startup move fast without breaking things?
- Dig Up, Stupid: The old adage suggests that those who sell shovels get rich during a gold rush. But are there too many AI picks and shovels, and not enough miners?
- Failing Vision: Apple have struggled to make a case for the Vision Pro. Has AI made AR more appealing than VR?
- There's No EU in Teams: Microsoft faces an EU antitrust case over anti-competitive behaviour for bundling Teams with Office.
00:00 Intro
00:49 On Today's Show
02:41 The Startup Podcast Pact
03:09 Scale AI's 'MEI': Meritocracy vs. Diversity
20:00 Ilya's New Venture: 'Safe' Super Intelligence
27:20 AI Picks and Shovels: Too Many Enterprise Tools?
38:21 The Future of Apple's Vision Pro
49:20 Microsoft Teams Faces EU Antitrust
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Editor: Justin McArthur / justin-mcarthur
Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang web-strategist.com/
#startup #entrepreneur #ai #mei #dei #ssi #antitrust #microsoft #applevision

[@Nick-Salv]

For some context, I’m a moderate that leans right as of late… but on the DEI front, quick point to make here: Amir (and partially Yaniv) disregarded the current definition of “diversity” in the U.S. as it stands today and spoke to “diversity of thought” instead… That’s not what anyone means when they say diversity, and I think we need to admit that. DEI professionals & departments at companies/corporations, along with the average progressive, are distinctly talking about diversity of color/race. One might think ethnicity is included here, but it’s far from the truth; when progressives and DEI leaders speak in broad strokes of White vs Black, they’re throwing out the entire contexts of ethnicity, culture and… yes, diversity of thought too. Because to say “Blacks think this way” and “Whites think this way” is so embarrassingly reductionist (and I’d add it’s belittling & patronizing) to massive groups of people that ARE incredibly diverse within those poorly-labeled groups. Are there prejudices that exist in the U.S. today? Of course. I don’t deny that. But why do you think affirmative action never worked? Why are schools that adopted that policy now struggling to keep the avg student scores up? Why are companies now nixing DEI depts? It’s because they’re favoring some non-existent ideal ratio of color:color/race:race instead of meritocracy, and it shows in the bottom line. It’s because there’s no good study or statistics today that say DEI “works” or shows progress for anyone involved, and in some ways has shown negative impact. This isn’t the mid 1900s anymore, there’s a TON of progress as far as women and minority groups; we are a long way from the country we once were. I do agree that it gets political like Yaniv said but for the reason that people are still blindly accepting that DEI is a “good thing” without ever listening to arguments on the other side (diversity of thought, perhaps?) and instead calling it racist or MAGA to shut down convos. Yes, this happens. I’ve heard it and seen it myself. Anyway… sorry for the rant. I do love you guys and the pod. Keep it up, even the topics that make me go off a little. 😆

[@Nick-Salv]

Oh and I would add, I would LOVE to hear and explore other ways or policies to improve DEI as long as we’re talking strictly about diversity of thought! I’ve never seen any of that though, sadly… And regarding supporting minority groups & women and other underrepresented subgroups, I’m all for this. Let’s just leave the broad strokes labels at home and dig into the real problems instead of top-down policies that often cause more harm in the long run than good.

[@ChrisSaad]

Thanks for the thoughtful comments, Nick! Definition of terms is really, really important - especially in contentious issues

[@neuronwave]

Great comment. I've been recently ie. post Oct 7 also considering the intersection (probably not the best word to use) of DEI advocates and the Progressive Left and how these two interplay not perhaps so much in the tech workspace, but for sure it is occurring....just look at the google sit in, and whether the same oppressed/oppressor lens coming from race and colour in a US context is toxically manifesting itself here in Australia in many ways not least the seeming need for 'safe spaces' and everyone gets medals approach to education, university (doing away with entrance requirements) and thus into the workforce and what impact this will have. Granted, probably not something for startups given the focus we need to have internally to deliver product above all else.