Good morning from OWITH.ai: the podcast that gives you only what's important to hear in AI and tech world. Venture investors have been anticipating a wave of deregulation and lower interest rates to boost exits and M&A activity. However, the prospect of a trade war, with tariffs and counter-tariffs, is causing uncertainty in the startup economy. Some VCs believe that tariffs may not directly impact startups, but concerns about broader economic consequences affecting the technology industry ecosystem persist. This uncertainty is making VCs hesitant to make decisions, as they wait for clarity amidst the trade war tensions. Foreign funds and Canadian LPs are also being cautious in response to geopolitical tensions. Despite the challenges, some VCs remain optimistic, believing that companies focused on disrupting industries affected by tariffs could benefit in the long run. The current environment creates a challenging landscape for VC dealmakers who must navigate through the fog of a potential trade war while assessing the impact on their portfolio companies.China retaliated against President Trump's tariffs on all Chinese products by announcing three retaliatory measures, including tariffs on various goods and restrictions on mineral exports. Salesforce plans to cut over 1,000 jobs following previous layoffs in November, as part of ongoing restructuring efforts. Softbank and OpenAI have formed a joint venture in Japan to serve the enterprise market, with Softbank also reportedly leading a funding round for OpenAI and collaborating on the Stargate AI infrastructure project in the U.S. Palantir reported $828 million in revenue for Q4, Apple was denied an emergency motion in an antitrust case against Google, and Jay Y. Lee was cleared of fraud charges in South Korea. Other notable news includes MicroStrategy halting Bitcoin purchases, the emergence of Fern Labs, and major tech companies cozying up to Elon Musk.CEOs are navigating the current administration's focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, with some publicly disavowing them while others quietly continue building a diverse workforce. Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong emphasizes the importance of transparency and accountability, noting that workers are tracking and discussing DEI efforts online. Companies that prioritize creating paths for all employees to succeed tend to receive higher ratings on platforms like Glassdoor, which can also translate into better stock performance. In other news, China retaliates against Trump's tariffs, the automotive industry is evolving rapidly, and Senator Elizabeth Warren warns against providing Elon Musk's organization with access to the treasury payment system.OpenAI has introduced new specialized AI agents, namely Operator and Deep Research, with Deep Research proving to be immediately useful. O3-Mini, OpenAI's reasoning model, is now available for free in ChatGPT's free tier. Fully automated companies are discussed, highlighting the collective advantages AI can offer beyond raw IQ. Anthropics has developed constitutional classifiers to defend against universal jailbreaks in AI. Dylan Patel and Nathan Lambert discuss various AI topics on Lex Fridman's show. DeepSeek, a Chinese company, has risen quickly with its open-source reasoning model R1, challenging American AI dominance.The impact of AI on the labor market is explored, emphasizing the potential for job losses to lead to new roles and increased value for human-made work. DeepSeek's victory over American AI companies raises geopolitical questions and challenges assumptions about the capabilities and competitiveness of Chinese AI labs. Myths about DeepSeek are debunked, including misconceptions about its team size, achievements, and data pr

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