Venture capital pioneer Vinod Khosla says AI will deliver broad deflation

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. MENLO PARK , CALIFORNIA : At a time of widespread concerns about the safety, efficacy and economics of AI, venture capital pioneer Vinod Khosla is still all in. Yes, artificial intelligence will become capable of replacing a good deal of human labor, Khosla said in an interview, but that will push down the price of healthcare, education and other services.

Many current forms of work will even be eliminated, but society will be able to create a more robust safety net than is possible today. “Most expertise in the world, whether you’re talking about structural engineers, oncologists, mental health therapists or primary care doctors, or journalists and teachers, that expertise will be near-free for all of us to access," Khosla said at Khosla Ventures’ offices on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley. Khosla, 69, is worth listening to at a freighted moment for the development of AI, partly because of his record as a driving force in technology since he co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982.

He joined venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins in 1986, where his investments returned over $10 billion to the firm. His $3 million investment in Juniper Networks earned $7 billion for Kleiner. Khosla also invested in OpenAI in 2018, well before the launch of its groundbreaking ChatGPT app in November 2022.

He expects the pace of innovation—there and at other AI companies—to continue and even accelerate, eventually dispelling much of the doubt and fear that surrounds the technology today. About 80% of the work involved in 80% of jobs across the economy can be automated over time, according to Khosla. “So 64% of all jobs can be done by an AI," he said.