Reid Hoffman Warns Trump Tariffs Could Boost China as OpenAI Eyes $174B Revenue by 2030 Amid Anthropic Takedowns and Musk Opposition

Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder and venture capitalist, has expressed concerns that the Trump administration's tariffs and federal spending cuts could undermine America's competitiveness in artificial intelligence (AI), potentially giving China an advantage. Hoffman emphasized the transformative impact of AI on industries and advocated for aggressive investment strategies by startups and major technology companies. He also criticized opposition to what he termed "woke AI," suggesting that such resistance could hinder American economic growth. Meanwhile, OpenAI anticipates its revenue to surge from $4 billion in 2024 to $174 billion by 2030, driven by AI agents, new products, and diversified monetization strategies including surveillance and hypertargeted advertising, as highlighted by AI expert Gary Marcus.

However, OpenAI faces internal challenges, with several key safety leaders resigning or being forced out since November, raising questions about the company's mission and governance. In contrast to OpenAI's increasing openness and developer engagement, Anthropic, another AI firm, has issued takedown notices to developers attempting to reverse-engineer its coding tools, signaling a more guarded approach to its technology. Additionally, Hoffman criticized Elon Musk for attempting to block OpenAI's transition to a for-profit model. OpenAI is also exploring new revenue streams beyond subscriptions and API sales, including monetizing free users and selling business plans generated by its AI, which has raised privacy concerns.