Billionaire Investor Chamath Palihapitiya's New AI Venture Could Kill Software Companies, Mark Cuban Says Not So Fast

Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya has gained notoriety over the years for investing in technology companies and specific growth sectors, including through a handful of companies that went public via SPAC mergers.

Palihapitiya has a new idea that could transform the software market.

What Happened: The rising use cases for artificial intelligence were apparent in 2023 with the increasing popularity of ChatGPT and the development of apps capable of saving companies money and performing tasks that could lead to job automation.

Palihapitiya now appears eager to expand on the growth of artificial intelligence in a move to transform businesses.

"I'm starting an incubator. Funded entirely by me. It's called 8090. Tell us what enterprise software you use and my team and I will build you an 80% feature complete version at a 90% discount. We are using AI and offshoring to make this happen," Palihapitiya tweeted.

Palihapitiya’s proposal might enable businesses to avoid paying subscription fees to software providers. Prior to his announcement, Palihapitiya posted a request on Twitter for someone to help with artificial intelligence.

"Can someone please make an AI generated clone of cap table management software? Make it simple, secure and $1,000/yr. There are apparently 40k customers waiting to adopt it (right now)."

Palihapitiya's recent tweets suggest he is ready to go all-in on artificial intelligence for future endeavors.

In November, Palihapitiya suggested that advancements in artificial intelligence could change the venture capital sector. Palihapitiya, who is the CEO of venture capital firm Social Capital, said VC jobs could be replaced by "an automated system of capital against objectives."

Related Link: 5 Things You Might Not Know About Chamath Palihapitiya

Battle With Cuban Again: Billionaire Mark Cuban took note of Palihapitiya's proposed company and shared some advice.

"I would read the tax rules on Sec 174 and how it deals with amortizing R&D with foreign developers. It's a present left over from the Trump administration. Your approach will cost you a fortune in taxes," Cuban said.

According to Cornell, Sec 174 deals with "the case of a taxpayer's specified research or experimental expenditures for any taxable year." The rules list specifics on "foreign research" and "development of any software."

Perhaps Cuban was just trying to be nice and offer up advice. The tweet comes as the two billionaires have had several public disagreements on social media in the last year.

One of the most public disputes involved the two billionaires arguing different sides of the "go woke, go broke" mantra.

Palihapitiya suggested that companies were seeing sales declines due to going woke, which came in the wake of companies like Anheuser-Busch InBev BUD and Target Corp TGT experiencing boycotts over complaints of going woke. The billionaire also suggested that people were moving to states in the South due to political ideologies.

Read Next: Chamath Palihapitiya Calls Out Warren Buffett’s Japanese Investments: Is He Throwing Shade Or Praising The Legendary Investor?

Photo: Courtesy of JD Lasica on Flickr