Friday Follow Up
An AI battle to watch, a video explainer on regulatory changes, and Coursera's content path
Phil Hill
September 12, 2025
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It’s nice to be back from my east coast swing (NC to VA to NYC) that was capped off by the HolonIQ Back to School Summit. That event, while smaller, is starting to feel like ASU+GSV in terms of a lot of good connections and conversations there, going far beyond the investing roots. But it is also worth watching what happens in 2026, as both GSV Summits and HolonIQ have been acquired. Hive (which owns Bett) bought GSV Summits and will run ASU+GSV from now on (with an expected name change after April 2026). Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), acquired HolonIQ and already made its presence known this week. Do the new owners understand the cultural history and assumptions that make ASU+GSV and Back to School so important? Do they have alternate plans? We’ll find out.
On to the update.
An AI Battle to Watch
From the Wall Street Journal:
OpenAI executives are growing concerned that mounting political scrutiny in California could stymie their efforts to become a for-profit company and have discussed a last-ditch option of moving out of the state.
Some of California’s biggest philanthropies, nonprofits and labor groups are joining forces to push back on the startup’s high-stakes restructuring plan. Because OpenAI is controlled by a nonprofit, they are asking the state’s attorney general to ensure the new company it creates doesn’t violate the state’s charitable trust law.
Attorneys general in California and Delaware are investigating OpenAI’s proposed plan. The regulators have a legal responsibility to protect their states’ charities. They have the power to sue OpenAI for potentially breaking nonprofit law or require the company to pay a settlement as a condition for the restructure.
