Emmett Shear has big ideas about generative AI, and his new company will give him a chance to put those plans into action. The former Twitch CEO is one of the co-founders of Stem AI, a stealth startup backed by major Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Since Stem AI is currently in stealth, few details about the company have been made public. Thanks to TechCrunch, we know that Shear is launching his new venture alongside Adam Goldstein, an entrepreneur who founded the travel booking site Hipmunk. Data from Pitchbook reveals that Stem AI is a “developer of artificial intelligence software” that linked up with a16z earlier this year as part of a $41 million seed round.
Shear co-founded Twitch precursor Justin.tv in 2007 and took over as the streaming hub’s CEO in 2011. He guided Twitch through 12 years of ups and downs (and some lefts and rights) and steered the company through its acquisition by Amazon before announcing his departure from the CEO role in March 2023.
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After leaving Twitch, Shear briefly reappeared as the CEO of ChatGPT developer OpenAI. Shear’s tenure at the Microsoft-backed firm was short-lived; though he ousted Sam Altman, OpenAI’s Co-Founder and preceding CEO was reinstated just a few days after his initial firing.
Shear was unfortunate to have such a short stint at OpenAI. The turmoil surrounding Altman seemed to have more to do with internal politics than anything else, and Shear never got the chance to implement his ideas about generative AI development.
Now, with Stem AI, the oft-outspoken exec will get the chance to lead a company into the future of tech. He has sounded off on proposed AI regulations, favored more transparency, and criticized the personalities that AI chatbots display. On the latter of those topics, Altman has a great point. Personality issues related to generative AI bots have led to legal issues for developers, so perhaps Stem AI will use its resources to develop AI modelss that are more personable, affable, responsible, and ethical.
Shear isn’t the only Twitch big shot with a new company in the works. Justin Kan, the individual who gave Justin.tv its name, recently announced a venture in the music business.
