If “taste” is the buzzword in the AI world right now, then IRL events have become the best way to demonstrate it.
As AI becomes more competitive and taste — the idea of having superior aesthetic judgment — emerges as a key differentiator, AI companies and young founders are hosting intimate, curated gatherings — often dinner parties — to cultivate cool and build real-world communities.
Many of these curated events follow a similar blueprint: a promo that looks like an A24 film poster and grainy, film-like photos that make it feel more like a 90s-era house party than a tech founders’ event.
“I think trusted (human) curation is so important now, even more than ever,” said Michelle Fang, who leads Stripe Startups, a program offering financial support and resources to early-stage, venture-backed companies, and has a weekly newsletter that rounds up in-person tech events in San Francisco.
Fang said that when she first started the newsletter in 2023, she posted an average of 20 to 30 in-person events a week. That number has now risen to 70 to 80 a week.
“There’s been a noticeable shift in both the frequency and types of events happening in SF, especially over the past year,” she said.
AI has accelerated this trend dramatically, she said, as the AI boom brings an influx of talent who want to establish their community in the city.
While some of the events Fang has listed are traditional building workshops and hackathons, others include Pilates classes, peptide tasting parties — the latest self-optimization craze — and “intentionally curated” dinners.
It’s a vibe shift from the large happy hours and networking events that defined post-pandemic tech socializing, said Fang. These smaller events don’t require a big budget or venue, and with the speed of AI growth, people want to make sense of new concepts and the changes happening in real time, she said.
‘Taste is a new core skill’
The taste conversation kicked off earlier this year when Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham wrote in a post on X that, as AI democratizes building, “taste will become even more important.”
Two days later, OpenAI President Greg Brockman cemented the catchphrase on X, writing that “Taste is a new core skill.” Since then, it’s led the tech world to hyperfocus on AI companies and founders who are winning the taste battle.
Alongside the taste discourse, being offline has become a status symbol. Having the ability to de-digitalize is seen as a luxury and a way to connect with people more authentically, with in-person events being a means to achieve this, especially for those whose working lives already revolve around AI.
An event “only for hot people and nerds” in Bangalore, which appeared to be in collaboration with the early-stage Bangalore-based consumer tech company Faff, made the rounds on X earlier this month. The vibe is artfully arranged cheese boards, trendy cocktail menus (with AI puns), and grainy photos.
Ami Yoshimura, the 23-year-old cofounder of Verci, a members club and coworking space in New York, hosts events such as rooftop parties and multi-day retreats for founders and creatives. “Relationships, aesthetics, and telling a story” have become crucial ways to stand out in the hyper-competitive AI industry, he said.
Small parties, big bucks
It’s not just San Francisco that is seeing this event boom.
Katia Ameri, a partner at A16z who spearheads Tech Week in San Francisco, LA, and New York City, wrote on X last month that New York was so far the largest Tech Week in history by events and attendees. The LA and San Francisco equivalents are coming up later this year.
Eliza Wu, cofounder of Corner, a social mapping app that describes itself as “Google but social,” wrote in a post on X that there were over 600 RSVPs for a panel she was hosting at New York Tech Week.
Leading AI companies are also taking note. In April, Anthropic posted a brand events lead role in San Francisco, with a salary of up to $400,000.
There are four open marketing events positions at Anthropic, while OpenAI has two open positions for events, commanding over $200,000 salaries with options to gain equity too.
Andrew Yeung, an ex-Google and Meta product lead turned event host and angel investor, wrote on X in response to the job advert that it shows Anthropic understands that “they need to create visceral, unforgettable IRL experiences that make complex technology feel accessible and human.”
“The massive opportunity now is offline, analog, in-person,” he said.
But while the taste that goes into hosting a party is human, we are living in an AI world — and as with your job applications, an AI screener might still be standing between you and an invitation.
Wu, the cofounder who hosted a New York Tech Week event with 600 RSVPs, said she turned to Claude to winnow down her guest list.
She said she prompted the chatbot to scan through potential attendees’ social posts to identify “markers of excellence” and to suss out the “quality of their thoughts.”
With the help of Claude, only 300 people made the cut.
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