The Profile: OpenAI’s master builder and Silicon Valley’s power player

This edition of The Profile features Greg Brockman, Sydney Sweeney, Bret Taylor, and others.

Good morning, friends!

In my annual birthday reflection, I wrote that one of the lessons I’ve learned is that “a focused brain is the antidote to general anxiety.”

Here’s what I meant by that:

People often ask how I managed to write a book while caring for my newborn daughter back in 2021. At the time, I didn’t fully understand it, but I do now: writing that book wasn’t just a task, it was a life raft.

If you’re prone to anxiety and don’t give your brain something meaningful to work on, it will start inventing problems just to have something to solve.

When my son was born two years later, I had fewer creative outlets, so he became my sole focus. And while that sounds noble, it actually made the postpartum baby blues hit harder than they did with my daughter. There was nothing wrong, but I became hyper-vigilant — on edge, scanning for danger that didn’t exist. It reminded me of that old saying: “The devil makes work for idle hands.” When your mind isn’t engaged with purpose, it tends to spiral.

It’s not about mindless distraction, but rather about being intentional with your attention. Direct your brain toward something that feeds you. It can be a project, a goal, a creative pursuit — literally anything that gives your mind a productive outlet.

That’s why I’m choosing, this time around, to do both — to spend my days with my newborn twins and keep writing. It’s not about “doing it all,” but about keeping my mind occupied with work that feels incredibly meaningful to me.

I’m endlessly grateful that this work allows me to do both: to write when the babies nap, and to occasionally step back into the world — like last week, when I moderated a conversation between Sequoia’s Doug Leone and Check Point CEO Nadav Zafrir.

For a moment, I was back on stage, immersed in big ideas and lively debate. It reminded me how good it feels to do what I love: have deep, fascinating conversations with people whose vision expands how I see the world.

Stay tuned for more!

— Polina

PROFILES.

— OpenAI’s master builder [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— Silicon Valley’s power player
— The 68-year-old on trial for motherhood
— The actress trying to keep her life private
— Hollywood’s most famous divorce lawyer

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

OpenAI’s master builder: Greg Brockman built OpenAI by betting that “compute is the currency of intelligence.” After being sidelined amid internal turmoil, he reemerged as the company’s builder-in-chief — engineering trillion-dollar infrastructure deals and pushing the limits of hardware, power, and physics to reach artificial general intelligence. His latest move involves a multibillion-dollar partnership with AMD to fuel OpenAI’s Stargate Project, a data-center network generating six gigawatts of compute. Brockman aims to build the backbone of intelligence itself. (FORTUNE)

“When it comes to OpenAI and the business, Greg is his own person, but he does not go sideways with Sam on company strategy—especially partnerships.”

Silicon Valley’s power player: Bret Taylor might be the most quietly powerful man in Silicon Valley. The 45-year-old has built Google Maps, invented Facebook’s “Like” button, co-led Salesforce, chaired Twitter through Elon Musk’s takeover, and now steers OpenAI — all without becoming a household name. As he launches his new AI startup, Sierra, Taylor is determined not to repeat the mistakes of the Dot com era he lived through at Stanford. His goal is to build something that lasts longer than the hype cycles. (Bloomberg; alternate link)

“I’ve seen so many companies grow and then go down, I probably do have a paranoia about that.”

The 68-year-old on trial for motherhood: MaryBeth Lewis is a 68-year-old mother of 13 who loved motherhood so much she forged her husband’s signature, tricked an IVF clinic, and used a surrogate at 66 to bring home “just one more” set of twins. Instead, those babies were taken into foster care, and MaryBeth now faces dozens of felony charges, financial ruin, and the possibility of prison. Her case forces a brutal question: When science, courts, and desperation collide, who counts as a mother? (The New York Times; alternate link)

“What you did was terrible. You will never see these babies.”

The actress trying to keep her life private: At 28, Sydney Sweeney has become one of Hollywood’s most fascinating paradoxes — a private person at the center of every cultural storm. Sweeney’s recent American Eagle ad sparked political debate, presidential commentary, and a 38% surge in the brand’s shares. But Sweeney is staying grounded, channeling her intensity into two new films — Christy, a boxing biopic, and The Housemaid, a dark thriller. “I’ve always believed that I’m not here to tell people what to think,” she says. “I’m just here to kind of open their eyes to different ideas.” (GQ)

“I like to let the art speak for itself. I think that’s where it’s fun.”

Hollywood’s most famous divorce lawyer: At 57, Laura Wasser is Hollywood’s most famous divorce lawyer, and she’s as charismatic as her celebrity clients. Her office is filled with turquoise chairs, cheeky art, and a gothic print that reads “THE END.” Known for her no-drama approach to splits, Wasser has made divorce look not just survivable, but stylish. (New York Magazine; alternate link)

“You know what a girl’s best friend is? Not diamonds: her lawyers.”

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