ClaimsPeople

Vinod Khosla

Vinod Khosla is a venture capitalist and founder of Khosla Ventures, and a co-founder of Sun Microsystems.

567 claims collected, 179 researched, 52 resolved. Report of 4 November 2026, method 0.1.0+c876030c.

Scores by kind of claim

Each kind of claim is scored on its own, out of 100: the share that held up, with the range it likely falls in. Fewer resolved claims give a wider range.

  • Factual claims

    Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?

    72 64 80

    Medium confidence, 43 factual claims resolved. From 11 documents, 2007 to 2024; 19 documents sampled from 31 candidates found.

    Not scored: 44 unresolvable, 21 checkable only against their own records.

    See the factual claims

  • Predictions

    Statements about events outside the person's control, checked once they fell due: did they come true?

    58 40 75

    Low confidence, 9 predictions resolved. From 2 documents, 2007 to 2010; 19 documents sampled from 31 candidates found.

    Not scored: 46 unresolvable, 1 checkable only against their own records. 15 more fall due later.

    Does not yet allow for how likely each prediction was when made.

    See the predictions

All types combined: 70 (likely 62 to 77, high confidence), from 52 claims: 43 factual claims, 9 predictions. It mixes kinds of claim in different proportions for different people, so compare people kind by kind.

Vinod Khosla's claims

179 claims · page 2 of 2

179 claims, sorted by newest said. Choose a claim to read it in full.
VerdictKindSaidClaimTopic
Unresolvable Prediction 19 Apr 2019 Vinod Khosla said he suspected that the physical exam in medicine will be replaced by something like an upgraded AI-directed ultrasound. Prediction · 19 Apr 2019 AI capabilities
Resolved true Factual 14 Jan 2014 Jonathan Silver, former head of the DOE loan program, expects the program to make money rather than be a subsidy. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Mostly true Factual 14 Jan 2014 There is $51 billion remaining in DOE loan money. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Mostly true Factual 14 Jan 2014 The U.S. Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program has created 55,000 new cleantech jobs. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Mostly true Factual 14 Jan 2014 A substantial portion of DOE loans is allocated to nuclear energy. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Unresolvable Factual 14 Jan 2014 KiOR and Stion refused federal loan awards at Khosla Ventures' recommendation. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Own records only Factual 14 Jan 2014 To the best of Khosla's knowledge, more than 90% of funding for the Khosla Ventures cleantech portfolio has come from private sources. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Mostly false Factual 14 Jan 2014 Vinod Khosla has not invested over a billion dollars of his own money into cleantech. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Their own work or organisation
Mostly true Factual 14 Jan 2014 Oil prospecting has a failure rate greater than 55 percent. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Technology
Own records only Factual 14 Jan 2014 Khosla Ventures strongly opposed Range Fuels' decision to take federal loan money. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Unresolvable Factual 14 Jan 2014 Khosla Ventures invests in companies with high failure probabilities, but its wins far outweigh its losses. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Unresolvable Factual 14 Jan 2014 Vinod Khosla has publicly stated he is against corn ethanol and wind subsidies and in favor of reducing solar and biofuel subsidies over time. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 AI policy and governance
Own records only Factual 14 Jan 2014 Khosla Ventures expects 50 percent of its portfolio companies to make money, and its cleantech portfolio is currently profitable. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Mostly false Factual 14 Jan 2014 Weeks before the 60 Minutes program aired, View secured an additional $100 million in private funding to ramp production at its Mississippi manufacturing facility. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Unresolvable Factual 14 Jan 2014 Khosla Ventures' returns are significantly above the venture capital average. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Unresolvable Factual 14 Jan 2014 The U.S. spent $502 billion subsidizing fossil fuels in 2011. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Mostly true Factual 14 Jan 2014 The U.S. DOE loan program has a 97% success rate. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Mostly false Factual 14 Jan 2014 Cleantech subsidies are a minuscule fraction of one percent of the fossil-fuel subsidy amounts referred to. Factual · 14 Jan 2014 Economics and markets
Own records only Factual 7 Dec 2013 Khosla Ventures considers long tenure at a big company such as Hewlett-Packard or Cisco a negative when hiring. Factual · 7 Dec 2013 Their own work or organisation
Unresolvable Factual 7 Dec 2013 Google made the economics of information free, and Intel made IBM's mainframes much cheaper. Factual · 7 Dec 2013 Economics and markets
Own records only Factual 7 Dec 2013 Vinod Khosla has never calculated IRR when making an investment. Factual · 7 Dec 2013 Their own work or organisation
Mixed Factual 7 Dec 2013 Square is possibly the most popular payment system, and when Khosla Ventures backed it everybody told Khosla it would take 10-15 years. Factual · 7 Dec 2013 Their own work or organisation
Resolved true Factual 9 Sep 2012 Vinod Khosla recently read Ben Austen's WIRED article about Steve Jobs. Factual · 9 Sep 2012 Their own work or organisation
Unresolvable Factual 9 Sep 2012 At Sun Microsystems, the founders split founder equity evenly, each receiving single-digit percentages, despite their different roles, and it worked out well. Factual · 9 Sep 2012 Their own work or organisation
Own records only Factual 23 Dec 2010 Khosla told his investors when starting the fund that they were non-fiduciary investors and not to count on them being fiduciary. Factual · 23 Dec 2010 Their own work or organisation
Unresolvable Prediction 23 Dec 2010 If biofuel costs reach $75 a barrel, they will keep falling to $30 a barrel in real dollars. Prediction · 23 Dec 2010 Economics and markets
Own records only Factual 23 Dec 2010 The capital needed for Khosla's clean tech and main tech portfolio companies to reach cash-flow break even, IPO or sale is no different from that of his information technology and telecom investments over 15 years at Kleiner. Factual · 23 Dec 2010 Economics and markets
Unresolvable Prediction 23 Dec 2010 Almost certainly, the winning battery technology in 15 years will be one that people today see as having a very low probability of working. Prediction · 23 Dec 2010 Technology
Own records only Prediction 23 Dec 2010 Khosla's lighting companies and air-conditioning companies will each need $50 million to break even. Prediction · 23 Dec 2010 Economics and markets
Unresolvable Prediction 23 Dec 2010 Half a dozen technologies will make economic sense, some with subsidies and some without, and the speaker says the ones that work without subsidies will scale infinitely. Prediction · 23 Dec 2010 Technology
Unresolvable Prediction 23 Dec 2010 Ten years from now, energy innovation will explode because good PhD students are now going into these areas. Prediction · 23 Dec 2010 Field building and careers
Mostly false Prediction 23 Dec 2010 The Chevy Volt is expected to ship 40,000 units by 2012. Prediction · 23 Dec 2010 Technology
Unresolvable Factual 23 Dec 2010 As of 2010 there are no subsidies for solar in India, Chile, Africa or most of the world. Factual · 23 Dec 2010 Economics and markets
Own records only Factual 23 Dec 2010 Khosla Ventures has plenty of money to invest and probably made more investments in 2010 than in 2009, and more in 2009 than in 2008. Factual · 23 Dec 2010 Their own work or organisation
Resolved true Factual 23 Dec 2010 Khosla's portfolio is developing a new engine type that is 50 percent more efficient at less cost than today's engines. Factual · 23 Dec 2010 Technology
Unresolvable Factual 23 Dec 2010 Wind power is scaling but has seen little innovation. Factual · 23 Dec 2010 Technology
Unresolvable Factual 23 Dec 2010 As of 2010, energy storage has not yet started to scale. Factual · 23 Dec 2010 Technology
Own records only Factual 23 Dec 2010 Khosla reviewed two dozen algae business plans and found that none works. Factual · 23 Dec 2010 Technology
Resolved false Prediction 23 Dec 2010 Traditional lithium-ion bulk batteries will almost certainly not be around in 15 years. Prediction · 23 Dec 2010 Technology
Unresolvable Factual 23 Dec 2010 Khosla said "we" discovered a brand new thermodynamic cycle, and that nobody had really commercialized a new thermodynamic cycle in 50 or maybe even 100 years. Factual · 23 Dec 2010 Technology
Own records only Factual 29 Sep 2010 Vinod Khosla does not invest in anything that cannot achieve market competitiveness within five years. Factual · 29 Sep 2010 Their own work or organisation
Unresolvable Factual 29 Sep 2010 Painting a roof white is better for the environment than driving a Prius or similar vehicle. Factual · 29 Sep 2010 Technology
Unresolvable Factual 29 Sep 2010 Khosla Ventures' median series A investment is around $3 million. Factual · 29 Sep 2010 Their own work or organisation
Unresolvable Prediction 28 Sep 2007 If biomass yields double, the land needed for US biofuel falls to 25 million acres. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Unresolvable Prediction 28 Sep 2007 Khosla said he was convinced that green technologies can be made cheaper than oil, describing this as his goal while noting he may or may not be successful at it. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Economics and markets
Unresolvable Factual 28 Sep 2007 The U.S. has fallen well behind Europe in recognizing climate change and its implications. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 AI policy and governance
Unresolvable Factual 28 Sep 2007 Very few scientists dispute that cellulosic ethanol gives an 80 percent carbon reduction. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Unresolvable Prediction 28 Sep 2007 Wind power will never scale to more than 10, 15, maybe 20 percent of electricity. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Unresolvable Factual 28 Sep 2007 A good corn ethanol plant can achieve as much as a 40 or 50 percent reduction in carbon. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Unresolvable Prediction 28 Sep 2007 Biomass yields can increase as corn yields have, and biomass can be cultivated sustainably in a polyculture way. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Mostly true Factual 28 Sep 2007 Utilities are currently forced to take the power the subject was discussing (power he said nobody needs at night), which he described as really just a tax. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 AI policy and governance
Mixed Factual 28 Sep 2007 Oil interests are spreading disinformation, seeding doubts and mounting campaigns against first-generation products like corn ethanol. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Economics and markets
Mostly true Factual 28 Sep 2007 Strong government signals in Europe have made a big difference in advancing renewables there. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 AI policy and governance
Mixed Factual 28 Sep 2007 US corn yields have increased sevenfold since 1920 due to technology and engineering. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Unresolvable Prediction 28 Sep 2007 Khosla said he believed that, once the new fuel technologies are proven, oil companies will be willing and massive participants in this area. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Economics and markets
Unresolvable Prediction 28 Sep 2007 If newer energy technologies are done poorly, there will be public backlash against them. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Mixed Factual 28 Sep 2007 Oil interests are running massive PR campaigns against ethanol. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Economics and markets
Resolved true Prediction 28 Sep 2007 If solar photovoltaics grew 10,000 percent, they would supply about 4 percent of worldwide electricity. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Unresolvable Factual 28 Sep 2007 Khosla said he thought oil companies at the time did not believe "this" was possible. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Economics and markets
Mostly true Factual 28 Sep 2007 Geothermal power works extremely well in certain regions. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Mostly true Factual 28 Sep 2007 Khosla said he believed there had been relatively little controversy over cellulosic ethanol, and that most of the controversy had focused on corn ethanol. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Resolved true Factual 28 Sep 2007 Cement is one of the biggest producers of greenhouse gases. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Resolved true Factual 28 Sep 2007 Saudi Arabia, with a smaller population than California, gains or loses a trillion dollars in asset values each time the oil price moves by $4. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Economics and markets
Mostly false Factual 28 Sep 2007 The vast majority of scientists will say that these fuels give a 20 to 30 percent carbon reduction. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Mostly true Prediction 28 Sep 2007 Pricing carbon and requiring carbon capture and sequestration would probably add about 2 cents per kilowatt hour to the cost of coal power, depending on the carbon price. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Mostly true Factual 28 Sep 2007 Khosla said he believed a massive amount of PR money was being funded by various oil interests, including oil companies and the American Petroleum Institute. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Economics and markets
Resolved false Prediction 28 Sep 2007 Khosla said he believed 50 million acres of US land could supply all US biofuel needs. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Mostly true Prediction 28 Sep 2007 Even if Germany switched completely to photovoltaics, climate change's trajectory will not change unless India and China also adopt them. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Resolved true Prediction 28 Sep 2007 There will be a mix of biofuels in the marketplace. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Unresolvable Prediction 28 Sep 2007 Ethanol will be produced in a way that has a materially positive energy balance and reduces petroleum consumption and greenhouse gases. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Resolved true Prediction 28 Sep 2007 He did not believe clean coal would win in every area, because clean coal technologies would be so expensive that many renewables would come in cheaper. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Unresolvable Prediction 28 Sep 2007 Over time more people will be willing to pay more for clean energy, a tipping point will be reached, and legislation will then force people to pay more. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Economics and markets
Unresolvable Prediction 28 Sep 2007 With carbon pricing and capture, coal power would cost between 8 and 10 cents per kilowatt hour. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Mostly true Factual 28 Sep 2007 There are scientists who are not paid by anybody who believe climate change does not exist, though the speaker immediately added that "plenty" was a bit of a stretch. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Science and research methods
Mostly true Prediction 28 Sep 2007 Carbon capture and sequestration for coal plants will work technically. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Mostly true Factual 28 Sep 2007 For the first 15 years solar photovoltaic cells were built, they took far more energy to produce than was ever got out of them in their lifetime. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Unresolvable Factual 28 Sep 2007 Hybrid cars cost 100 times as much as corn ethanol plants for the same percentage carbon reduction of about 20 percent. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
Own records only Factual 28 Sep 2007 Khosla invests in all energy approaches he thinks might be viable. Factual · 28 Sep 2007 Their own work or organisation
Not yet due Prediction 28 Sep 2007 Around 2057, the world will probably have moved to all electric cars. Prediction · 28 Sep 2007 Technology
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Vinod Khosla

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Prediction AI capabilities

“I suspect physical exam will be replaced by something like a upgraded AI directed ultrasound”

Vinod Khosla, on X 19 April 2019 Post by @vkhosla on X, 2019-04-19 (X)

Vinod Khosla said he suspected that the physical exam in medicine will be replaced by something like an upgraded AI-directed ultrasound.

Unresolvable The public record could not settle it.

Reasoning

The prediction gives no time horizon, so it cannot be judged against a deadline.

Cite this claim

Vinod Khosla, “Vinod Khosla said he suspected that the physical exam in medicine will be replaced by something like an upgraded AI-directed ultrasound.” (said 19 April 2019). Verdict: unresolvable. Reliability API, claim c_f18ae44f8107, method 0.1.0+c876030c. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_f18ae44f8107

Claims without a verdict

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