Silicon Valley's latest meme obsession: A years-old picture of Chamath Palihapitiya in a chunky turtleneck

Silicon Valley has recovered its joke of the summertime and, for illustration the tremendous achromatic sweater astatine the halfway of it, it conscionable keeps growing.

An image of Chamath Palihapitiya, the laminitis of task money Social Capital, wearing a chunky achromatic turtleneck, has taken complete tech circles connected X.

The picture, which appears to beryllium a screenshot taken from a January 2023 section of the "All-In" podcast, sewage a caller lease of life erstwhile X users added a solid of vino to Palihapitiya's hand.

Users past fed the original image into AI image generators, many times expanding and transforming the sweater to progressively absurd proportions.

The meme has besides go a conveyance for poking nosy astatine Silicon Valley's fondness for inflated firm language.

The joke yet made its measurement onto the timeline of X's owner, Elon Musk.

Musk responded to an AI image of Palihapitiya arsenic Edvard Munch's celebrated coating "The Scream," shared by his partner Shivon Zilis, pinch immoderate sincere manner commentary.

"I kinda for illustration Chamath's style tbh," Musk wrote. "We should update manner for 2026! The modular suit & necktie aliases T-shirt & jeans is excessively basic."

Nathalie Dompé, the CEO of Dompé Holdings and Palihapitiya's wife, has joined in, too. She shared an loop of the joke connected Wednesday, inserting her hubby into Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam."

Palihapitiya jokingly replied that a "meme has to recreation acold to scope my wife."

Palihapitiya past sewage successful connected the joke, sharing an image of him and his elephantine turtleneck superimposed onto the iconic photograph "Lunch atop a Skyscraper."

At first, the joke was mostly astir making the already important sweater moreover much substantial. It soon mutated, arsenic net jokes thin to do, into thing stranger.

AI-generated versions turned Palihapitiya's knitwear into buildings, landscapes, mushrooms, and moreover a sandworm from "Dune."

Palihapitiya, a erstwhile Facebook executive who founded Social Capital successful 2011, has agelong been a recognizable fig successful Silicon Valley. He is besides 1 of the 4 hosts of the "All-In" podcast, which has go highly influential successful tech and governmental circles.

His wardrobe has antecedently attracted attraction online. In June, he was roasted online aft declaring that possessions were "worthless" while wearing a plush, off-white hoodie.

Some X users speculated that it was a astir $2,700 creation from Loro Piana, the Italian luxury explanation that Palihapitiya has praised successful the past.

Palihapitiya denied that the hoodie was from the brand. "This isn't Loro Piana," he wrote connected X. "I've moved on." Business Insider's Roya Shahidi noted astatine the clip that the 2 garments appeared to person different necklines.

The internet, however, has not moved connected from his knitwear. Happily, Palihapitiya appears to beryllium taking his translator into a sentient turtleneck successful stride.

"As goes the memes, truthful goes the world," he wrote connected X this week.