I agree with you and the parent comment, but to be fair to VC, they're also assuming risk. For example, if Wework had IPO'd earlier the public would've been holding the bag instead of private investors.
Also, I think comparing WeWork to AI labs is not valid.
These labs have increasingly become of public interest and are shaping economies around the world, WeWork was just not at that level.
The thing is normally it's money that's intended to be burned in the search of a unicorn, cheap money, so there's no real "risk" there.