For what it's worth, and I know there have been some pretty big misses (being too early is functionally the same as being wrong), but Big Tech has a pretty great hit rate for ignoring stated needs (and what people would not like) and instead building and delivering to latent needs that society didn't even know they would or could have. IMO that's the appeal of Silicon Valley for those who are idealistic and ambitious, before they are dulled and beaten down by money.
Also, an easier habit to maybe start, is to simply add "-AI or -AR" to your search query in google. Or so I have heard. Add -ai to Query: Type your search followed by -ai (e.g., best laptops -ai) to exclude AI snippets.
Thanks for the knowledge. I'd always conceptualized in my lizard brain "predatory pricing" to mean usurious pricing and taking advantage of people which inherently meant too high. I didn't consider it could be too low below a fair market value, in an effort to drive out competitors. I thought that was just good old fashioned business (leverage).
Not sure if we have a dedicated WEF Davos thread but with this being one of the biggest Davos in recent memory (shout out to Larry Fink), all the world's power players will be in Switzerland this week with Trump included. Deals get done in Davos, so maybe @Bateshorn your "ask for an insane amoutn of money" tactic gets used?
I think this is spot on. It's why even so few "juniors" can succeed their pops in their nepo-baby way and make it happen and Don Jr. would never be able to fill the shoes. I think that's why you've seen the memes and murmers of Baron being groomed at a young age. Ultimately I think you nailed it, t's the Key Man risk with the ultimate cult of personality.
You don't think Agentic AI by way of creating digital workers is a good use case (or technically viable) in 2026? Asking because you obviously have a catbird seat and I'm just reading through earnings reports and technical pundit analysts and pattern matching/trend reports. That said, I agree and think everyone agrees actually, that we are in some sort of AI bubble. I would disagree (and would love to bookmark and come back and discuss in a year) that 2026 is the year the bubble pops. At least not in the way I think of bubble pops like dotcom, telecom, etc. before it and I don't think we see a stock market collapse due to an AI bubble pop. If anything, I think this is the year AI continues to diffuse and gets distributed more globally.
I know it's in the Galleria (bear with me here), but Musaafer was a treat. Super interesting food with a wonderfully built out ambiance and decor, a great variety of food from all parts of India and with a Michellin star for something or another with the original location in Tribeca. It's spendy for Indian food which is notoriously a great value (my party of 5 spent about $1200, lots of drinks and lots of food ordered family style) but the Onion Xuixo was the MVP. I had to go back to the well and order another.
Okay so let's take the position you are right because I don't know the details of the ad business model OpenAI is going to implement, but are you saying that ChatGPT adding an ad model is a bad idea? Or are you saying it's not going to matter in the long run as they aren't a viable and enduring business in the long run? I ask because Google is already a step ahead of the game in terms of monetization (AI overview, AI mode, etc.) and Google waking up last year from their slumber and getting into it gear was a Cod Red moment for Sam, well, this is an extension of that.
Adding Ads for ChatGPT reminds me of the adding of ads to Netflix. It changed the entire narrative and was a huge growth function for them and fundamentally changed the business and was something they should have done way before they actually did.
Bear with me here, but why WOULDN't adding ads not generate tens of billions in revenue? Saying that means that you think that ChatGPT will not attract the dollars and eyeballs of current social media today. Did you know that "Reels", a social media contraption widely seen as lame and culturally irrelevant (compared to TikTok, Youtube, etc.) brings in over $50 billion dollars in annual run rate business? If ChatGPT, advertisers potential dream from a user intent and call to action to buy standpoint, would do half of what Meta does that's tens of billions in revenue tomorrow.
It has long felt like an ad supported model was the only way for OpenAI to succeed in the short and medium term with their a) surprising head start on Google, etc. and b) their massive, massive capital needs. I think most business analysts and AI business pundits had been commenting (screaming) "where are the ads, you are screwing up!" for a while now. That said, the Thinking Machines Labs looting back talent has been pretty masterfully done it seems like...
I'd be hard for me to justify for public california schools if the price tag is akin to a $90k high end Ivy. Especially Berkeley which I feel like was a bigger brand and prestigous name in the 90's and 00's than it is today. It's a great, fantastic school don't get me wrong. But not $90k/year great.
I read things like this and my brain does the Vincent in Pulp Fiction looking around confused meme. Did I just get lucky and apply and get in at the easiest possible time in the history of the school or what? My kids friends all grew up big football fans of every college but UT because virtually none of the cool/popular/sports kids that their school ran with ever could get into UT and their parents were, at best, all Aggies. My kids being a Longhorn fan was a scarlet lette, dang near.
That's interesting because that is my thought still. If my kids gets into Yale (or Harvard or Princeton or Stanford), I'll figure it out. $360k over 4 years for a lifetime is do-able for HENRY's if we are considering a low or paid off mortgage, a mix of loans, 401k loans, maybe some HELOC help, max out the 529s, etc. I'd make it happen. What doesn't make any financial sense to me is the same price tag for lower tier Ivies, the little ivies, the expensive tiny privates, and etc.
waymo's are fun for the novelty when I'm in SF and, I guess, now Austin. But for regular (non-company expensed) use, it's too rich for my blood. You can take my cheap UberX Honda CRV with one donut and a broken trunk latch driven by a friendly hispanic named Josuelangelo from my cold, dead hands!