Two of the best annual reports in tech landed this fortnight, Air Street's State of AI and a16z's State of Markets. They reach the same verdict from opposite ends. The machines are improving faster than anyone can measure. The people are the bottleneck. This week's reading is about that gap: why it closes slowly, who gains while it does, what it might break, and where everyone went in the meantime. Plus a Harvard method that proves Costco causes cancer, and why Sichuan food is younger than its chilis.
⏱️ The Human Skills Frontier (Nathan Benaich)
AI’s jagged frontier has been advancing quickly in the last year. Perhaps faster than the people using it can handle. The 9th annual State of AI report gives numbers to the advance, and illustrates how teams that are adopting AI are moving much faster than the ones that are not.
📊 Wide and Shallow (a16z)
Tech supplied 76% of the S&P 500’s earnings growth this year. Almost everyone has an AI deployment, but very few have a metric they track. AI has barely penetrated the consumer space; only 2% of households paid for AI this spring.
💾 Anthropic’s Netscape Problem (Dead Neurons)
In 1996, CEOs bought $40 Netscape seats and declared themselves internet companies; today CIOs buy $20 chatbot seats and declare AI adoption solved. If you squint, Anthropic looks to be on Netscape’s trajectory.
⚡ Rewire the Factory First (Macroscience)
Upgrading steam engines to electric motors did little to enhance productivity in factories based around belts and shafts; rebuilding the factory floor around electric tools had remarkable effects. Infinitely smarter machines are wonderful, but we are going to have to break the mold to take advantage of them.
🛒 Costco Causes Cancer (The Ecomodernist)
By one Harvard team’s method, living near a Costco causes more than 120,000 cancer deaths a year. Baseball is much more dangerous than soccer. If the test cannot come back negative, is it a test?
🤖 AI Your Way Out of the Subscription Trap (Optimally Irrational)
AI is the free contract reader and tireless customer research tool that should make the confusopoly nervous.
🕵️ Surveillance Going Dark (Matthew Green)
AI bug-hunting tools are closing the doors law enforcement has been using to circumvent device encryption. Expect the debate over backdoors to come back soon.
📱 Swiping into Enlightenment (Noahpinion)
There are no memes, just lots and lots of swipe-driven short-form video. Social media has gone from a social platform to a way to track celebrities and kill spare time.
🌶️ The Chili Came First (Chinese Cooking Demystified)
Sichuan food as we know and love it dates from the 18th century. Come for the Mapo Tofu, stay for the Ming Dynasty era chefs spicing with thyme, mustard and dill.
The Look
This year’s reminder that the stock market is not the economy via 📈 TKer by Sam Ro.
Did you enjoy reading this post? Hit the ♥ button above or below because it helps more people discover great Substacks like this one and it helps train your algorithm to get you more posts you like. Please share here or in your networks to help us grow!