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Sometimes the centre of gravity in tech is very clear, but as we enter 2022 there are lots of areas where trillion dollar questions are wide open. These are the questions I wonder about today, from crypto to cars to fast fashion - there are others.
over a year ago

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More from Essays - Benedict Evans

AI’s metrics question

With every platform shift, we want to measure the growth but we’re confused about what to measure. That’s partly a problem of data and definitions, but it’s really a question about what this is going to be.

3 weeks ago 18 votes
GenAI’s adoption puzzle

Generative AI chatbots might be a life-changing transformation in the nature of computing, that can replace all software, but so far, most of its users only pick it up every week or two, and far fewer have made it part of their lives. Is that a time problem or a product problem?

a month ago 27 votes
What kind of disruption?

Software ate the world. Uber and Airbnb didn’t sell software - they disrupted and redefined markets. But what kind of disruption are we talking about ?

3 months ago 32 votes
Apple innovation and execution

It matters that Apple’s new Siri will be late, and it matters more that Apple didn’t realise. Is it more than that?

3 months ago 38 votes
The Deep Research problem

OpenAI’s Deep Research is built for me, and I can’t use it. It’s another amazing demo, until it breaks. But it breaks in really interesting ways.

4 months ago 44 votes

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Brazil wants to be a sustainable data center hub. Environmentalists are skeptical

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yesterday 2 votes
We can't afford to keep cutting taxes for the rich

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2 days ago 3 votes
Why Investors Don’t Care About Your Business

Founders with great businesses are often frustrated that they can’t raise money. Here’s why. I’ve been having coffee with lots of frustrated founders (my students and others) bemoaning most VCs won’t even meet with them unless they have AI in their fundraising pitch. And the AI startups they see are getting valuations that appear nonsensical. […]

3 days ago 7 votes
The hidden labor that makes AI work

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3 days ago 4 votes
Jewish Americans are feeling unsettled

Increasingly squeezed between the new leftism and the new rightism.

3 days ago 3 votes