More from Essays - Benedict Evans
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.
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?
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 ?
It matters that Apple’s new Siri will be late, and it matters more that Apple didn’t realise. Is it more than that?
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.
More in startups
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. […]
Alex Hanna and Emily M. Bender examine the hype behind artificial intelligence in their new book, The AI Con. Below is an excerpt on the invisible labor behind some AI tools.
Increasingly squeezed between the new leftism and the new rightism.
As Chinese universities crack down on AI use, some students report false positives — and a booming industry of work-around tools is emerging.
Have you ever heard Sam Altman speak? I’m serious, have you ever heard this man say words from his mouth? Here is but one of the trenchant insights from Sam Altman in his agonizing 37-minute-long podcast conversation with his brother Jack Altman from last week: “I