More from Unpacked
NVIDIA has seen their valuation 5x over the last 5 years and is now worth more than $2 trillion. In the latest episode, we dive a few layers deep into the company. We start with the origin of the company and the launch of their first GPU in 1999 which unlocked several computing-heavy applications including gaming and video editing. We then talk about the NVIDIA of today that generates 78% of revenue from their AI-focused data center business (compared to 40% in 2021). Finally, we analyse what assumptions need to be true for the company's high valuation to hold up including long-term AI demand and competitive landscape.
Last week, 20 tech companies across Big Tech, social networks and AI providers signed a voluntary pledge to fight election interference from AI-generated content going through 2024. We dive into the timing of the announcement (2024 is a big election year across the globe), some recent deepfake mishaps, where should liability lie when bad things happen, and whether this pledge is enough. Bonus - couple of ideas for AI startups.
Last week, Meta announced that they will not proactively recommend political content across their recommendation surfaces including Reels and Threads. We dive into criticism Meta has gotten in the past, what led Meta to this decision, the increasingly dispersed media landscape today, and how this decision impacts political discourse especially in an election year.
This week, we dive into two meaty topics. First, we dig into Apple’s recent App Store changes to support third party payments in the US (sort of), and additionally support side-loading of apps (i.e. supporting non-Apple app stores) in the EU. Spoiler: Apple is pushing the limits to see how little they can give up while being compliant but the updates in EU are promising for app developers like Epic Games that directly monetize their apps.
More in startups
How a Chinese AI lab spun out of a hedge fund shook up the entire tech industry.
Patrick interviews me; the energy transition; Americans die young; family and fertility; educating the poor; AI and growth
A longer and more chaotic follow-up conversation in which Andrew and I dive into the weeds of our differing approaches to solving coordination.
The Chinese app has just “blown the roof off” and “shifted the power dynamics.”
Soundtrack: The Hives — Hate To Say I Told You So In the last week or so, but especially over the weekend, the entire generative AI industry has been thrown into chaos. This won’t be a lengthy, technical write-up — although there will be some inevitable technical complexities,