What we’re reading (12/21)
“The Next Great Leap In AI Is Behind Schedule And Crazy Expensive” (Wall Street Journal). “OpenAI’s new artificial-intelligence project is behind schedule and running up huge bills. It isn’t clear when—or if—it’ll work. There may not be enough data in the world to make it smart enough. The project, officially called GPT-5 and code-named Orion, has been in the works for more than 18 months and is intended to be a major advancement in the technology that powers ChatGPT. OpenAI’s closest partner and largest investor, Microsoft, had expected to see the new model around mid-2024, say people with knowledge of the matter.”
“AI Is Not Slowing Down, Except For Stop Lights” (Marginal Revolution). “o3 is solving 25% of Frontier Math challenges–these are not in the training set and are challenging for Fields medal winners.”
“What Do We Want From The Mall?” (New York Times). “Decades after mega retail centers became a shorthand for bland suburbia, there may be some hope for them yet.”
“A Risky Corner Of The ETF Market Has Boomed This Year As YOLO Traders Chase The Rally” (Business Insider). “Since their introduction in the early 1990s, ETFs have been groundbreaking in offering the characteristics of a mutual fund — owning a basket of diversified stocks — but offering the daily trading liquidity of a single stock. But even after 30 years, the humble ETF is seeing fresh updates that cater to investors with a strong appetite for risk. Instead of owning a basket of stocks, single-stock ETFs track the price of one stock, which the fund will try to juice returns on by levering up. ‘These are vehicles that mass retail has never had the ability to trade before, until now,’ Todd Sohn, an ETF specialist at Strategas told Business Insider.”
“Silk Bag Traced To Medieval England Reveals Hidden Link To Charlemagne” (Semafor). “A silk bag dating back to the reign of King Henry III of England appears to have a link to Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor. Now on display at Westminster Abbey, the silk’s pattern of white hares and delicate flowers is a match for the burial shroud encasing Charlemagne’s remains at Aachen Cathedral in Germany, Artnet reported, almost certainly meaning the two pieces were made by the same weaver.”
