What we’re reading (3/21)
“The Trillion Dollar Race To Automate Our Entire Lives” (Wall Street Journal). “What began as a way to autocomplete code quickly evolved into semiautonomous AI bots, or ‘agents,’ that can work for hours on end with little human oversight. We can tell a bot to create a presentation for work, coordinate the family’s schedules and pick a March Madness bracket, all while it learns our personal preferences, no coding needed.”
“OpenClaw’s ChatGPT Moment Sparks Concern That AI Models Are Becoming Commodities” (CNBC). “Some industry experts say OpenClaw’s breakout shows that the value in AI isn’t all accruing to the two leading startups, which have a combined private market value of over $1 trillion, and their hyperscaler peers. ‘It solidified the open-source community and proved that fully autonomous AI can be run at home without relying on the Magnificent 7 or Big AI,’ said David Hendrickson, CEO of consulting firm GenerAIte Solutions. ‘I suspect this was the black swan moment most big AI companies feared.’”
“Goldman Says It’s Eyeing The Risk Of A Deeper Market Correction That Will Leave Investors Few Places To Hide” (Business Insider). “In a note to clients on Thursday, strategists at the Wall Street firm said they were eyeing risks of a coming stock correction, which is officially defined as the market dropping 10% or more.”
“The Long Farewell To Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse” (New York Times). “Five years ago, Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed that the future of Facebook would be the metaverse. Based in virtual reality, it would be an immersive digital world where people could work, play and meet up, he said. To punctuate the point, Mr. Zuckerberg renamed his company Meta. But in recent months, Meta laid off 10 percent of its employees in the division that works on the metaverse and said its flagship Horizon Worlds app, a digital universe where people socialize through their avatars, was turning its focus away from virtual reality. This week, Meta delivered a near death blow. On Tuesday, the company said people would no longer be able to access the immersive world through virtual-reality headsets starting on June 15.”
“These Car Brands Could Suffer The Most With Soaring Gas Prices” (Washington Post). “In the mid-2000s, gas prices roughly doubled from about $2 to $4 a gallon as demand surged. Sales of the biggest pickups fell. The Ford F-series — including the F-150, the perennial best-selling automobile in the U.S. — saw sales drop by about 45 percent as consumers shifted toward smaller vehicles and hybrids like the Toyota Prius.”
