Is AI a Bubble? I Asked the People Building It | WTF is AI?
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Footage Credits & Sources
1. Elon Musk Footage
Source: The Economist (YouTube)
Link: https://youtu.be/1X-rr1DKSbY?si=wLJd3G82bo389CsH
2. Sam Altman Interview
Source: Fortune Magazine (YouTube)
Link: https://youtu.be/2my-NU6LuCM?si=MDhrcvqcu_vlod53&t=336
3. Donald Trump Footage
Source: New York Post (YouTube)
Link: https://youtu.be/RsT2NYu8Y_Y?si=fuOhm3kKY-nWEw63&t=15
4. Australian Government Website hack Clip
Source: Firstpost (YouTube)
Link: https://youtu.be/gmf8sdQGwm4?si=9UT_LCgkldxXH4YV
Is AI a bubble, or are we underestimating how much it can change? That’s the question I kept coming back to in San Francisco. Young companies are attracting extraordinary valuations, while I’m still trying to see how the promised productivity gains are reaching the wider economy.
I put that scepticism to Akshay Kothari of Notion, Vijay Krishnan of Turing, and Ricursive Intelligence’s Azalia Mirhoseini and Anna Goldie. We discuss where the money is coming from, how much of it is moving between AI companies, and what businesses and individuals will actually pay for. They make the case for capabilities that are already useful, smaller teams doing more, and benefits that take time to spread. We also get into chips, human work, AI risks and what India should build.
The technology can be powerful and the prices can still be wrong. I wanted to understand how to tell the difference.
Timestamp:
00:00 Introduction
02:46 Meet Akshay Kothari and Azalia Mirhoseini
05:21 AlphaChip: AI That Designs Computer Chips
12:11 Cheaper Models, More Compute and Custom Chips
17:28 What Notion Does and How AI Changes Work
20:12 Vijay Krishnan and the People Teaching AI
29:18 Understanding the AI Industry From Scratch
32:43 Why Inference Companies Get High Valuations
37:09 The Gap Between AI Capability and Adoption
41:48 Is the AI Investment Boom a Bubble?
46:04 What Happens When AI Can Improve Itself?
53:00 The Changing Work of Training AI
56:35 Why Silicon Valley and China Lead the Race
1:00:38 Where Would You Build an AI Business?
1:07:23 AI Agents and the Productivity Debate
1:17:40 Are We Losing Our Own Thinking Skills?
1:24:23 Meet Anna Goldie
1:30:21 The $100 Million Business Question
1:34:48 What Google Got Right—and What It Missed
1:37:18 AI Chips and NVIDIA’s Advantage
1:39:59 AI Shares, Secondaries and the Wealth Boom
1:42:54 Can Countries and Companies Own Their AI?
1:45:07 Open Models, Scaling Laws and Local AI
1:52:07 AI Risks, Security and Human Control
2:01:05 What Should India Build in AI?
2:07:10 Are AI Safety Warnings Sincere?
2:09:04 How Would You Spend Your Last Month?
2:14:41 What Comes After the Smartphone?
2:17:48 The Future of Social Media and Entertainment
2:21:45 Will AI Replace the Apps We Use?
2:25:51 Final Ideas: Product Design and Better Learning
Akshay Kothari-Co founder and COO, Notion
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akothari/
Vijay Krishnan-Founder and CTO, Turing-https://www.linkedin.com/in/vijay0/
Anna Goldie-Co founder and CEO, Ricursive Intelligence
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adgoldie/
Azalia Mirhoseini
Co founder and CTO, Ricursive Intelligence
Nikhil Kamath-Co-founder of Zerodha and Gruhas
Host of 'WTF is' & 'People By WTF' Podcast
- Twitter: https://x.com/nikhilkamathcio/
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