Inklings #019 📧
Today, a double-feature – a sort of one-two punch on the situation in which Anthropic currently finds themselves. How they might work their way out, and why they might not – because they might not want to...
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
Thoughts On...
💫 Satya Nadella's "Frontier Ecosystem" – Look, it's clearly easier to write a call-to-arms against frontier model domination when you don't currently control one of those leading frontier models. Though it's also awkward when you own 25%+ of a startup that does control one of those – and even more so when you're now spending billions of dollars to try to create one of those leading frontier models. That said, that doesn't mean Nadella is wrong in any of this – and many, increasingly, would hope he's right, I imagine! Beyond the models, it puts the premium on people, the true "orchestration layer" within a company that makes it what it is – not just an automated system. Yet questions remain about how many people are actually needed to build such companies versus the status quo – and what exactly their jobs will entail. The other elephant in Nadella's room here is that Microsoft obviously wants to be the platform on which this future is built. It's not a bad pitch, just a bit obtuse. But that makes it seem as if Nadella actually wrote it, which is a good thing. [SN Scratchpad]
🇬🇧 The UK Bans Social Media for Kids – While I'm generally not in favor of "nanny state" moves, I think overall this is the right, tough call. To me, it's less about taking something away from kids – which, they'll figure out a way to access anyway, as I would have when I was that age – and more about the signal it sends. And not even necessarily to the tech companies, more just to society. This ban, if implemented well – admittedly a big "if" – will act to switch the norm from all kids needing to be on social media to be "normal" to the opposite. It will hopefully relieve that pressure – performative and otherwise. I am torn about roping YouTube into this – on one hand, I get it given its scale and social dynamics, but on the other, for all the crap, it is also a wealth of interesting and useful content (not to mention entertainment, of course). I guess not banning YouTube Kids, is an okay work-around, but still... I'm also really not sure about the gaming element of this. Again, I get it, but this slope is already awfully slippery. AI chatbots will have to be included at some point, right? This isn't the first such ban and won't be the last, but it happens to be where I live raising young children so... we'll see how this goes. The "Big Techbacco" trend continues... [Reuters]
🦊 Fox Gets Their Own Streaming Box – The $22B deal for Roku will have all kinds of ramifications. While it is the most popular streaming box, the company actually makes most of its money from its ad-based streaming service. And Fox already has another one of those in Tubi (which they say they're not merging). Meanwhile, the "Switzerland" nature of the company – which, many forget, actually started as a skunkworks project inside Netflix way back when – has allowed their boxes to flourish. (Well that and the fact that they're cheap and easy-to-use – even as they've gotten increasingly spammy with ads in the UI.) If they're no longer Switzerland, will it change the way other competitors view them? Wall Street clearly hates this deal, with Fox's stock down over 15% today. But it's probably a smart deal if they can maintain the status quo, which is not certain. Beyond the FAST services, their "Howdy" low-price streaming service is intriguing too. Let's also remember, that at the height of the pandemic streaming boom, Roku had a market cap of $65B. [WSJ 🔒]
🍿 Steven Spielberg: The Return – The past few weeks have been all about the youth movement, largely driven by YouTube, happening in real time at the box office. But this past weekend, Steve Spielberg came roaring back to life – incredibly, the man who created the summer blockbuster with Jaws hasn't had one in 24 years! The 79-year-old learned some new tricks – TikTok, viral stunts, etc – but it was the olds who ultimately saved the Disclosure Day: 59% of the audience for the $44M opening were over 34 (which yes, qualifies as "old" for moviegoing). There's still a ways to go for profitability, as the movie cost just under $200M to make and market – it will need to make around $400M to break-even at the box office, so let's see how the second weekend holds – sadly, as expected, Masters of the Universe plunged almost 70% in its second weekend. Somehow, Obsession, in its 5th weekend, stayed at #2, which marks four straight weekends which were bigger than its actual opening. Wild. [NYT]
I Quote...
"He simply did not want to be conflated with Mark Zuckerberg anymore, that he has his problems with the guy. He doesn’t like kids coming up to him in airports with business cards that say 'I'm CEO, bitch' for him to sign."
– Aaron Sorkin on why Jesse Eisenberg didn't want to reprise his role as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Reckoning, the sequel (at least spiritually) to The Social Network.
I had been wondering why he passed – Sorkin noted that he tried for three straight days to get him to do it. Fair enough. And Jeremy Strong's vocal performance as Zuck seems like it will be one for the ages, even if, oddly Jeremy Allen White, who plays journalist Jeff Horwitz, actually looks more like Zuck.
Below, members of The Inner Ring will find thoughts on:
• SpaceX's Colossal Data Center Problem
• Inside Meta's "Gulag"