Artificial intelligence is set to bring about a shift similar in magnitude to the two major industrial revolutions.
Here in the U.S., and throughout much of the world, OpenAI remains dominant in the field. Its ChatGPT AI platform has built a commanding lead.
But which company is OpenAI the biggest threat to? Most people would say Google, because ChatGPT has become a better alternative for many of us. It’s far more intelligent and diligent than a traditional search engine.
But OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was recently on a podcast and broke some interesting news.
Apparently Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is incredibly threatened by the American AI leader. Sam claims the company is now offering key OpenAI employees $100 million signing bonuses to defect. Spending $100 million on a single employee demonstrates just how important this space has become in the world of big tech.
Additionally, it appears that users are increasingly turning to ChatGPT as a Facebook alternative. They use AI as a therapist, friend, confidant, business advisor, teacher, and even, disturbingly, as a sort of life partner.
Here’s a Sam Altman quote from the podcast:
Within Meta, people think of ChatGPT as a Facebook replacement. Because they talk to it, and they like it more [than Facebook].
Doom-scrolling on the internet makes you feel worse. But when people talk about ChatGPT, it makes people like themselves better. It’s helping me accomplish my goals.
He goes on to describe how Facebook and Instagram essentially try to hack your brain into scrolling forever. But he argues that ChatGPT is different. That it augments its users and improves their lives. There’s some truth there, but we also need to remain wary of the power of AI to influence our thoughts and behavior, as we covered here.
Recent developments back up the idea that OpenAI is a threat to social media platforms. Meta has been falling behind in AI, and just spent $14 billion to acquire 49% of Scale AI, a leading AI data and training firm. Scale CEO Alexander Wang will now head up Meta’s AI efforts.
Clearly, this is an existential issue for Meta. The company has spent vast sums of money buying one of the world’s largest clusters of NVIDIA AI chips, yet their efforts so far have failed to be competitive. For now, the company’s social media platforms remain incredibly profitable, but the larger trend is working against them.
There is a lot of hype around AI, and it will likely take more time than some people think to change the world. But make no mistake, it is set to bring about an unprecedented shift.
Meta isn’t the only one feeling the heat. AI has the potential to make or break not just companies, but individual careers as well.
An Evolving Workforce
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently sent a memo out to employees about the impact of AI. Here is an excerpt:
As we roll out more generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs.
It’s hard to know where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.
The idea of AI replacing humans is not a pleasant one. But it’s simply a reality. One which will impact all of us eventually.
For those who utilize it correctly, AI can give you superpowers. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, employee, or a retired investor, it’s time to start getting familiar with these tools. Those who learn to utilize them well will thrive, and those who don’t risk being left behind.
For example, I use AI every day. Not for writing. Frankly, it’s not very good at that, at least not yet. But the images you see at the top of every article are made using ChatGPT 4o.
AI is also an incredibly useful research tool. I use it to find historical stories to weave into my newsletters. And as an investor, I use it to screen for companies in a particular sector. For example, I discovered Lynas Rare Earths, which we covered last week, by doing research with ChatGPT.
My father, a doctor, has been using it to help diagnose mystery illnesses. And you don’t have to be a medical professional to use AI to enhance your health. Friends of mine have uploaded their lab work and charts and solved long-term health issues. Difficult diagnoses that no doctor, over the course of years, was able to solve.
AI can be an absolutely priceless tool. Of course, it still gets things wrong occasionally, and will “hallucinate” from time to time. So you always need to check the sources and back it up with old-fashioned research. But it’s only going to improve from here.
If you’re still in the workforce, now is the time to adopt these tools. Head on over to ChatGPT.com and start experimenting. Elon Musk’s X.AI is also an excellent tool.
As investors, we must also pay close attention to how the stocks we own are utilizing AI. Are they increasing productivity, or wasting capital? There’s a whole lot of both happening currently.
The companies which correctly utilize AI will see skyrocketing profitability. Revenue-per-employee at the winning firms will soar to unfathomable heights over the next decade.
In the near future we’ll explore companies which are taking full advantage of AI, and which are falling behind. This is going to be a crucial factor for successful investing going forward.
