US judge finds that Google’s online ad tech monopoly is illegal
Meta is facing an anti-trust case at the same time, as government confronts the Valley’s power
Read More ›CategoryBusiness and Finance
LLMs Still Cannot be Trusted for Financial Advice
The limitations of Large Language Models (chatbots) are illustrated by their struggles with financial adviceThe real danger remains: we may think computers are smarter than us and consequently trust them to make decisions they should not be trusted to make.
Read More ›
Machine Learning Algos Often Fail: They Focus on Data, Ignore Theory
Without a theory, a pattern is just a patternThe data-mining algorithms may recognize that a statistical pattern has vanished but won’t know why because they do not understand it as a logical relationship.
Read More ›
Yes, the AI Stock Bubble Is a Bubble
It's unfolding the way a financial bubble typically doesUnlike the Internet, LLMs are not useful enough to prompt customers to pay prices that reflect the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to develop them.
Read More ›
Today’s Startups Are Doing Much Worse Than Those of the Past
The percentage of startups profitable at IPO time has steadily declined since the 1980s and most valuable ones take longer to become profitableWe should certainly stop making overly optimistic claims about America’s system of startups, science, and technology.
Read More ›
How to Build an AI Company: Advice from a Seasoned Entrepreneur
In the podcast, Copps emphasized the necessity of remaining flexible and open to change: “Don’t be married to your idea.”Marks, the podcast host, added an essential perspective on networking, stressing the value of facing fears and engaging with influential figures.
Read More ›
AI Entrepreneur Seeks To Empower Others Through Innovation
David Copps came back from split-brain surgery determined to use his entrepreneurial skills to empower others.Copps flatlined for a moment during the surgery — done to relieve epilepsy — and that experience reinforced his belief that life has a greater purpose.
Read More ›
A New McDonald’s PlayPlace Doesn’t Look Very Fun
A virtual playground doesn't offer kids genuine playHopefully the McDonald’s corporation will realize that the PlayPlace is a big part of what makes its restaurants so appealing.
Read More ›
Unequal Profits: Why AI Needs Successful Applications
Readers may be surprised to learn that these widely touted AI advances are not making their developers much moneyIn the short run this system is being propped up by the big tech players but for a stable future, it needs to be self-sustaining.
Read More ›
DeepSeek’s AI Model Shakes the Market
A wake-up call for U.S. techThe new reality is one where efficiency, not just brute computing power, will dictate the future of artificial intelligence.
Read More ›
Sloppy Science is a Statistical Sin
Evidence of sloppy science encourages readers to wonder if the entire research project is compromisedJournals should require authors to make their data available online before publication and encourage others to try to replicate the research they publish.
Read More ›
Do High AI Startup Valuations Mean Great Success, or Desperation?
The answer is important but is not as clear as we might think. First, let's look at the backgroundConsider a recent news report: “Anthropic is in advanced talks to raise $2 billion in a deal that would value it at $60 billion, more than triple its valuation from a year ago” says the Wall Street Journal. Anthropic’s last venture capital (VC) funding round, less than two months ago, raised $2 billion, bringing its total funding to $9.6 billion. OpenAI had raised $6.6 billion, last October just a year after it raised $10 billion from Microsoft the previous year and just months after it also raised funds on the debt and secondary markets. So that $6.6 billion round was the largest VC funding round ever, a little larger than the $6 billion that Elon Musk’s generative AI startup, xAI, raised in 2023. Read More ›
The AI Bubble: Hype, Reality, and Consequences
In this week's podcast, Pomona College economics prof Gary Smith discusses with Robert J. Marks what generative AI is and isn't good forAI can be a helpful tool when used appropriately but, he warns, the current AI boom mirrors past economic bubbles, driven by hype and inflated expectations.
Read More ›
Another Warning That the AI Bubble Is Near Bursting…
AI analyst Gary Marcus: There is no principled solution to hallucinations in systems of this typeMaybe the reason there is no principled solution to AI hallucinations is that we cannot create artificial human minds.
Read More ›
NYT Column: Factory Farms Are Good for People and the Planet
Journalist Michael Grunwald points out that factory farming means fewer natural spaces are cleared for farmland than would otherwise be the caseJournalist Michael Grunwald points out that factory farming means fewer natural spaces are cleared for farmland than would otherwise be the case.
Read More ›
Flashes of Genius: Hal Philipp’s Journey of Invention, Resilience
His groundbreaking work on optical sensors for automated doors and faucets laid the foundation for his careerReflecting on his 100-hour workweeks and legal battles, he cautions against solo ventures without financial and legal backing.
Read More ›
Debanking May Be More Common Than We Realize
Sometimes the motive seems political — unrelated to concerns about creditworthiness or suspicion about illegal activitiesLast March, it came out that the US Treasury Department had sent a list of “hate groups” to major US banks; more recently, a number of crypto firms were hit.
Read More ›
Microsoft: What Did You Need To Work There in the Early Days?
They asked questions that were not about the details of computer technology. The questions made you think. Hard.For example. they would ask questions like, why are manhole covers round?
Read More ›
Chegged Out: How ChatGPT Schooled a Study Giant
AI has transformed how students approach both learning and cheatingAI is going to both create and destroy businesses. An interesting victim of AI is the academic assistance business. Academic dishonesty, the dark side of academic assistance, is a fancy term for cheating. With profit-motivated websites like Chegg.com, cheating became easier. When taking an exam, a student could take a photo of a difficult problem and send it to Chegg. In literally minutes, the student would be sent the answer over a cell phone. How do they do it? Often Chegg employs smart nerds from poor countries who, by local standards, are paid big bucks for their efforts. To use Chegg, a subscription is needed. But why include a human in the loop when AI can give you a quicker Read More ›
AI Pessimists vs True Believers: A Deepening Divide
There is a growing divide about AI even among AI experts but many of them like polarizing content, just as the consumers of political information doTrue believers don’t focus on short-term trends because they aren’t very positive. But short-term trends should be consistent with a long-term forecast.
Read More ›