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Are any Americans sick of winning yet?
We'll always have a Republican comedy duo
As usual the New York Times Pitchbot is ahead of the curve
I admit I was one of the 81,281,502 Americans who helped rig the election for Biden.
God knows I'll do it again - no on will be able to stop me.
SMHLMAO I took the vaccine and didn't get Covid. The only thing I got was older.
this was you ?
Google, Microsoft, and Meta can’t stop talking about A.I. — here’s why Apple rarely mentions it
PUBLISHED FRI, JUL 28 20231:57 PM EDT UPDATED FRI, JUL 28 20233:12 PM EDT
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/28/why-apple-doesnt-talk-about-ai-as-much-as-google-meta-and-microsoft.html
Kif Leswing
The most powerful technology companies simply cannot stop talking about artificial intelligence, and in particular, the “generative AI” flavor that can create human-like text, images, and code.
Apple barely talks about artificial intelligence, and you shouldn’t expect to hear much about it during the company’s earnings next week.
Apple’s AI works in the background. And the company doesn’t yell about it the way some of the other companies do because it doesn’t need to.
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WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 22: Apple CEO Tim Cook arrives at the White House on June 22, 2023 in Washington, DC. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are hosting a state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of his official state visit. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
The most powerful technology companies simply cannot stop talking about artificial intelligence, and in particular, the “generative AI” flavor that can create human-like text, images and code.
During calls after this week’s earnings reports, Alphabet
CEO Sundar Pichai and his team said “AI” 66 times. Microsoft
CEO Satya Nadella and his execs said it 47 times. And on Wednesday, Meta
CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook executive team said the magic phrase 42 times, according to a CNBC analysis of transcripts.
But Apple barely talks about artificial intelligence, and you shouldn’t expect to hear much about it during the company’s earnings next week.
Its sober approach to the new technology contrasts sharply with its rivals, which are stoking excitement and elevating expectations every chance they get.
During May’s Apple earnings call, CEO Tim Cook only said AI twice, and that was in response to a question. During Apple’s two-hour software launch event in June, it never said the phrase, although it announced several new features powered with AI.
Apple execs instead use the phrase “machine learning,” which is more popular with academics and practitioners. Apple execs also prefer to talk about what software does for the user, such as organizing their photos, improving their typing, or filling out fields in a PDF, as opposed to the technology that makes all that possible.
Apple’s approach to AI as a core underlying component instead of the future of computing represents a way to present the technology to its consumers. Apple’s AI works in the background. And the company doesn’t yell about it the way some of the other companies do because it doesn’t need to.
Microsoft, Google and Meta are rallying everyone around AI, even though the future is murky
Google launched Bard AI, it's own chatbot to rival Microsoft and OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images
A closer look at executive remarks this week from earnings calls shows that while Meta, Microsoft, and Google are eager to sell the shovels for the AI gold rush, such as cloud services and developer tools, it’s still unclear how AI could change their most important products and when it could start bolstering balance sheets.
Google, for example, has announced its plans to revamp its search engine using an AI model called Search Generative Experience. Microsoft’s biggest new initiative is a $30 per month “Copilot” subscription that integrates generated text or code from partner OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Word, Powerpoint and other apps. Facebook parent Meta’s most recent investment in AI technology is its own large language model it calls LLaMA, which could underpin new kinds of social media chatbots or automatically generate online ads.
Meanwhile, Apple still makes the bulk of its money from iPhones, which generated $51.3 billion of its $94.84 billion in revenue during the company’s fiscal second quarter. Why talk a big AI game?
Besides, mega-cap tech companies signaled to investors earlier this week in earnings calls that the rollout of AI products could take a while.
In Microsoft’s case, Nadella tempered investor expectations for Copilot, signaling that growth would take time, and finance chief Amy Hood said that its rollout would be “gradual.”
It could take until next year before investors understand how the Copilot subscription affects the company’s revenue. “In the second half of the next fiscal year, we’ll start getting some of the real revenue signal from it,” Nadella said.
Google and Pichai say that the company’s text-generating AI models will make its search engine better and could even answer questions that normal Google search can’t. From a business perspective, Pichai said, generative AI used for creating and serving ads will “supercharge” the company’s existing ads business, adding there are “opportunities” for new kinds of ads with AI-generated search.
But Pichai said it’s still “early days” for the new AI-powered search, and later, when pressed about how SGE might increase usage of the search engine, and therefore increase revenue, he said the company was experimenting.
“I think we are definitely headed in the right direction, and we can see it in our metrics and the feedback we’re getting from our users as well,” Pichai said.
Zuckerberg was effusive about AI technology and its applications in virtual reality, ad targeting and recommending content from accounts users don’t follow.
He was particularly optimistic about a concept called “AI agents,” in which software would be able to message business customers automatically without a human involved, or act as a coach, or be a personal assistant.
Still, Zuckerberg admitted he didn’t know how many people would use the new AI features.
“The reality is, we just don’t know how quickly these will scale,” Zuckerberg said. He said Meta was debating internally how much it should spend on servers for AI.
The peak of the hype cycle
Microsoft - Bing seen on mobile with ChatGPT4 on screen, seen in this photo illustration. On 12 March 2023 in Brussels, Belgium.
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images
The slow rollout of revenue-generating AI products from Big Tech matters because many people in the industry believe that new foundational technologies go through a “hype cycle” based on research from analysis firm Gartner.
When new technology is introduced, according to the hype cycle model, it gains lots of attention and investment as it reaches a “peak of inflated expectations.” But, as the deployment of the tech moves slower than initially expected, enthusiasm and investment dry up, in a “trough of disillusionment,” before maturing and becoming productive.
For now, “shovel makers” and people seeking investment capital are benefiting from the AI boom. Nvidia
stock has risen 220% so far in 2023 as investors have realized its graphics processing units are essential for the technology. Venture capital investment in AI startups has boomed, and many of those dollars are going to Nvidia for computer capacity, and to cloud providers for access to AI models.
But if everyday consumer applications for AI don’t catch on, then many AI companies could slip into the trough of disillusionment again. Analysts found earlier this month, for example, that downloads for OpenAI’s iPhone app slowed earlier this month after launching in May.
Some analysts are starting to understand that an investment opportunity based on new AI products won’t be immediate and that the costs could stack up.
“We cautioned investors that that process of translating early demand to large-scale implementations and recognized revenue will be a multi-year trend rather than an instantaneous flip of a switch,” JPMorgan analyst Mark Murphy wrote this week.
“We recommend investors invest elsewhere until Metaverse, Reels, Threads, Quest and Generative AI investments become accretive (if ever) to META’s [return on invested capital], rather than dilutive,” Needham’s Laura Martin wrote in a note.
UBS analyst Lloyd Walmsley wrote this week that generative AI was still an “overhang” over Google.
“Management expressed optimism around the ability to solve for ‘deeper and broader’ use cases with Search Generative Experience (SGE), but we do not believe the company is out of the woods with management still describing monetization as having a ‘number of experiments in flight including (for) ads,’” Walmsley wrote.
Apple’s a product company
Apple iPhones are displayed at an Apple store in Chicago on Nov. 28, 2022.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
When Apple reports its earnings next week, analysts will likely press it on its plans for AI, given the industrywide obsession, and especially after a recent Bloomberg report that said the company was developing a ChatGPT-like language model internally.
Last month, Apple announced new iPhone keyboard software that uses the same transformers architecture as GPT, showing that it has substantial internal development of AI models. But the tech giant just doesn’t like to talk about products that aren’t out on the market yet to stoke investor anticipation.
Apple is unlikely to discuss AI at length next week as its mega-cap rivals did this week. During Apple’s earnings call in May, when asked about the technology, Cook quickly moved the conversation back to the company’s products and features.
“We view AI as huge and we’ll continue weaving it in our products on a very thoughtful basis,” Cook said.
Almost a done deal
Capitol riots: Did Trump's words at rally incite violence?
He clearly knew there were people in that crowd who were ready to and intended to be violent, and he certainly did nothing to discourage that. He not only did nothing to discourage it, he strongly hinted it should happen.
Monday TOONs -
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Jason Aldean CRUSHED his speech right before he performed tried that in a small town.
— Chad Prather (@WatchChad) July 22, 2023
CAN’T CANCEL THE TRUTH! pic.twitter.com/HZEGQtOkoe
Don’t bet against Bidenomics
The National Economic Council recently put out a report showing how much emphasis has been placed on investing in parts of country previously hard hit from automation and offshoring — which happen to include many red states and regions.
But, but, the Dems turned their backs on rural, Red state, middle class America. Except, when they didn't.
Again, Kudos to MTG for helping to craft Biden's '24 campaign message:
"Joe Biden had the largest public investment in social infrastructure and environmental programs, that is actually finishing what FDR started, that LBJ expanded on, and Joe Biden is attempting to complete," she said. Unsurprisingly, Biden's campaign for president used Greene's words approvingly, flipping the context to how, yeah, Biden's done some good things for the country and thanks, Marj.
Don’t bet against Bidenomics
By Jennifer Rubin
Columnist
July 21, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. EDT
President Biden on July 7 in the East Room of the White House. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
What caught my eye
President Biden has been on quite a roll. June numbers show inflation has been cut by more than two-thirds from its peak — down to 3 percent year-over-year from 9.1 percent. The White House calculates, “A single hour of work 12 months ago could only pay for 5.5 gallons of gas, a figure that has since risen to a bit more than 8 gallons. The increase appears to reflect a 27% drop in prices at the pump compared with a year ago, and also average wage gains of about 5%,” the Associated Press pointed out. The outdated talking point that prices are rising faster than wages needs to be retired.
Instead of political polls (in which respondents reflect their tribal identity), take a look at economic numbers that correlate to how people plan and spend their money. CNN reported: “Consumer sentiment tracked by the University of Michigan rose 13% in July, the second straight month of improvement and the biggest [month]-over-month gain since 2006, according to a preliminary reading. … The index reached its highest level since September 2021.” Consumers now expect inflation to abate (which affects purchasing decisions and can head off price hikes). “The survey showed a broad improvement across all of its components, ‘led by a 19% surge in long-term business conditions and 16% increase in short-run business conditions,’ according to the release.”
The markets responded accordingly. The Wall Street Journal reported: “Wall Street is more convinced than ever that inflation is subsiding. That’s giving investors hope that the Federal Reserve might be able to pull off what once seemed impossible: containing pricing pressures without tipping the economy into recession.” In short: “The economic data that came out this past week could hardly have been better.”
The National Economic Council recently put out a report showing how much emphasis has been placed on investing in parts of country previously hard hit from automation and offshoring — which happen to include many red states and regions. “Place-based policies that create opportunities in economically underserved communities pay off with greater economic benefits,” the report states.
“One study estimates that the economic benefits of policies that add jobs in a given place are at least 60 percent greater in ‘distressed’ regions than in ‘booming’ ones.” The report continues: “Investments in expanding access to rural broadband, for example, promote growth, employment, and education. An array of economic evidence also indicates that co-location — bringing multiple investments into communities — can reduce transportation costs and facilitate positive spillovers. These productivity and other benefits arise because clustering promotes the development and sharing of new ideas, knowledge, technology, and physical infrastructure.”
Moreover, the scale of investment is truly impressive. “Since the President took office, companies have announced over $500 billion in investments in the United States, including over $200 billion in semiconductor and electronics manufacturing and nearly $225 billion in clean energy, electric vehicle, and battery investments,” the NEC finds. “Inflation-adjusted spending on manufacturing construction overall has increased by nearly 100 percent since the end of 2021. After years of flat investment in manufacturing construction in the United States, trends are moving in a different direction.”
Bidenomics is proving to be a short-term success. (The Post reported that “Americans are still better off now than before the pandemic, with nearly 10 to 15 percent more in their bank accounts than in 2019, new checking and savings account data shows.”) More important, it has the potential to transform the economy and remake communities that had felt left behind. If so, that would be an economic and political game changer.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/21/biden-success-ukraine-inflation/
A Michigan bill makes it a felony to intimidate someone by using the wrong gender pronouns,
resulting in prison time and a $10,000 fine.
Thought Police (Nineteen Eighty-Four) - The repressive regimentation of society.
Thus I ask those whom agree with the above, why do you want the human minds of others
to be altered and controlled by psychological techniques, to reduce the subject's ability
to think critically and independently, but to allow the introduction of new, unwanted thoughts
and ideas into their minds, as well as to change their attitudes, values, and beliefs.
The Shadow knows what evil lurks in the hearts of these twisted minds.
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I'd like to establish a forum where World politics and the Power of wealth can be discussed.
What is the motivation?
What will make it all better?
It's my belief that we have all the answers.
Whether it be to our financial markets or political and social questions.
I'm doing this for my own education and having fun doing it.
My very basic ideas of the mechanics that drive our society:
1) Wealth is power. Political influence is power. Capitolism as a means to betterment in a fair market.
2)The greater good, the idea of sacrifice and an obligation to advance the human well being to make a difference in the human cause should be empowering.
Balancing the two ideals should be our goal.
Can we rise above the need for Kings and accept the responsibility of self rule ?
Democracy requires independance from the crutch of leadership and freedom respects the rights of others. Money is just a tool for trade.
We can rely on the lessons of our parents?
The traditions of our ancestors?
The lessons we have learned and humility to accept others as they can only add meaning to our lives.
Welcome to the board and please express your opinions.
---properlynumb
AI
