AI is a money pit — here’s why investors don’t mind

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Business

4.3 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2024

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

AI investment is massive, but AI profits are not — and yet investors seem confident massive AI fundraising will one day translate into sizable AI profits. To break it down, Verge Deputy Editor Alex Heath guest hosts this episode of Decoder featuring Menlo Ventures partner Tim Tully and AirStreet Capital founder Nathan Benaich. Links: 2024: The State of Generative AI in the Enterprise | Menlo Ventures State of AI Report | Nathan Benaich AI Index Report 2024 | Stanford HAL How companies are spending on AI right now | Tech Brew OpenAI Is growing fast and burning through piles of money | NYT Amazon to invest another $4 billion in OpenAI rival Anthropic | The Verge Agents are the future AI companies promise — and desperately need | The Verge Anthropic’s latest AI update can use a computer on its own | The Verge OpenAI reportedly plans to launch an AI agent early next year | The Verge Is AI hitting a wall? | Command Line Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for Decoder comes from Stripe.
0:03.0	The internet economy is expanding two and a half times faster than the physical economy,
0:08.0	and businesses have been scrambling for ways to get a piece of the pie.
0:11.0	Stripe was created specifically for this era of digital transformation.
0:15.0	The company was founded on the belief that providing better financial infrastructure to businesses and entrepreneurs
0:21.7	would enable them to capitalize on these opportunities and accelerate growth.
0:26.6	This increased growth, in turn, can fuel the overall economy, potentially creating a better
0:31.3	world for everyone.
0:32.8	To learn how Stripe can help your business make progress, visit Stripe.com.
0:39.1	Hello, and welcome to Decoder.
0:41.2	This is Alex Heath, not Eli Patel.
0:43.4	I'm Deputy at Earth the Verge, and I'm guest hosting a couple of episodes of Decoder this month as we head into the holidays.
0:50.2	And I'm very excited for what we have coming.
0:52.5	I'll be back later this month with an exclusive interview with the CEO of Chipmaker Arm,
0:57.2	so stay tuned for that.
0:58.8	And if you want to sneak peek, be sure to check out Commandline,
1:01.5	my weekly newsletter about the tech industry's inside conversation.
1:05.2	But today we're talking about a topic I've been focusing on a lot lately.
1:09.2	It's at the heart of the most ambitious and most costly
1:12.1	gamble the tech industry has arguably ever made. That is, of course, artificial intelligence,
1:17.7	and specifically the idea that one day soon, big companies across all kinds of industries
1:22.9	will be spending hundreds of billions of dollars on AI products. Today, though, that's just not happening.
	...

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