Derek Thompson

Azeem, what is a bubble?

Well, you've mentioned the housing bubble, the global financial crisis.

You've mentioned the dot-com bubble.

What feels similar this time around and what feels different?

And for some reason, I still remember his tan.

I don't remember that much visually about the global financial crisis or the housing crash, but I remember that man's tan and it was spectacular.

And this is where it's confusing for me, because I have to admit that I use ChatsBT.

I acknowledge that Claude is extraordinary, and some of these gen AI tools are fantastic.

And at the same time, I read headlines about Thinking Machines, the AI startup that's helmed by the former OpenAI executive, Mira Marotti, which just raised the largest seed round in history, $2 billion in funding at a $10 billion valuation.

That company has not released a product,

It has not described to investors what product they're even trying to build.

There was a quote from one investor who met with Maradi, who by all accounts seems like an absolutely brilliant woman.

And he said, quote, it was the most absurd pitch meeting.

She was like, so we're doing an AI company with the best AI people, but we can't answer any questions, end quote.

And so when I look at this, I have to admit, this does somewhat remind me of a dot-com company that has vast promises for reshaping some aspect of retail, but very little underlying business that people can see.

Or maybe like some housing development that's built in the excerpts of God knows what, Phoenix,

It's beautiful and perfectly financed, at least on the outside, and yet no one is moving into the houses.

So to what extent do stories like this at least give you like the tiniest little bit of a spidey sense that like, wow, there is a lot of frothy expectation and funding going toward very expensive projects right now with no clear proof that they're going to actually throw off revenue?

And here, let me argue with myself.

I remember talking to the folks from Stripe about what they were seeing on their platform of AI companies versus non-AI companies.