Welcome back to This Week in Stratechery!
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On that note, here were a few of our favorites this week.
- The AI Slop Era Arrives. I wrote about MetaAI Vibes on Monday, and Sora on Wednesday. DON’T READ EITHER OF THEM. Instead, listen to this week’s episode of Sharp Tech, where I dig deep to understand why my takes were wrong, and what that means for not just the future of AI (and OpenAI), but also the suddenly significant problems facing Meta. — Ben Thompson
- What “China Hawk” Really Means. This week’s episode of Sharp China is outside the paywall, dense with information and full of overlap with the tech world. Topics include the maddening details on the proposed TikTok sale, the launch of a Chinese visa program to attract foreign tech talent, a very interesting Xi rumor in advance of the fourth plenum later this month, and a new effort to target subsidiaries of companies that have been added to the entity list by the U.S. government. In addition to all that, we discussed recent comments from Jensen Huang on the US and China, in which the Nvidia CEO said the label “China Hawk” should be a “badge of shame.” For his part, Bill explained why Huang may come to regret those comments as bipartisan Nvidia resentment builds in Washington. And for mine, I found the comments strikingly out of step with the reality of who “China hawks” are, what they’re trying to achieve, and the proximate cause of alarm among folks with security clearances. — Andrew Sharp
- Steve Ballmer and the Clippers Catastrophe. Greatest of All Talk published its 600th episode this week and celebrated with an extended look at the Clippers, who have been stars (villains?) of the NBA offseason thanks to allegations that owner Steve Ballmer used a now-bankrupt green fintech company to circumvent the salary cap to pay superstar Kawhi Leonard. My co-host Ben Golliver was at Clippers media day in L.A. this week, where everyone involved stridently denied the allegations. That led to thoughts on the likely next steps in this farcical affair, along with big picture questions about the Clippers’ standing in the NBA and comps to Ballmer’s time at Microsoft. Come for that substance, and stay for another hour reveling in media days elsewhere in the NBA. Stratechery subscribers can access every episode of the GOAT (we’ve already recorded episode 601), and it’s going to be a great new season. — AS
Stratechery Articles and Updates
- Meta Vibes, Good Vibes, Vibes Vision — The Internet hates Vibes, MetaAI’s new AI video feed, but I find it compelling and a fascinating look at a VR future.
- OpenAI Instant Checkout, AI and Long Tail E-Commerce, Is AI Different? — OpenAI’s Instant Checkout highlights why AI commerce fills a unique role, to the benefit of Shopify and Etsy; will it work better than Meta’s native Checkout?
- Sora the App, Sonnet 4.5 and the Question of Models as Processors — OpenAI has its own AI video app with Sora, powered by Sora 2; I’m not sure how compelling it will be in the long run. Then, Cognition’s experience with a new Anthropic model suggests that incorporating new models requires a lot more work than a new processor.
- An Interview with Ben Bajarin About AI Infrastructure — An Interview with Ben Bajarin about AI infrastructure, Nvidia, and Intel.
Dithering with Ben Thompson and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber
Asianometry with Jon Yu
Sharp China with Andrew Sharp and Sinocism’s Bill Bishop
Greatest of All Talk with Andrew Sharp and WaPo’s Ben Golliver
- An Afternoon with the Clippers, 600 Episodes of the GOAT, Notes on the Lakers, Nuggets, Warriors, and More
- The Magic and the Top 100, Surveying the Southeast Division, Kuminga’s Deal and a LeBron Injury
Sharp Tech with Andrew Sharp and Ben Thompson
This week’s Sharp Tech video is an instant reaction to the new Meta AI app.