The Exchanges

Q Do you think that they'll be able to figure out the products though under cook when it comes to AI?

A Um, yeah, I think you'll, you'll see, it'll be something so subtle. I know, I know you're expecting some like beautiful, gorgeous thing, but yeah, I think your phone will talk to your AirPods better and then it'll all coordinate. If they do that, that'll be, look at everyone's software and services have grown like enormously under Tim cook. Like it's not that exciting, but it sure does make money, right? That kind of stuff. He's not as exciting. I just think it's, um, He's just not as exciting, and at the same time, business processes are just as important as products. And, you know, I, I don't, I think to expect some wow event is, is something of the past. That's not going to happen. A lot of it will be incremental. Um, and the incremental, since they're such big businesses, is enormous.

AI assessment note: “yeah, I think you'll, you'll see, it'll be something so subtle.”

Q Yeah. I want to ask you about the, you know, speaking of this, the motivations of people that leak. Um, now obviously people leak because they have an ax to grind sometimes, but oftentimes people just leak because they want to. So can you talk about that a bit? Like the motivation?

A Yeah. I think that, you know, I don't, some people are nefarious and they have some, they want a job or something like that, but mostly they're just mad because it's not out there. And so they want to tell someone they trust. And so I'm, I've become a very trustworthy people for, Someone, like, that they feel like they're gonna get a fair shake, or that I can, I have the ear of powerful people, and therefore, you know, if they tell me, they'll, it'll have some impact. Um, you know, sometimes you get, you know, people are close, I have a lot of people close to Elon who are texting me, which I'm like, oh, I don't want to hear about this, you know, about his personal problems. Um, um, you know, they just, they.

AI assessment note: “mostly they're just mad because it's not out there.”

Q Um, what's your read on the state of where Elon is? And do you have any sense that Tesla is struggling in part because he's distracted by Twitter?

A Yes, I think, yes, yes to all. Like, I think, look, Tesla was inevitably going to get its comeuppance because there's going to be, he's, he, let's see what he did that's an accomplishment. He created, he really did push forward this industry. There's no one you could give more credit to than him in pushing forward the electric vehicle thing. Google tried a little bit, but he really did it, right? And so a lot of people tried and he did it. And so that was great. And he came out with a car that was innovative and interesting. It's as if Steve Jobs invented the iMac and then stopped. That's what it feels like. It's like he hasn't, look at, he hasn't done, he's done, he did the Y and the X, the Y, but, you know, then Cybertruck? Come on. Like, come on.

AI assessment note: “Yes, I think, yes, yes to all.”

Q That's right. And so then do you think that we're sort of that the hype around this current cycle of generative AI is, is appropriate?

A I think it is, because it, look, there's so much data now, and there's, and this computing is getting better and better and more sophisticated. It makes sense that it will, you know, years ago I heard a speech, I was, I was in, I was sitting up in top of a church, which was interesting. I just have a vision of being there, and the guy said, we're right now, he was an AI person, I think from MIT, and he said, right now we're at dolphin level intelligence of AI, and it's soon going to surpass humans. It's going to go from dolphin, and dolphins are pretty fucking smart to start with, Um, it's going, not smart enough, obviously, to get out of nets, but nonetheless smart. Um, but, uh, but it's going to surpass, and I thought, well, that makes sense, because it's going to have more and more information, if it, especially if it's data heavy, it should do, the human brain can't, like a doctor can't read all the medical journals and every, all the latest new things, so it makes sense that it would be smarter in that regard, maybe not kinder, not more Creative and things like that. So yeah, I think, I think the hype should be there. It makes sense.

AI assessment note: “I think it is, because it, look, there's so much data now”

Q You write a lot about the media business and journalism in the book. So on our AI theme, do you think AI is going to not kill, but seriously injure the media business?

A AI will. I think it will affect it. I don't know if it'll kill it. I think killing is a little dramatic, but media people are dramatic. Um, you know, I think it could aid it in some ways, just like, did the, did the internet kill us? Yeah. But did it aid us? Yeah. You know what I mean? The ones who are innovative and use these, these tools? Sure. Um, I don't know. It's like saying when the iPhone came out in 2007, would you have predicted Uber? Hurt the tax? No, you wouldn't have. Like, I don't know what's going to be made, but I do think we should take all these tools and use them and figure out where they're best to deliver stories and stuff like that, and I think those who resist it and just sort of, you know, bemoan their fate or destined to fail, that's for sure.

AI assessment note: “I think it will affect it. I don't know if it'll kill it.”

Q And some people are like, well, you know, it would take this amount of time and they'd eventually be able to do that. And so when I thinking more about like what takes a successful leader, do you think successful tech leaders have that Gary Kasparov sort of ability to build this stuff?

A No, not at all. No, that chess is a whole different. Yeah, I think sometimes it's luck. Oftentimes, there's a whole lot more luck going on than anything else. It's someone who has a good idea and is able to shift quickly. I think that is a quality that's great, but the idea that these are more special, you know, unicorns than you and I, it's just not true. It's just not true. Um, some of them are. Some of them are really Quite gifted in what they do. What they tend to do then is shift off into other areas they're not so good at, you know, um, or pontificating. Like, V.C. is talking about Ukraine. No thank you. They're idiotic beyond belief, most of them. Um, but, um, but, but, you know, yeah, I think there, there is a quality of, it's an entrepreneurial quality that not everybody has, and that is true. Like, I'm more entrepreneurial than the average reporter, and that's why I think I've done well. So, why am I like that? Because, Lots of reasons. I have a disputatious personality. I, uh, I want to work for myself, and that's just the way I am, like the way I'm built, and it helps to be that way in my aims, but if it was, if I had to be at an office, I'd have problems. I'd be at the bottom of the totem pole, for sure.

AI assessment note: “No, not at all. No, that chess is a whole different.”