Hi folks, Kylie Robison with the tech team here. On a fairly regular basis, I bring up former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's infamous and sweaty "developers, developers, developers" speech. It's one of those memes that's perfect for replacing the word developers with any trending term of your choice, and today, the key phrase is obviously A.I.
Artificial intelligence is undoubtedly buzzy, bringing back a bit of that perspiration-fueled fervor reminiscent of the dotcom boom era. The frenzy it's stirred up has led to some rather curious deals, such as the case of a fledgling startup, roughly a week old, boasting a valuation of around $100 million, all on the basis of a lofty A.I.-infused vision rather than much of a physical product, as reported by the New York Times.
Clearly, many are trying to get a fraction of the action OpenAI scooped up with its whopping $13 billion investment from Microsoft. Entire companies are revamping their business blueprints to embrace the A.I. wave—including my alma mater, Business Insider. While some sectors are playing catch up, companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft are throwing elbows for the biggest slice of the pie.
For those who rode the wild waves of the dotcom boom, you might be having déjà vu. Only two decades ago, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates was fiercely competing for dominance in the browser wars, pitting Microsoft's Internet Explorer against Netscape's Navigator. Gates, the ultimate strategist, even mapped out a plan for total domination of the buzzy new tech in a 1995 memo to his staff.
"In this memo I want to make clear that our focus on the Internet is crucial to every part of our business. The Internet is the most important single development to come along since the IBM PC was introduced in 1981," Gates wrote in the 1995 memo, describing the internet as a "tidal wave" with profound implications for the future of their business. Fast forward nearly two decades and Microsoft's present-day chief draws a parallel between Gates' gusto and today's artificial intelligence frenzy.
“The Bill memo in 1995, it does feel like that to me,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told Bloomberg's Emily Chang on the latest episode of The Circuit With Emily Chang. “I think it’s as big.”
It's funny how history repeats itself. As Bloomberg points out, just as Gates penned that battle cry to his staff as a retort to Netscape (which Microsoft then vanquished, causing an infamous antitrust lawsuit), the birth of OpenAI and Microsoft's guiding touch was goaded, in a way, by Google's looming supremacy over A.I. OpenAI is certainly in the lead now, but it seems to be treading cautiously to avoid retracing Gates' steps from 1995. The firm's CEO, Sam Altman, just went on a world tour asking leaders to regulate the new technology, clearly seeing the potential for similar litigious backlash.
The parallels are certainly not lost on Nadella. Yet, he points out to Bloomberg a slight divergence—unlike the internet in 1995, the genuine impact of A.I. is still unknown. I personally won't hold my breath until A.I. unlocks wonders like the '90s and '00s internet did with Neopets and Runescape (kidding, sort of).
Here’s what else is going on in tech today.
Kylie Robison
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