I agree. I’d like to see some separation between the car manufacturer and the software. Any computers in the car should support whatever operating system you want to put on it. Things like controlling the car’s functions would just be device drivers. If the car company also wants to get into the SaaS business, fine, but you shouldn’t be required to pay for that software to operate the vehicle.

I’m on board with it if people want to change the terminology around these things, but it seems like the core of what the author is discussing is the valuation of these companies and potential bubbles.

I think it makes sense that Disney and Amazon and Netflix who are able to make money through more of a SaaS-like model would have a higher valuation than a car company that has to produce a new car for every unit sold. Maybe there’s a recent example of an over-valued car company we can think of?

Consider that an auto mechanic and a software engineer can have a similar problem-solving skill set, and could both be very intelligent. Why then does an auto mechanic make so much less money? It’s partly because of the economies of scale involved with software. The owner of the software company can sell the software to thousands of clients without having to pay the software engineer to build the software thousands of times. The owner of the auto shop still has to pay the mechanic to perform every job every time and get paid for it.

So while I agree that Disney and Netflix maybe aren’t “Tech” companies, it seems to me the real problem the author is grappling with is whether they should be valued similar to tech companies. So I guess the question becomes, are “tech” companies highly valued because they are expected to make some huge technological leap that shakes up industries, or is it because of the economies of scale inherent in the SaaS-like business model?

This doesn’t change the fact that SaaS is lucrative because unlike producing hardware, you can add users/subscribers without paying to produce additional units.

It’s so refreshing to see an adult speaking on the subject instead of these whiney children that are in the White House.

Simple two button games like Divekick can be played with one thumb if you want. It’s Steam Deck verified.

Yeah, similar to Tesla “full self driving”.

To me it’s clear that these tools are primarily useful as bullshit generators, and I expect them to hallucinate and be inaccurate. But the companies trying to capitalize on the “AI” bubble are saying that these tools can be useful and accurate. I imagine OpenAI is going to have to invoke the Fox News defense in this case, and claim that “no reasonable person would take this seriously”.