I’ve been relatively bearish lately on Google’s articulated vision — or lack thereof — for artificial intelligence. I’ve been much more bullish about Microsoft and Amazon and OpenAI. But here’s the thing. We’re in the early days of generative AI in practice. Yes, it’s getting used every day. At the same time, I’d challenge most people to name 10 great products that depend solely on generative AI, let alone 10 great companies that that do. Yes, we’re seeing gen AI features incorporated into existing great products. We’re also seeing great technology that might someday morph into a great product. It’s just that great technology isn’t the same thing as a great product. Google achieved its dominant position not only because they offered terrific search results that worked well for searchers. It’s also because they had a great way to monetize those results that worked well for searchers, advertisers, and everyone else in the value chain. That’s what a great product does. It works. And it pays. For itself. What we’re seeing instead at the moment is a gold rush. And, as you know, the winners in a gold rush aren’t the people mining for gold. It’s the people selling picks and shovels. Who are those people today? Big Tech companies like Google and Microsoft and Amazon. And aspiring members of Big Tech like OpenAI and Adobe and Salesforce. The trick for you is to ensure you’re able to connect with your customers whether or not AI helps you find gold. And that’s what this episode of Thinks Out Loud is all about. Picks, Shovels, and the AI Gold Rush (Thinks Out Loud Episode 414) Headlines and Show Notes Show Notes and Links * OpenAI Develops Web Search Product in Challenge to Google — The Information * Video generation models as world simulators * Introducing Gemini 1.5, Google’s next-generation AI model * ChatGPT bug causes chaos as AI generates nonsensical responses – Dexerto * Reddit – “Ah the classic super buff native american and Indian couple from 1820 germany” * Reddit – “excuse me but what the actual fu-“ * Reddit – “Yo, Gpt4 just went full hallucination mode on me, hasn’t really every happened to me this severely since the early days of gpt3 : ChatGPT” * a href="https://www.timpeter.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGltcGV0ZXIuY29tL2Jsb2cvZ29vZ2xlLWxhY2tzLXZpc2lvbi1iaWctdGVjaC1lYXJuaW5ncy1zdGF0ZS1vZi1kaWdpdGFsLXExLTI...