Five Things AI: Economic Fundamentals, AGI, NVIDIA, Language, GEO

Everything you need to know about AI this week. Really.

Hello and welcome back to Five Things AI, dear fellow humans! And hello to the bots as well! The AI wave is riding the classic pattern of speculative bubbles, reminiscent of Tulip Mania and the 2008 financial crisis, fueled by a complex web of chipmakers, cloud providers, and AI developers. While the hype is massive and investments in AI infrastructure are skyrocketing, real-world business returns don’t yet fully justify the frenzy, suggesting the economic impact is still unfolding.

Meanwhile, we’re far from building true artificial general intelligence, with current models excelling at answering questions but lacking the context, initiative, and autonomy needed for real jobs - so you can breathe easy if you’re a janitor. On the stock market front, Nvidia’s meteoric rise exemplifies AI’s transformative force, but trade restrictions with China loom as a real risk.

On the linguistic frontier, AI models have now matched human experts’ ability to analyze language complexity, showing how far the tech has come. Lastly, in a cultural shift, writers are embracing that their audience increasingly includes AIs, pointing to a new era where influencing the digital mind might matter more than traditional search rankings. AI may feel like chaos, but it’s redefining how we interact with information and value creation all at once.

There’s so much to unpack this week! Enjoy this edition of Five Things AI!