AI: The Other Cage Match
... it's always Personal
The Tech world of late has been buzzing with anticipation on this possible “Cage Match” between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. The business issues between the two have been building, with recent rumblings of Meta rolling out a Twitter clone. Even the Wall Street Journal weighed in yesterday on the topic:
“There’s enough smoke to send the tech media into a frenzy, the sports world not far behind. The UFC promoter Dana White, showing admirable restraint, announced that a Zuckerberg-Musk fight “would be the biggest fight ever in the history of the world.”
“Maybe this idea is more apt than I’m seeing. Maybe the sweet science of fighting has a good deal in common with the mortal combat of Silicon Valley.”
They’re talking a billion dollars in pay per view (PPV), of course a pittance to both men. And an opportunity for their favorite charities.
But in a world where global images matter in a world saturated with social media, the sky is likely not the limit for this gladiator match.
And as the WSJ rightly points out the “mortal combat of Silicon Valley”, it brings to mind of course the other cage match that is being fought around AI by the Tech giants, and new upstarts.
As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said when discussing his partnership with OpenAI bringing Google into the AI game around Search:
“Google is the 800-pound gorilla in search. I want people to know that we made them dance.”
He enjoyed saying those words, as you can see here.
As much as we can analyze the strategies around big opportunities with charts below like the AI Tech Value stack. Then dig into the tech innovations, coupled with the business models, that can make them happen at scale. It’s important to remember that it’s also personal at the top. Rife with emotions and ambitions.
Microsoft, OpenAI, Meta, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, and almost every other name in the chart above, are run by driven individuals. Money for many are just a way of keeping score. Fighting cage matches everyday. For all the marbles in many cases. Again, as the WSJ piece earlier reminds us,
“These are ruthless, winner-take-all worlds that believe they’re the center of the universe. They have their household names, has-beens, and up-and-comers ready to disrupt the planets. These environments are full of gassy hype that occasionally delivers.”
We’ve talked about how Meta is pushing hard with AI open source software to “throw sand in the gears” of their AI competitors.
And how even close partners like Microsoft and OpenAI have to work through competitive issues to make their partnership work.
How Apple used their vaunted focus on Privacy to cost Meta billions in revenues.
All these battles are likely going to look like small potatoes, as the AI wave continues to build opportunities to create trillions in new value, especially in Boxes 5 and 6 in the chart above.
The battles around smart, personal AI agents (Box 6 in chart above), are yet to come, as presaged by this piece on OpenAI vs Microsoft just yesterday.
The real cages matches are going on now in AI already. While we wait for Musk and Zuck to make up their minds. Stay tuned.