Your AI girlfriend will get out of bed for a few bucks
Welcome to AI Collision š„,
In todayās collision between AI and our world:
Trapeze at Club Med
Karp is Ironman!
Poor old Snoopy š
If thatās enough to get the investment editors swinging, read onā¦
AI Collision š„
A bit over a week ago, an email hit my inbox from a publication we send to all our subscribers at Southbank Investment Research.
In its truest sense itās the inside word from our editors at Southbank Investment Research exclusively for our loyal readers behind the paywall.
This particular essay came from my friend and colleague Nick Hubble. The headline read, āEven the Luddites are cheering for AI nowā.
Nick is great, always gives a unique take and perspective on things. Thatās why Iāve enjoyed working with him for over a decade now.
This essay though, well Iād share it with youā¦ but itās supposed to be cordoned offā¦ but I think in this caseā¦ I might bend the rules this once for you because I think itās worth you hearing what Nick has to say because heās just so damn interesting and such a great writer!
So today Iām just going to publish Nickās essay on AI for you in fullā¦
Enjoy! By the way make sure to click on the trapeze link below that Nick mentions, itās GREAT!
***
Even the Luddites are cheering for AI now
By Nickolai Hubble
The war with AI has begunā¦ with a sexy pose and a fake smile.
The soldiers of Skynet are dressed in suspiciously tight leotards and leather jackets, not uniforms.
The runway being bombed by mechanised autonomous war machines isnāt your local human-manned RAF base. Itās the catwalks of Milan and Paris.
This is not how Hollywood portrayed humanityās war against machines!
But Australiaās ABC broadcasting is out with the latest story about how artificial intelligence is replacing workers. And ABC really didnāt read the room on this oneā¦
Apparently fashion models are terrified theyāll be replaced by AI-generated images.
Fashion photography, advertising, movies and corporate CPD training videos are going to feature fake femme fatales. Thereby putting the real ones out of work.
Oh no.
What a shame.
Apparently, human models just cannot compete with AI when it comes to skin deep attributes.
Virtual models are willing to get out of bed for just a few pounds, unlike their three-dimensional friends. And they donāt have an attitude to boot.
Itās a true crisis, I know. Some of these models might have to find something more useful to do than smile at the camera.
Unless we put a stop to this outrage. There ought to be a lawā¦
Virtual girlfriends are not good lobbyists
Iām being a bit cheeky, of course. I have deep respect for the innovators of the advertising world. And just how difficult it is to get the right shot too.
My brief and ill-fated attempt at being a flying trapeze artist featured recording a promotional video. Filming makes the circus look easy.
But thereās a more important message hidden in all this. Because the government should not be taking economic policy advice from runway models.
I canāt believe Iām writing thatā¦
But, just like the coal miners before them, the fashion models are demanding protection from the government. They want the police to fight off the legions of AI figures willing to take their place.
And they are used to getting their way. All itās ever taken is a flutter of fake eyelids and flashing a fake smile.
AI models might be able to outcompete humans on a screen. But they canāt lobby as hard for their right to work.
In a competition between real models and computer programmers selling their virtual girlfriends, I suspect the models will win the hearts of politicians. And theyāll get the protection theyāre asking for.
This is a problem. Because it may unlock a large amount of anti-AI legislation. The models may be the tip of the iceberg and the pointy end of the spear.
Few countries know better what happens to prosperity under job protectionism than the UK. And itās damned hard to unravel too.
It falls to the rest of us to demand we allow AI to rule the screenā¦
Unemployment is how we get richer
Itās the awkward truth of economics. But losing jobs is a crucial part of the process of prosperity.
It works like thisā¦
Because of some innovation like AI, workers in a particular industry are no longer needed. The same amount of coal, pictures of scantily clad women and wheat can be produced with less people thanks to the new tech. So people lose their jobs.
This is bad news. For everyone, especially those who lose their jobs. We should help them adjust. But hereās the crucial bit: the economy gains whatever it is they go on to do instead.
If they become bakers, we are able to have more bread than before. If they become train drivers, we can run more trains. If they become part of a growing new industry, then that industry is able to expand with the new workers and provide entirely new goods and services.
That additional economic activity occurs without losing anything on an economy-wide basis. Technology allowed us to produce the same amount of something with less people. And those people go on to produce more of something else instead.
Put the two together and technology allows us to produce more with less ā the holy grail of economics. Except economists just call it productivity growth.
Just because we know models will lose their jobs as AI takes over their industry doesnāt mean itās a bad idea. You have to consider what is gained as well. The second half of the cost/benefit analysis. And I suspect weād gain a lot from having fake models and really good-looking bakers.
Banning AI from competing with human models would prevent this productivity gain. And thereby make us all poorer overall. The economist Frederic Bastiat put it best about 200 years ago:
In the economic sphere an act, a habit, an institution, a law produces not only one effect, but a series of effects. Of these effects, the first alone is immediate; it appears simultaneously with its cause; it is seen. The other effects emerge only subsequently; they are not seen; we are fortunate if we foresee them.
There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen.
If we protect workers from AI, we will never know what other goods and services they would have gone on to provide. And, if you ask me, theyāre probably going to provide something more useful than a pretty picture featuring funny-looking clothes.
We must let AI win to grow richer. And itās welcome to take the models first.
Until next time,
Nick Hubble
Editor, Southbank Insider
PS Sam here again. If you want to hear more from Nick and youāre not one of our subscribers to our advisories at Southbank Investment Research, you can find more of his excellent work at Fortune & Freedom.
AI gone wild š¤Ŗ
Iām increasingly interested in the smashing togetherā¦ collision if you willā¦ of AI with the military industrial complex.
Letās be honest, the war machine is the epicentre of US industry ā arguably of global industry. Itās mega business and thereās some seriously fascinating companies at the heart of it.
View these companies as you will, but the likes of Lockheed, Raytheon, BAE Systems, Boeing and Northrop are always on my radar for investment.
But thereās another that lives rent free in my mind. That is at the forefront of AI and military.
And I keep trying to figure out if itās an amazing company or an utterly terrifying one.
The company Iām talking about is Palantir.
I think I will do a deeper dive for you on the company in time. But itās one Iād chuck on your radar for now.
And like me, absorb some of the moves itās making in AI and military industries.
Start here with this videoā¦
And then listen to Palantir CEO Alex Karp talking about it more here with this oneā¦
Note: If Elon Musk is supposed to be the real-life Ironman in what he does, then Alex Karp, if you close your eyes, sounds exactly like Ironman in what he says and how he sounds!
Boomers & Busters š°
AI and AI-related stocks moving and shaking up the markets this week. (All performance data below over the rolling week).
Boom š
Cyngn (NASDAQ:CYN) up 78%
Vicarious Surgical (NYSE:RBOT) up 44%
Team Internet Group (LSE:TIG) up 12%
Bust š
iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) down 16%
Veritone Inc (NASDAQ:VERI) down 9%
Lantern Pharma (NASDAQ:LTRN) down 6%
From the hive mind š§
Last week I wrote to you about the OpenAI updates they had released. The translation part sent Duolingoās stock into a tailspin. One of the other things OpenAI showed us was the uncannily similar voice their new AI had to Scarlett Johansson. It was great. But now looks like itās getting replaced š
Tomorrow is the big dayā¦should we be getting this excited about an earnings release? Probably not. But still, why notā¦
When you think ISIS, you probably think terrorism, the middle east, you arenāt thinking high tech AI. But when youāre trying to tear down the fabric of western society, youāre going to use all tool at your disposal I guess.
Artificial Polltelligence š³ļø
Creative destruction or creativeā¦creation?
This is the question when it comes to foundational technologies like AI.
Will they destroy industry or create industry?
We know they can destroy. And weāre already seeing that play out today in the nascent stages of early consumer facing AI.
But will we all be out of jobs like many of the doomsayersā¦or ludditesā¦might suggest?
Well thatās why I wanted to see what you thought about it. I have my views, but what do you think?
That was our poll last week and here are the resultsā¦
I agree with this. Itās no slam dunk that more creation will occur, and we know destruction will come. But I think this result accurately balances that in that destruction will come, but the net effect of something like AI will be positive.
Another poll coming Thursdayā¦
Weirdest AI image of the day
In a slightly rare occurrence, Iām including two images this week. Thatās because I was going to add the first one, and then I saw the second one and it made me laugh even harder!
What would cartoon characters look like if they could age ā r/Weirddallee
ChatGPTās random quote of the day
“I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I were to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, itās probably that. So we need to be very careful with the artificial intelligence. Increasingly scientists think there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we donāt do something very foolish.”
ā Elon Musk, at the MIT AeroAstro Centennial Symposium in 2014
Thanks for reading, and donāt forget to leave comments and questions below,
Sam Volkering
Editor-in-Chief
AI Collision
