Economist: “The secret of economic success is innovation and the secret of innovation is the brilliance, creativity and drive of the most talented few. But even as governments throw money at schemes to boost their economies, including chipmaking factories and rare-earth mines, brainpower is going unloved. And the waste is getting worse.”
Tomasz Tunguz: “We build teams in pyramids today. One leader, several managers, many individual contributors. In the AI world, what team configuration makes the most sense? Here are some alternatives : First, the short pyramid. Managers become agent managers. The work performed by individual contributors of yore becomes the workloads of agents. Everyone moves up a level of abstraction in work. Second, the rocket ship! One director, seven managers, 21 employees. Everyone in the organization is managing agents, but these agents reflect their seniority. The director manages an AI chief-of-staff, the managers are player-coaches, both executing goals themselves & training/coaching others on how to manipulate AI successfully, which cuts the span of control by half. This configuration reduces headcount (1:7:49 -> 1:7:14) by 53%.”
WSJ: “The artificial-intelligence boom has ushered in one of the costliest building sprees in world history. Over the past three years, leading tech firms have committed more toward AI data centers like the one in Ellendale, plus chips and energy, than it cost to build the interstate highway system over four decades, when adjusted for inflation. AI proponents liken the effort to the Industrial Revolution. A big problem: No one is sure how they will get their investment back—or when.”
NYTimes: “China has embarked on a campaign to use more robots in its factories, transforming its manufacturing industries and becoming the dominant maker…There were more than two million robots working in Chinese factories last year, according to a report released Thursday by the International Federation of Robotics, a nonprofit trade group for makers of industrial robots. Factories in China installed nearly 300,000 new robots last year, more than the rest of the world combined, the report found. American factories installed 34,000. While Chinese factories have been using more robots, they have also gotten better at making them. The government has used public capital and policy directives to spur Chinese companies to become leaders in robotics and other advanced technologies like semiconductors and artificial intelligence.”
