WSJ: “When students turn to artificial intelligence to do assignments, it’s usually to do the work easier, faster and, to the chagrin of educators, with less brain power. Not so at Northwestern University, where AI is revolutionizing the cornerstone of American business education—the case study. At Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, AI is turning that method on its head. Students no longer read through every available factoid on, say, Walmart’s wages for hourly workers and write a memo—tasks that can be easily circumvented with generative AI tools. Instead, M.B.A.s must draw out details and data through open-ended conversations with AI chatbots and then craft a strategy. Students who’ve worked through the AI-guided case—this one involves helping a school district erase a $50 million deficit fueled by transportation costs—say it more closely resembles what consultants and business leaders do in the real world: You’re not handed information. You must determine what you need to know from a cast of AI-created school officials and employees, and grill it out of them.”
FT: ““It’s still deeply concerning how concentrated this market is becoming,” says Sonnenburg, who focuses on tech stocks for California investment group Irving Investors. “If you’re not in one of about 10 names, it’d be insanely challenging to make money.”…Eight of the 10 biggest stocks in the S&P 500 are tech stocks. Those eight companies account for 36 per cent of the entire US market’s value, 60 per cent of the gains in the index since the market bottomed in April and almost 80 per cent of the S&P 500’s net income growth in the last year.”
Economist: “The extent to which AI truly eliminates rip-off markets depends on two things. First, consumers need to know how to use AI properly. Mindlessly repeating advice from ChatGPT is less effective than using the bot as a learning tool that allows a consumer to negotiate more credibly…Second, providers and retailers are likely to fight back with their own AI tools. Amazon listings are already swamped with AI-generated product descriptions…What seems clear is that the days of the know-nothing consumer are well and truly over.”
Advice from The Generalist: “If you have one truly good idea in your life, that is more than enough…To improve your mind, read fiction. We spend the vast majority of our professional lives in pure knowledge-gathering mode; there are different, deeper truths hidden in stories…“Never quit” is terrible advice. Try lots of things, quit lots of things. Your time is not infinite. Sometimes you have to give up an old dream for a better one to emerge…It’s more impactful to know your most talented contemporaries than your heroes. Meeting a hero is unlikely to change the course of your life. But if you meet the most talented minds of your generation early, you can spend the next fifty years collaborating with them as they scale.”
