#45 Angelinvesting.it - From idea to Series A - Weekly Newsletter
Agent's war
"Who are you, and what do you carry?" Before they can respond, the toll collector at the bridge demands "2 coins."
In this 1980s comedy film, the unfortunate protagonists forget their hat across the river. Upon returning, the scene repeats: the toll collector, oblivious to their previous passage, inquires, "Who are you? What do you carry? 2 coins."
Over the past 20 years, there have been three major shifts in technology paradigms, each introducing a new form of 'tax collector'.
With the advent of the Internet, this 'tax collector' role was embodied by Google, the search engine that dominates 96% of the online search market revenue.
As cloud computing emerged, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft carved out their domains, collecting taxes like emperors of three neighboring kingdoms.
With the mobile revolution, the 'tax collectors' became the Apple Store and Google Android. Their devices and software take a 30% cut ('2 coins') from app revenues in their stores.
Now, as AI heralds the fourth paradigm shift, the battle to become the next 'tax collector' intensifies. This new 'tax collector' will manifest as intelligent agents.
This agent will be intelligent enough to answer your questions without making you sift through 10 blue links, as is typical with a Google search. It will be capable at meeting your needs without the need to switch between multiple apps.
Imagine having an extremely effective personal assistant at your fingertips, one that understands and addresses your needs with remarkable efficiency.
For this boost in productivity and satisfaction, the agent's provider will charge a small fee. But this will be a price gladly paid, as it will represent only a fraction of the productivity gains achieved.
2 Resources to pro
1. Clippy's Revenge
In a recent article, Bill Gates discusses how generative artificial intelligence will render existing software and computers obsolete by revolutionizing machine interaction.
"I still love software as much as when Paul Allen and I founded Microsoft. However, despite significant improvements over the decades, software in many ways remains quite basic. To perform any operation on a computer, you must tell the device which application to use," … “In the next five years, this will change dramatically. There will be no need to use different apps for different tasks. You'll simply tell the device, in everyday language, what you want to do. Depending on how much information you choose to share with it, the software will be able to respond personally because it will deeply understand your life."
From this viewpoint, Microsoft's infamous Clippy (introduced and later retired by Gates' company) was heading in the right direction; the limitation was the technology.
Since 1995, Gates has been talking about personal assistants, but until the recent advent of Generative AI, we couldn't really speak of true assistants, but rather of chatbots – a markedly different concept. Using Gates' metaphor, a chatbot like Clippy is to an Agent what an old rotary phone is to a smartphone. Both make calls, but they are vastly different tools.
2. 3 videos to enter the rabbit hole of AGI (discover a new world)
Text = Understanding the world
Consciusnees is not 0/1 but a scale!
AGI is happening
1 Reason to be happy
Agent Smith is not here yet. Enjoy your weekend and, if you have time, rewatch 'The Matrix' - the movie of my nerd generation that becomes more relevant with each passing day.
Have a great weekend,
Simone
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