Nobel Prize in Physics...for AI?

Today, they awarded the Physics Nobel prize to the computer scientists who laid the foundation for AI.

There is no Nobel Prize for mathematics or computer science but (perhaps for timeliness) the Nobel committee decided to give a prize to the pioneers of neural networks (which underlie artificial intelligence).

They "stretched" the definition of physics and shoe-horned them in.

© 2024 Praveen Puri

Can't Sue Uber: Software Terms and Conditions

Do you also click through the long terms and conditions when using apps and other software?

I was reading today about a couple who were injured after their Uber driver went through a red light.

A NJ appellate court agreed with Uber that they can't sue the company because their daughter once ordered a pizza through Uber eats, and had clicked away any future trial rights while going through the app.

So, now they can only go through private arbitration.

Do you think this is fair, or sneaky?

© 2024 Praveen Puri

East Coast Longshoremen Strike

One of the things that the port workers want is protection from automation.  But, you can't fight automation, and it's a disadvantage to do so.  Other countries have already implemented more tech at their ports, and are more competitive.

All advancement and increases in living standards have occurred because of dynamic, innovative capitalism. Jobs are continually destroyed and new ones are created. Just think of the thousands of elevator operators and print press jobs from the early 20th century. Nobody is guaranteed a job. 

Jobs exist because they offer value. If automation can do your job better, than you're not in a value-added position. The only real security today (for both companies and workers) is the ability to change and find new ways to provide value.

© 2024 Praveen Puri

Ozempic, Packaged Foods, and Business Strategy "Judo"

What do you do if a new scientific breakthrough threatens your industry?

This was the dilemma facing the makers of packaged foods.  Survey data predicted that Ozempic, now popular for weight loss, suppressed appetites and threatened their sales.

However, in a "judo" move, multinationals like Conagra, Campbell Soup, and Danone figured out a way to flip Ozempic from existential threat to a strategic advantage.

It turns out that people on the drug are advised to boost their protein intake. Also, some suffer digestive side effects.

The food manufacturers are now planning to this niche of users with products that are protein-rich, and easily digestible.

Lesson for business leaders: how can you turn threats and weaknesses into opportunities?

© 2024 Praveen Puri

Gas Cars --> Electric

Someone said that "switching vehicles to electric, when the plant generating that electricity is an old-school coal-fired power plant, isn't a win."

My response:

Yes, but that's the way it realistically has to be done, in steps.

1. Switching a car to electric (even if, for now, the source is coal) is a partial win, one step in the right direction. Now, that car is no longer dependent on gas or diesel.

2. As cars get switched over to electricity, the electrical demand will skyrocket. So, you need, in the interim, combinations of power plants (some more green than others) to prevent outages.

3. At the next phase, you can systematically work on replacing the worst sources with better sources. As you do that, as long as you keep supply constant, electric car owners don't have to do anything, because the source of power is abstracted away from them.

© 2024 Praveen Puri

Opportunistic Innovation And Migrants

My mentor, famed consultant Alan Weiss, has written about the three types of innovation (opportunistic, conformist, non-conformist).

I've recently read a couple of articles about how opportunistic innovation is causing a "capitalist ecosystem" to sprout around migrants:

1. At a migrant shelter in NY, the migrants want to work but don't have work permits.  Opportunity: Some people rent them bikes and others set up fake delivery accounts on Uber Eats, etc. and "rent" them to migrants for, say 6 weeks. (After the time, they delete the account. On that last day, the migrants tend not to deliver the last order of the day and keep it for themselves 🙂 ).

2. I was reading today about a scuffle at a Chicago Home Depot (which ended up with the security guard shooting the suspect and wounding him).  The interesting thing was that the suspect wasn't one of the laborers that crowd the parking lot hoping to get picked for a job.  He was there to offer haircuts to the migrants who gather there.

© 2024 Praveen Puri

Why the Tech Slowdown?

I think pure technology companies (those that make products or marketplaces, like Ebay or Uber) are more insular. They listen to the same venture capitalists, and watch the FAANG companies (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, google).  They all overreacted to the pandemic, and hired like crazy from 2020-2022. Now, they are focused on being defensive and cutting costs.  They're acting like lemmings.

With companies that use tech (such as financial or insurance services), I'm not seeing this kind of behavior. 

© 2024 Praveen Puri