[Applause] artificial intelligence. Maybe you've heard of it. Good. Good start. Well, we've got some options on what to talk about. And actually, I'd like to take a vote. Uh raise your hand if you'd like to talk about the benefits of AI. Okay? and raise your hand if you want to talk about the risks. Fascinating. I mean, absolutely pointless because I've made the slides already, but still really interesting. Now, as an optimist, what I'd like to talk about today and explore with you is will AI kill us all? A ...

Wall Street Journal reporting that Anthropic is on track to turn a profit much faster than OpenAI, saying Anthropic anticipates breaking even by 2028, while Open AI forecasts operating losses of $74 billion that year. Joining us now to discuss the outlook for the AI trade is Jack Hittery, CEO of AI and quantum software firm Sandbox AQ. Jack, it's good to have you.Is there any is any reason for for investors to rethink just sort of the the speed to profitability and the payoff around all this spending around ...

Core Insights - Yann LeCun, a prominent AI scientist at Meta, is planning to leave the company to establish his own startup focused on world models, as reported by the Financial Times [1][2] - LeCun's departure comes at a critical juncture for Meta, which is revamping its AI strategy in response to competition from rivals like OpenAI and Google [2][3] Company Developments - Meta has initiated a restructuring of its AI organization, creating a new unit called Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) and hiring over 50 engineers and researchers from competitors [3][4] - The company invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI for data-labeling services and appointed its CEO, Alexandr Wang, to lead the new division [3] Challenges and Internal Dynamics - The restructuring has led to chaos within Meta's AI unit, with new hires expressing frustration over bureaucratic challenges, while the previous generative AI team's scope has been limited [4] - LeCun's long-term research efforts under the Fundamental AI Research Lab (FAIR) have been overshadowed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg's decisions to pivot the company's AI focus after the underperformance of the Llama 4 model [5] Industry Context - World models, which are AI systems that simulate cause-and-effect scenarios, are being developed by various leading labs and startups, indicating a competitive landscape in AI research [2] - LeCun has expressed skepticism about the current marketing of AI technologies, particularly large language models (LLMs), suggesting that there is still significant progress needed in AI development [7]

Core Viewpoint - The Zacks Internet - Content industry is facing challenges due to macroeconomic conditions affecting advertising spending, but there is solid demand for digital offerings and an increasing focus on video content and cloud-based applications [2][3]. Industry Overview - The industry includes providers of various digital services such as video encoding, staffing, publishing, and online travel, and is undergoing rapid changes in consumer behavior and digitalization [4]. - Advertising remains a major revenue source, prompting companies to expand their digital presence across social media and connected TV [5]. Trends Impacting the Industry - There is a growing demand for digital offerings driven by technological advancements and the proliferation of smart devices [6]. - Marketing efforts are being intensified to boost website traffic, with advertising and subscriptions as key revenue sources [7]. - Regulatory pressures, particularly in China and the EU, are increasing, impacting online search and social networking activities [8][9]. Industry Performance - The Zacks Internet - Content industry ranks 207, placing it in the bottom 15% of over 250 Zacks industries, indicating a negative earnings outlook [10][12]. - The industry has underperformed compared to the S&P 500 and the broader technology sector, with a decline of 10.8% over the past year [14]. Current Valuation - The industry is currently trading at a trailing 12-month price-to-sales ratio of 5.14X, lower than the S&P 500's 5.89X and the sector's 8.66X [15]. Company Highlights - **WEBTOON Entertainment**: This company is ranked 1 (Strong Buy) and is expanding its library through partnerships, including a collaboration with Disney to bring iconic comics to its platform. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2025 earnings is steady at $0.24 per share, with shares appreciating 40.1% in the past year [16][17][18]. - **Weibo**: Ranked 3 (Hold), Weibo is enhancing user engagement through improved recommendation and search functions. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2025 earnings has declined by 1.7% to $1.78 per share, with shares appreciating 21.1% in the past year [19][20].

Core Insights - Nvidia is set to report its Q3 earnings on November 19, with expectations of a significant stock price increase, potentially reaching a market cap of $6 trillion within 100 days [2] - The company has achieved a market cap of $5 trillion, becoming the first to reach this milestone [1] Financial Performance - Nvidia holds a dominant 92% share of the data center GPU market, contributing to its impressive revenue figures [4] - In Q2 of fiscal 2026, Nvidia reported $46.7 billion in revenue, a 56% increase year-over-year, with $41.1 billion from data center revenue [4] - The company's net income for the same period was $26.42 billion, up 59% from the previous year, with earnings per share at $1.08 [4] - Over the last 12 months, Nvidia's revenue totaled $165.2 billion [5] Strategic Developments - Nvidia has secured $500 billion in bookings for its Blackwell and Rubin chips, with 30% of these orders already shipped [6] - The company has formed a $100 billion partnership with OpenAI to support data center expansion using Nvidia chips [8] - Nvidia has also invested in various companies, including a 2.9% stake in Nokia, a partnership with Palantir Technologies, and a $5 billion stake in Intel [8][9] Government Contracts - Nvidia has a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to build seven new supercomputers aimed at researching alternative energy sources and maintaining the nuclear arsenal [10] - The largest supercomputer will utilize 100,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips [11] Market Challenges - Nvidia faces challenges in China, which accounted for 17% of its revenue in the 2025 fiscal year, as the company is currently restricted from doing business with Chinese firms [12] - Despite potential negotiations for a less powerful chip variant for China, the overall impact on Nvidia's stock is not expected to be detrimental [13]

Core Insights - A global survey reveals that Oracle Database customers are evolving their database strategies due to high costs, support challenges, and the need for advanced AI/ML capabilities [1][2][3] Customer Support Challenges - A majority of Oracle Database customers express frustrations with Oracle's support, with 63% citing high support costs and 87% indicating slow resolution times as problematic [2][3] - Only 16% of customers find their initial Oracle support engineer to be very skilled, leading to delays in issue resolution [2] Adoption of Third-Party Support - The survey indicates a growing trend towards third-party support, with 25% of organizations currently using such services and 30% considering it [3] - Key areas for third-party support include cloud database management (37%), data migration (36%), performance tuning (34%), and backup and recovery (32%) [3] Diversification of Database Strategies - Many Oracle Database customers are exploring alternative database options due to high costs (58%) and support gaps (31%), with 77% deploying new applications on non-Oracle databases in the past 36 months [6] - Popular alternatives include SQL Server (59%), MySQL (45%), PostgreSQL (40%), and Amazon RDS (28%) [6] Interest in AI/ML Capabilities - While 47% of respondents desire native support for large language models (LLMs), many are unaware that Oracle has already integrated LLM support in versions 19c and 23ai [7]

Core Insights - India may not become a chipmaking superpower but could be a significant player in the age of artificial intelligence by leveraging its large population to utilize AI technologies rather than develop them [1][16] - The rollout of free AI services by major companies in India indicates a strategic move to tap into the country's vast user base and high technology adoption rates among young people [5][16] Industry Dynamics - Telecom providers are partnering with AI companies to bundle AI services with subscription plans, marking a shift from traditional entertainment packages to utility-based offerings [5][16] - The Indian government believes that widespread AI adoption could triple the productivity of informal workers from $5 to $15 per hour, potentially adding $500 billion to $600 billion to the economy by 2035 [7][16] Societal Impact - The introduction of AI could help break the cycle of low-skill, low-productivity work in India, as many young people currently lack the necessary skills to compete in the job market [6][8] - The curiosity and tech-savviness of Indian youth may facilitate the self-learning of new systems, enabling them to navigate complex regulatory environments and provide services across cultural divides [10][12] Future Outlook - If language models effectively lower barriers to competence, India's underperforming workforce could become a significant growth story on a global scale [14][17] - The current government has struggled to empower its citizens with skills, suggesting that leveraging AI technologies may be a viable alternative to traditional educational methods [15][17]

AI Model Capabilities - Large language models (LLMs) are exhibiting human-like behaviors, suggesting they may be more than just next word predictors [1] - Anthropic's research indicates that LLMs might possess a form of introspective awareness, capable of identifying their own thoughts [2] - Better, more intelligent models are more likely to recognize their own internal and injected thoughts, hinting at a correlation between intelligence and self-awareness [17] - Post-training processes significantly enhance a model's introspective abilities, as base pre-trained models show high false positive rates and poor task performance [30] Experiment Findings - LLMs can detect injected thoughts, identifying unexpected patterns in their processing, such as recognizing all caps text as "loud or shouting" [9][14] - Models can sometimes distinguish between injected thoughts and their own prompt input, though this isn't always consistent [18][19] - LLMs can be influenced by injected thoughts to the point where they believe the injected thought was their own [23] - Models can activate certain concepts (e g, aquariums) when instructed to think about them, and to a lesser extent, even when instructed not to [26] Sponsor Information - Vulture is highlighted as a cloud provider offering GPUs for AI projects, with 32 locations across six continents [11] - Vulture provides $300 in credits for the first 30 days with code Burman300 [13]

Core Insights - Apple is providing more detailed guidance on iPhone sales, indicating confidence in achieving approximately 10% growth in the upcoming quarters, a significant improvement compared to a decline of 0.5% per quarter over the previous two years [2][3] - Amazon's stock saw a notable increase of 14-15% after hours, driven by a larger backlog for the December quarter, which is expected to result in around 20-21% growth in AWS [5][6] - There is speculation about potential mergers and acquisitions in the tech sector, particularly regarding Amazon's interest in acquiring Anthropic, which could significantly enhance its product offerings and AWS revenue [8][9][10] Company-Specific Summaries Apple - Apple has resumed providing detailed iPhone guidance, reflecting a more optimistic outlook with expected average growth of about 10% for the upcoming quarters [2][3] - The company's previous guidance had been less specific since 2019, indicating a shift towards greater transparency and confidence in its business performance [1][2] Amazon - Amazon's recent performance has shown signs of recovery, with a solid outlook and a backlog that exceeds the revenue from the previous quarter, suggesting strong demand for its services [5][6] - The anticipated AWS growth of 20-21% for the December quarter is a bullish indicator for the company's future performance [5][6] - The market capitalization of Amazon could increase by approximately $200 billion based on its current stock performance [7] M&A Activity - There is a high likelihood of significant mergers and acquisitions in the tech industry, particularly with major players like Amazon looking to enhance their capabilities through acquisitions [9][10][11] - The regulatory environment may pose challenges for large-scale acquisitions, but the demand for advanced technologies, such as large language models, is expected to drive M&A activity [10][11]

Core Insights - Booking Holdings announced a $457 million accounting writedown on its Kayak brand due to expected reductions in cash flows and increased customer acquisition costs [1] - Kayak's CEO attributed the challenges to the rise of large language models and changes in Google's advertising strategy, which has led to increased spending on paid ads [2][5] Group 1: Impact of Google's Changes - Kayak has had to replace free traffic from search engine optimization (SEO) with paid traffic on Google, resulting in higher customer acquisition costs [3] - Google's shift towards AI-driven answer formats has reduced the visibility of free links, making it necessary for companies like Kayak to invest more in paid advertising [4][5] - The increase in Google's paid clicks by 4% year-over-year and a 12% rise in search revenue indicates that Google's growth is primarily driven by higher prices rather than increased volume [5] Group 2: Industry-Wide Effects - Other companies in the travel sector, such as Trivago and Tripadvisor, are also experiencing the negative impacts of Google's changing ad formats and the decline of SEO [6] - Trivago's brand value decreased from €75.61 million ($87.7 million) to €45.34 million ($52.6 million) over the past year, reflecting a significant impairment charge of €30 million ($34.8 million) on its intangible assets [7] - Tripadvisor's brand value also fell from $43 million to $36 million within the same timeframe, indicating a broader trend affecting legacy metasearch businesses [8]