Protecting Alpha

This week, we discuss why the AI safety narrative is shifting from doomerism to the risk of AI eliminating both companies’ and individuals’ alphas, or what makes them unique and confers on them an advantage over the rest of the crowd. For companies, that means assessing whether to trust big AI companies with their proprietary data, and for individuals it means not outsourcing critical thought to a robot everyone else has. Plus: Why Xbox hit a wall, publishers pivot again to video, and the World Cup’s heroes and villains. On PvA OT, Hearst Newspapers chief product & strategy officer Bridget Williams discusses how to make local news a utility.* Watch us on YouTube* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on TwitterChapters:* 00:00 Open* 01:03 PvA Notes Update* 07:20 World Cup Fever* 21:43 Drones, Cruises & Boats* 27:36 AI Safety and Stolen Alpha* 40:07 Can Policy Beat the Market* 45:41 Why Xbox Is Struggling* 49:56 Publishers Pivot to Netflix* 56:56 Local News as Utility with Bridget Williams* 01:01:28 AI Tools and Experiments* 01:11:13 Free vs Paid News Strategy* 01:16:17 Good Product* 01:18:26 Credits This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.peoplevsalgorithms.com