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On the earnings call, executives admitted that Google's Gemini-powered AI mode search queries make less money, at least right now, than traditional search. Google search users are actually spending more time with AI mode, but that isn't converting to revenue for search in the way that it used to pre-AI mode. And this is the argument that Google executives were making, which is, yes, we've lit the search business on fire because of AI mode, but we have plans to monetize AI mode, too. Analysts were unconvinced, and the market decline followed.
"""
XFEDI
ActivityPubRemote profile
Jack of all trades
I'm here to learn about the world and work through my climate grief.
I post about politics, climate change, economics, philosophy, being a father, programming, games, and more.
Posts
"""
Because the company is making so little money at the moment, it is absolutely dependent on capital raises to survive. The company, for example, highlights $125.2 billion in upcoming lease payments for Broadcom over the next 5 years, which excludes interest, an obligation alone that is six times the company's revenue, and it's just a fraction of the total upcoming obligations. So, if there's any slowdown in revenue growth or any drying up of capital, Anthropic will very quickly find itself in a liquidity crisis.
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Western countries could achieve an acceptable level of rare earths diversification away from China within three to five years, France's top envoy for strategic metals said on Wednesday.
They aim to reduce dependence on any one supplier outside the G7 and its partner countries for rare earths and permanent magnets to below 60% by 2030, with an ultimate goal of 50% "as soon as possible".
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"""
While global tech stocks teeter, in China they have already crashed as lofty valuations collapse under worries about AI demand and curbs on Chinese exports.
The meltdown, tanking the mainland STAR50 index, opens new tab of AI and semiconductor leaders by 40% in less than four months and vaporising some $480 billion in market value, is an ill omen for wobbly world markets and a dampener on China's efforts at encouraging its savers into stocks to fund the AI boom.
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https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-ai-bubble-has-already-burst-2026-10-26/
That's an interesting study (from July this year): https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/policy-brief/what-really-happening-jobs-separating-ai-hype-reality
Key takeaways:
- AI’s effects on overall employment is likely small, though a tough job market for new graduates may be partly due to AI.
- AI’s impact on worker productivity is mixed but generally positive.
- Firm adoption has accelerated but unevenly across the economy.
- Early evidence is hardly the last word on the future of work in an AI world.
And I'm being haunted by the following quote from DHH's keynote: "Writing code by hand is no longer an economically productive enterprise for the vast majority of programmers working at the vast majority of companies."
As much as I hate the guy and as much I would want that to not be true, I am afraid that it just might be.
My current project at work is on hiatus as the client is looking for more funding. I've spent the last week looking at possible job prospects. Things don't look good.
None of my contacts have any projects that I could help with. LinkedIn is even more awful than before, if that's even possible. The market is being completely swallowed by AI mania. Posts about how to use AI effectively are interspersed with posts about how people can't find a job. Every job offer is in some way related to AI. An AI startup in stealth mode, experience with Claude Code required, or (my favorite) a project that comes down to "take this AI output and make it look good".
I guess it's time to install opencode on my machine and learn some new stuff. I'm still skeptical, but being ignorant about this is no longer an option for me it seems.