People vs Algorithms

Brian, Troy and Alex dig into the undoing of Jensen Huang: the spy angle, the idiocy of sexy time at corporate events and the second-order effects of the toppling of such a powerful figure. Huang has 60 direct reports and no succession plan, so where was the board, and who could step in as interim CEO? If Nvidia stumbles, who replaces it, and what role does the government play? They also talk about how insular tech has become, now that it has its own parallel media ecosystem, and about a new Bari Weiss-era correspondent’s Trump interview. Then Chris Cillizza, formerly of the Washington Post and CNN and now independent, joins to talk about why some Washington scandals stick.* 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 Twitter* Join our community - PvA Field NotesFollow Chris:* Substack - So What* YouTubeChapters:* 02:11 Jensen Huang Scandal Breakdown* 18:20 AI Power Politics and Tech Backlash* 38:51 Tech Media Terrarium Backlash* 46:09 Product Manager Job Market* 48:08 Trump Interview* 52:48 Good Product* 54:05 Chris Cillizza on Washington Scandals* 01:11:40 Performative Power Bros* 01:13:25 Ross Douthat Interviews Trump* 01:19:13 Why Nuance Beats Scoops* 01:22:50 Going Independent and Monetizing* 01:39:40 Prediction Markets’ Role in Journalism* 01:42:33 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

Democrats take Congress, Texas flips, and the Trump-era “terrarium” that media, finance and tech climbed into starts to crack.Winners: the AI decels, after voters rejected data centers in state after state, and media, which took in a flood of political ad money.Losers: the tech right, Elon Musk and his half billion in spending, Andreessen Horowitz, the manosphere and prediction markets.Then they get into why AI agents feel too proactive and too clunky, and Anthony DeRosa joins to talk about the PvA Field Notes Media Lab, his Frontier AI tracker, and his election night test pitting prediction markets and personal agents against the news desks calling races.* 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 Twitter* Join our community - PvA Field NotesChapters:* 02:26 Paris Reality Check* 07:35 Midterms Winners and Losers* 31:14 AI Agents and Media Lab* 39:59 Dashboards And Agents* 42:26 Frontier And Election Tools* 50:04 Monetizing Media Beyond Ads* 01:05:55 AI Adoption* 01:17:25 Good Product* 01:22:46 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

Troy and Brian dig into what happens when AI stops imitating Odie as the overly eager helper and starts owning the workflow, the coordination and the organizational memory, why a 100-year-old law firm unraveled when its high-leverage people walked, and what Microsoft’s voluntary buyouts say about the managerial class. Then CJ Gustafson of Mostly Metrics breaks down Anthropic’s S-1: the growth, the revenue per employee, and where the costs got tucked away.Plus: Time and Mobian serving ads to AI agents, Axios selling data feeds to client LLMs, cognitive mercantilism, Semafor and the conflicts baked into every media model, Obama vs. the Cheesecake Factory, Serbia’s student movement shows how a decentralized protest movement can wrest power and Troy’s ode to the Starbucks breakfast wrap.* 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 Twitter* Join our community - PvA Field NotesChapters:* 01:57 Updates From Out and About* 09:53 AI Podcasts And Law Firm Collapse* 18:21 PVA Media Lab Update* 22:28 Claude Duet And Corporate Bloodbath* 50:54 Cognitive Mercantilism* 58:28 Media Model Conflicts* 01:05:54 Cheesecake Factory* 01:10:17 Serbia Student Uprising* 01:16:11 Good Product* 01:19:17 Inside the Anthropic S-1 with CJ Gustafson* 01:41:10 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

We dig into Claude Duet, Meta’s Muse and the rest of the new assistants that suggest before you ask, why Muse’s retention numbers look shaky, and what happens to businesses built on friction, from Chase’s no-yield checking to Amazon’s purchase insurance pop-ups. The conversation turns to what gets lost when you get the answer without asking the question, from the mathematicians reeling after OpenAI’s proof drop to Ethan Mollick’s dark factory vs. twilight factory framing in his new book. Plus: Semafor at four, Boston.com goes paid and the dwindling of free ad-supported news, and the virtues of a distinctive accent in a flattened world.* 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 Twitter* Join our community - PvA Field NotesChapters:* 00:52 Rackets and Reality* 04:35 Answers Without Questions* 18:45 Frictionless Future Concerns* 33:47 Cointelligence and Delegation* 35:42 Slop vs Skill Building* 40:09 Paywalls and Platform Wins* 45:15 Modern Media Models* 55:51 Good Product* 01:03:19 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

An anonymous developer used Claude to ship open-source clones of Adobe’s big five, then Word, Excel, Keynote, AutoCAD and Figma within days, and the lesson is that software is a business of pure margin with less moat than anyone thought. Packaged software is going the way of packaged media, and the mathematicians are finding out what that feels like.Plus: Alexandr Wang as Zuckerberg’s main character, Silicon Valley’s perennial claim that AI will kill advertising, Netflix cutting HR and legal, friction and the fate of Regina, Apple’s $300 home hub, and deodorant.* 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 Twitter* Join our community - PvA Field NotesChapters:* 00:47 The Car Is Back* 04:01 Claude vs ChatGPT Personalities* 06:45 ArtCraft and the SaaS Apocalypse* 20:01 Headless Software and Moats* 37:39 Meta Cheeky Pint* 45:41 Friction Kills Towns* 52:44 Good Product* 01:00:58 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