MARKET CALL: Both AI Story And Contrary Indicators Are Mixed

The AI plot thickens: Chinese scientists have unveiled an optical computing chip that outperformed Nvidia’s top GPU by over a hundredfold in speed and energy efficiency—particularly for generative tasks such as video production and image synthesis. (Incidentally, YRI is working with a Korean media company that will use AI to synthesize Dr Ed’s speech in various languages.)

One of our sage accounts observed that AI may be indirectly boosting productivity: "I have posited in the past that part of what can only be called the streamlining of corporate America might be corporations studying their workflows to determine where AI could be utilized and discovering that in fact, many of the services could be jettisoned entirely. In short, corporations may be focusing their management on profit rather than ancillary societal contributions." (Thanks, Lee Hoffman.)