Online brokerage firm Zerodha’s co-founder and popular social media podcaster, Nikhil Kamath, shared snippets from his recent interaction with US-based artificial intelligence (AI) giant, Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei, and questioned about who the new consumer is in the modern world, which is leaning towards automation and technology.
Nikhil Kamath, in his social media post, said, “Capital can no longer be a Moat if increased productivity, inevitably leads to deflation.”
The career entrepreneur and investor’s quote comes to mind as Kamath questioned the world about how, in this modern era of artificial intelligence (AI), just capital can no longer serve as a long-term competitive advantage (also known as an economic moat) if there is an increase in productivity, which leads to deflation in the economy.
What was Kamath’s question?
Nikhil Kamath questioned that AI companies, which are still not profitable yet have “cukoo” valuations, and if these companies are set to make most jobs redundant, then where will the revenue growth come from, and who will be the new consumer in the capitalist world if not the people themselves.
“One thing this has left me asking is, for all the AI companies which aren’t really profitable yet and have cukoo valuations; if they do make most jobs redundant, including high-paying ones from consultants to programmers, to doctors and engineers, where does the revenue growth come from & who is the new consumer in the capitalistic world we live in?” said Kamath on his post.
Kamath’s take comes via a social media post
Nikhil Kamath and Dario Amodei’s interaction comes at a time when Anthropic has recently launched its new AI tools along with statements which have shaken Wall Street to the core, affecting tech stocks like IBM on the US markets.
‘Tsunami coming at us?’ — Dario’s take on AI
In the podcast with Nikhil Kamath, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that although today’s AI systems mainly operate in virtual environments, building capable robots is ultimately a technical skill that can improve over time.
He also suggested that advanced forms of AI systems can help humans get better at designing and developing robotics; however, this is a gradual process, and people need to figure it out step-by-step and adapt with the technology.
“It’s as if this tsunami is coming at us, and it’s so close. We can see it on the horizon, and yet people are saying it’s not actually a tsunami. That’s just a trick of light,” said Dario Amodei in the podcast.
Amodei also said that if companies are deploying AI in the “wrong way,” then there is a chance people can become “stupider.” In the podcast, he also mentioned that in his view, AI is not bad; it’s just that people need to steer the technology in the right direction to benefit from it.
Talking about the future of AI, he acknowledged that the future could bring further disruptions. “Now, that may not be true everywhere. And perhaps, over time, AI will advance in areas where it hasn’t yet advanced. And maybe that’ll happen fast,” he said.
