Scott Galloway · 57:20
Straight line. There's a lot of innovation, a fantastic product, but you wanna talk about a massive flow to the bottom line and who it's coming from beyond the natural growth, organic growth of the sector. It's coming from the it's coming from the gaffer, the lighting guy, the and the woman who ran... Who wrote season four of SpongeBob SquarePants and used to make $200 a year. And Netflix has said, you know what? I figured out a way to pay you $40. And all of that capital coming out of high production states and people has moved to Netflix shareholders. And it represents a much broader trend in our society, and that is the notion that we give a shit about stakeholders and not shareholders is just not true. Everything is run for shareholders. And by the way, there's some upside to that. I'm not arguing that it's the wrong way, but be clear, folks. Everything is now optimized to transfer as much capital as possible from states, from workers. The workers here are not being prioritized. Production in Los Angeles was off 40% year on year, not because they're not talented, but because they're too goddamn expensive. And Netflix has found a way to keep them in the dark and then hire 80% as talented a person overseas for 30 to 40% of the price. It's a transfer of wealth from artists at Spotify 300%. And from the creatives in Hollywood to Netflix and Spotify shareholders. And Spotify has made the jump, so they have so much leverage. They are now extracting revenue from the bottom 99.9 of artists. They're gonna make less and less money.
Kara Swisher · 58:57
Alright. Very quickly on Uber.
Scott Galloway · 58:59
Incredibly well managed. I just think you gotta give it to Dara. He he he and Apple were the ones that said, no. I'm not gonna jump into the shallow end head first here and make huge capital allocations to autonomous.
Kara Swisher · 59:14
He pulled back. He pulled back.
Scott Galloway · 59:15
I'm gonna wait. I'm gonna Brent other... Just as... I mean, they're good at this. Uber's innovation is Airbnb's innovation, and that is I'll build a thick layer of software on top of other people's capital expenditure, on top of their apartments, their houses, and their cars. Right? So it's in their DNA to say, why don't we just ride? Why don't we just be the remora fish off of Google's multi decade, multi tens of billions of dollars investments in autonomous? That's where we should be riding. That's where we should be playing the game. He is doing a great job of managing that company.
Kara Swisher · 59:49
You're right. It's on top of it. I gotta say, Waymo's so integrated into San Francisco now, and you're gonna see it all over the country. It's so convenient. And and they live together with Uber, by the way. That's in a very comfortable way. I took both in San Francisco this week, and both were great. Prices are still too high for all of them. And I know they need to make money and stuff, but it's a really interesting time. You're right. Dara's done a nice job here, and there are no competitors, really. And, I mean, Lyft is sort of a competitor, I guess. Anyway, one more quick break, and we'll be back for predictions.
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— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 1:02:21
Okay, Scott. Let's hear a prediction.
Scott Galloway · 1:02:23
Well, if you think about the three layers in AI, there's the there's the infrastructure layer, the NVIDIAs of the world. There's the, LLM layer, the Anthropics, the chat GBDs, and then there's the application layer. And the entire infrastructure and LLM world was thrown into disarray when, shocker, China came up with something cheaper. But I think what you're about to see is a of a golden age or dozens of new unicorns in what I call the application layer. And I met with this incredibly impressive young man yesterday who founded a company called Rogo, which is essentially they take all of these financial data streams, it's Cap IQ or Bloomberg, and then they put a layer of intelligence, AI weaponized intelligence on top of it, and they turn an investment banking analyst into someone fighting on horseback to someone in a panzer tank. So you can type into this AI that's customized for financial services or institutions, put together an IPO roadshow deck for a fast fashion company that does this revenues, and these are the concerns. And it'll put together a 60 slide deck, of which 48 are pretty good. So you can basically do the job of three analysts. And they'll say that it's making people more productive, but it's gonna result in massive layoffs. Anyways, I think you're about to see dozens of unicorns in the application layer. I do think that the infrastructure in the LLM layer is about to shed tens of billions of dollars as people realize the moats aren't as big as they thought. That if Sam Altman can copy everything out there, someone's going to be able to figure out a way to copy Sam Altman's shit. But the additional customization or artisanal AI application layer in health care and in financial services and fitness and all sorts of things is going to create a much branded consumer AI applications. I mean, that's what Airbnb is, right? That's what Uber they took existing infrastructure and breakthroughs, and they branded it, and they created interesting vertical niche applications. I think that you're about to see a bunch of companies. I mean, this guy, I had breakfast with this kid, 25. Jesus Christ. I'm like, can I come back as you? By the way, I'm to be him tonight under the influence
Kara Swisher · 1:04:35
No. Of
Scott Galloway · 1:04:35
You're
Kara Swisher · 1:04:36
I'm going to get a call from the police, and I'll have to come get you or something something.
Scott Galloway · 1:04:40
No. By the way, you're not my you're not my call. Preet Bharara is my call.
Kara Swisher · 1:04:44
That's true.
Scott Galloway · 1:04:45
I call him. I literally... I have him. He's... I'm about to make him and his phone number tonight my screensaver.
Kara Swisher · 1:04:51
Oh, that's good boy. Call Preet.
Scott Galloway · 1:04:53
Tonight, it's like, this is the guy. Here's his number. I've told Preet this.
Kara Swisher · 1:04:57
I know.
Scott Galloway · 1:04:58
He's got his great touch. You can ask me for anything, but if you see my name come up
Kara Swisher · 1:05:03
Yeah.
Scott Galloway · 1:05:04
I need you to answer. Yeah. And I'm not calling to say hi. I'm not calling to
Kara Swisher · 1:05:08
say hi. Oh, wow. Okay.
Scott Galloway · 1:05:09
Anyways, I've told him I'll send millions of dollars of money to this to this law firm he's now, like, the rainmaker for. Anyways... But, you know, I'm not calling you. I'm calling Preet. I'll look up as a scold
Kara Swisher · 1:05:20
for you. Would scold you. I would. I'm gonna make a very brief prediction. You know, there's a lot of new polls out. The Economist had poll that... Back in November, 47% of those surveyed Republicans says they wanted Elon Musk to have a lot of influence in the Trump administration, while 29% wanted a little, and 12% want him to have none at all. Today, the number of Republicans that say Musk have... They want him to have a lot of influence has fallen substantially to 26 according to this story in The Hill. Meanwhile, 43% of Republican respondents said they wanted must have a little influence, and 17%, they wanted him to have none at all. I see that. He he... But I have to tell you, I had thought they would have a falling out. I think he is, as I have said, he is, he is little pussy for for, for Trump, the mop boss, essentially. He is the heat shield. He is the junkyard dog, and I think Trump understands this intuitively. There's one thing about Donald Trump, and two... He has an intuitive sense of things. Musk is good for him because he gets the shit done even if it's illegal and he's willing to, and nobody else is. And as much as these insiders are gonna complain about him being bigger than his britches or overstepping, I'm... I think maybe he might be around a little longer. I think I was wrong about that falling out. I I wish I wasn't, but I do think even if people are indignant, this guy has a... He... Everything has shown when everyone thinks Musk is gonna lose on the pedophile case or with the SEC. He's he's got a... He's got an ability to not just to take risks, but also take ridiculous, heinous risks, but to also stick it out. So I don't know. I think he's Trump recognizes that it's good to have a junkyard dog. You're my junkyard dog.
— Predictions segment ends —
Scott Galloway · 1:07:07
I like that. Thanks for saying that. Get get get away from her.
Kara Swisher · 1:07:13
Yeah. That's right.
Scott Galloway · 1:07:14
Yeah. Anyways, the... This is, I mean, this is insanity or crazy, but I would describe it more apt as, like, late stage syphilis crazy.
Kara Swisher · 1:07:25
Yeah. That's what they would say on syphilis crazy.
Scott Galloway · 1:07:27
Yeah. But the thing is that can go on for years.
Kara Swisher · 1:07:29
Mhmm. You can have syphilis for a lot time. Please don't get it. But
Scott Galloway · 1:07:35
No. No. No. Unfortunately, the good news is I'm so unattractive and unappealing now that you have to have someone else to engage in giving you syphilis, and that's just not gonna happen.
Kara Swisher · 1:07:43
A word we use enough, syphilitic.
Scott Galloway · 1:07:45
It's a great word,
Kara Swisher · 1:07:45
isn't Let's use it, like, several times.
Scott Galloway · 1:07:47
To I used to like the word encephalitic, but that's not syphilis.
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Scott Galloway · 1:07:51
brain disease, cottiness. But syphilis... I do like syphilis. Can I take?
Kara Swisher · 1:07:55
Amanda's always like, Scott used that word wrong. She's, like, such a word person. The way she... Several times you've used words that it
Scott Galloway · 1:08:01
She means I used it incorrectly.
Kara Swisher · 1:08:03
Incorrectly. That's correct. Yeah. Anyway, she's often doing that to me. I'm like, did he? I don't know. Like, she's like, you need to tell them. Like, I'm not telling them. I forget. I completely forget the minute she tells me.
Scott Galloway · 1:08:12
I wouldn't mind her. Your texts are mean. If she calls me and says, you meant this, I'm open to that.
Kara Swisher · 1:08:16
Alright. I'm open to that. I'll tell her she can be your spelling lady. Anyway, elsewhere in the Karen Scott universe, which is growing by the second
Scott Galloway · 1:08:24
It's expanding.
Kara Swisher · 1:08:25
This week on ProfG Conversations, Scott spoke with Mogadot, the former chief business officer of Google X, best selling author, and founder of One Billion Happy. Let's listen.
Guest · 1:08:36
The truth is the the world is is not ready for what is about to hit us. Whether you take the simple things like the economics of the world and how they will change as a result of AI all the way to the change of the dynamics of power and and, you know, the the resulting deprivation of freedom, you know, all of the... All the way to how the economics of the world are gonna change and how, you know, the the jobs are gonna change and how the human connection is gonna change and how our understanding of reality is gonna change. And these are decisions that are not made by us anymore. I'm... You know, think about it this way. Spider Man's with great power comes great responsibility. We've disconnected power from responsibility. There is massive, massive power concentration concentrated in hands that do not answer to anyone.
Kara Swisher · 1:09:26
Well, ketamine, I say.
Scott Galloway · 1:09:27
He's a very thoughtful guy. Mogadat, I really enjoyed the conversation with him. And basically, you should listen to the conversation, but basically summarize, Sam Altman is reshaping the way we think about things, the way we approach problems, potentially what types of weapons are developed. And he was kinda like, who the fuck is Sam Altman to get to do this?
Kara Swisher · 1:09:48
Right. That's correct. Who the fuck is Elon Musk? Who the fuck are any of these people? But that's where we're going. Okay, Scott. That's the show. We'll be back on Tuesday with more pivot. Read us out.
Scott Galloway · 1:09:58
Today's show is produced by Lara Nayman, Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie or Todd introduced this episode. Thanks also to Drew Breaux, miss Severo, and Dan Shulon. Nishat Kurwa is Vox Media's executive producer of audio. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for listening to Pipette New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the magazine at nymag.com/pod. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Who is that guy in the corner at that Fashion Week party? I get the sense he likes him a lot. That's the dog.
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