Welcome again to This Week in Stratechery!
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On that notice, right here had been just a few of our favorites this week.
- Will AI Kill the Internet, or Save It? The unique net that we all know and love was the human net; that’s why promoting was the popular enterprise mannequin, and Google was the large winner. So what occurs when AI Brokers are the popular means to assemble data? AI’s don’t care about advertisements, which suggests the online wants a brand new enterprise mannequin; I’ve been a long-time critic of micro-transactions, as a result of they’re anti-human, however they is perhaps the answer to an AI-mediated future. Or, to place it one other method, AI received’t simply save AR and VR, it’d save crypto as properly. — Ben Thompson
- Slam Dunks and Moonshots at Google. Google I/O in 2025 was traditional Google in two respects. On one hand, it featured a spate of nice demos and jaw-dropping shows of latest options and capabilities which will or might not ever discover a market amongst mainstream customers. That’s turn into one thing of a Google I/O custom. Then again, Google additionally launched “AI Mode” for search, a set of AI-powered options that may lean into Google’s benefits in viewers and infrastructure and permit the corporate to step by step combine extra AI options into search. This, too, is traditional conduct from an organization that for all its excesses and eccentricities nonetheless understands its core enterprise and the way to transfer when it’s time to leverage and protect search dominance. Wednesday’s Day by day Replace broke all of it down, highlighting questions that also linger, in addition to AI {hardware} and software program potentialities in Mountain View and past. — Andrew Sharp
- OpenAI Enters the {Hardware} Enterprise. On Wednesday OpenAI interrupted Google’s large week when it introduced plans to accumulate Jony Ive’s {hardware} startup for $6.5 billion price of inventory, telling the world that the corporate will work with the Apple legend to develop a household of AI-powered units and design “the best piece of know-how that the world has ever seen.” For those who’re seeking to course of that information, begin with Ben’s evaluation on Thursday, which comes with a bonus part on Apple’s dwindling choices in AI (and a withering parenthetical on the “Tim Prepare dinner Doctrine”). Then head to Sharp Tech, the place we had a good time speaking by means of the logic of this transfer for OpenAI, challenges that lay forward for Ive’s workforce, and some emails from haters who’re skeptical of this roadmap and/or despise the aesthetics of the OpenAI PR blitz. All of it was nice enjoyable, and no matter occurs from right here, the following few years simply obtained much more fascinating. — AS
Stratechery Articles and Updates
- An Interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang About Chip Controls, AI Factories, and Enterprise Pragmatism — An interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about new issues, together with chip controls and China, and new alternatives, together with AI Factories and enterprise pragmatism.
- The Agentic Internet and Unique Sin — Microsoft is placing forth compelling proposals for the Open Agentic Internet. Nonetheless, the proposal wants digital funds, which can be key to creating a brand new content material market for AI.
- Google I/O, The Search Funnel, Product Prospects — Google I/O was spectacular and overwhelming, however the one product that impressed was Search.
- OpenAI Acquires io, OpenAI’s Strategic Positioning, Apple’s Worsening AI Drawback — OpenAI is buying io, Jony Ive’s {hardware} firm. Is the corporate really centered on displacing Apple? Apple must spend large in response.
Dithering with Ben Thompson and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber
Asianometry with Jon Yu
Sharp China with Andrew Sharp and Sinocism’s Invoice Bishop
Biggest of All Discuss with Andrew Sharp and WaPo’s Ben Golliver
Sharp Tech with Andrew Sharp and Ben Thompson
This week’s Sharp Tech video is on Apple’s dangers as their App Retailer battles proceed.
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