Category Archives: Business & Marketing

Force-Feeding AI on an Unwilling Public

Posted on by

From Ted Gioia’s The Honest Broker blog

Has there ever been a major innovation that helped society, but only 8% of the public would pay for it? That’s never happened before in human history. Everybody wanted electricity in their homes. Everybody wanted a radio. Everybody wanted a phone. Everybody wanted a refrigerator. Everybody wanted a TV set. Everybody wanted the Internet. They wanted it. They paid for it. They enjoyed it.

Gioia says most people won’t pay for AI voluntarily—just 8% according to a recent survey. So they need to bundle it with some other essential product.

Thanks to Steve Schuller for sharing this story.

“The Computer-Science Bubble Is Bursting”

Posted on by

The subhead from this article in The Atlantic says it all: Artificial intelligence is ideally suited to replacing the very type of person who built it.

From 2005 to 2023, the number of comp-sci majors in the United States quadrupled. All of which makes the latest batch of numbers so startling. This year, enrollment grew by only 0.2 percent nationally. […] Artificial intelligence has proved to be even more valuable as a writer of computer code than as a writer of words. This means it is ideally suited to replacing the very type of person who built it. A recent Pew study found that Americans think software engineers will be most affected by generative AI.

I used to joke that (in 1966) I majored in Stay Out of Vietnam. Even back then, I couldn’t imagine what I would do with a major in Speech/Theater. But according to the Atlantic article, economists are suggesting college students “Major in a subject that offers enduring, transferable skills.”

I think of that sometimes when I’m writing a big check to the appliance repairman, the heating and AC service guy, or the plumber and electrician.

Quiet quitting

Posted on by

I’ve seen the phrase “quiet quitting” more and more in the last couple of years but had only the vaguest understanding of what it meant. ChatGPT explains:

Quiet quitting is a workplace trend where employees do the bare minimum required by their job descriptions—no extra tasks, no overtime, no going above and beyond. It’s not about actually quitting but about setting boundaries and disengaging from the traditional “hustle culture” mentality.

This concept gained traction as a response to burnout, low pay, and the expectation that workers should always be “going the extra mile” without additional compensation or recognition. Quiet quitting isn’t necessarily about laziness; for many, it’s a form of self-preservation and work-life balance.

Critics argue that quiet quitting leads to a lack of ambition and weakens company culture, while supporters see it as a necessary pushback against exploitative labor practices. The phenomenon reflects broader shifts in attitudes toward work, particularly among younger generations who prioritize well-being over career-driven sacrifice.

The Walmart Effect

Posted on by

From The Atlantic: New research suggests that the company makes the communities it operates in poorer—even taking into account its famous low prices.

“In the 10 years after a Walmart Supercenter opened in a given community, the average household in that community experienced a 6 percent decline in yearly income—equivalent to about $5,000 a year in 2024 dollars—compared with households that didn’t have a Walmart open near them. Low-income, young, and less-educated workers suffered the largest losses.”

“..poverty increases by about 8 percent in places where a Walmart opens relative to places without one even when factoring in the most optimistic cost-savings scenarios.”

“When Walmart comes to town, it uses its low prices to undercut competitors and become the dominant player in a given area, forcing local mom-and-pop grocers and regional chains to slash their costs or go out of business altogether. As a result, the local farmers, bakers, and manufacturers that once sold their goods to those now-vanished retailers are gradually replaced by Walmart’s array of national and international suppliers. (By some estimates, the company has historically sourced 60 to 80 percent of its goods from China alone.) As a result, Wiltshire finds, five years after Walmart enters a given county, total employment falls by about 3 percent, with most of the decline concentrated in “goods-producing establishments.”