Heya and welcome back to Five Things AI!

Today we’re focusing on the impact AI has on our economy and of course on the job market. I picked out five articles that will help you understand what is going on right now. AI is driving the economy like never before, with investments predicted to reach 2% of U.S. GDP this year - that’s $1,800 per person! But while Big Tech rides this wave, everyone else seems to be treading water. OpenAI is going full throttle, trying to be both the Windows and Microsoft of its era, owning every layer from consumer to infrastructure. It’s undeniably a bubble, but maybe a productive one, spinning a flywheel of capital between NVIDIA’s chips, OpenAI’s data centers, and investors chasing growth. The result is a fascinating money loop where cash and chips circulate endlessly, each funding the other. Yet, despite the frenzy, companies complain they can’t find the right people, so AI engineers are getting million-dollar paychecks while regular programmers are left behind. Madness, but also the story of our times.

On Thursday I went to Berlin to meet former chancellor Olaf Scholz to discuss the state of AI for almost two hours. It was a deep discussion about the various aspects of AI, but of course the changes in the workplace were a huge concern. I brought along my client Sebastian Küpers, who is building Masumi to create an open Agentic AI ecosystem here in Europe, and we explained to Olaf Scholz what this means in terms of productivity in the future and how Software as a Service changes to Services as a Software.

Enjoy this edition of Five Things AI! ...