Best Benedict Evans And Toni Cowan Brown Podcasts (2024)

1
Looking for AI use-cases 31:53

3M ago31:53

31:53

Generative AI is the thing, and all new software will be built around it. But while everyone is experimenting and some people are getting huge value out of ChatGPT or Midjourney right now, others haven't worked out how to make it useful. Yet. So how do we find use-cases for a universal, general purpose, magical technology, and is that a crazy quest…

1
Tiktok, Apple and Temu 34:46

4M ago34:46

34:46

Will the US finally break up Tiktok? Will the EU break up the App Store? And why does Temu want to keep your orders under $800?By Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
Google Gemini and AI bias 32:29

4M ago32:29

32:29

Are there questions that an AI chatbot shouldn't answer? Should it always give the 'right answer'? Are you sure? Google has egg on its face this week, but this isn't easy, and with generative AI, we're going to re-run all the arguments and panics we had over content moderation in the last decade.By Benedict Evans and Toni Cowan-Brown

1
Breaking and remaking media 39:00

4M ago39:00

39:00

We’re past peak TV, the charts are curving down, and Hollywood is pretty sure that streaming was a bad idea. On the other hand, music is growing strongly and might even end up bigger than CDs. Why have newspapers, books, movies, TV and music coped so differently with the internet?By Benedict Evans and Toni Cowan-Brown

1
Apple's Vision Pro 30:44

5M ago30:44

30:44

Yes, we bought one. What’s it like and what can we say that we didn’t say last summer? What has Apple built, what is it for, what does it mean for Meta, and why does it cost $3,500?By Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
What's your AI strategy? 34:04

5M ago34:04

34:04

Everyone needs an AI strategy (there was an email from the CEO!) but what would that mean? How does a big company work out how to deploy a new technology? How is this the same as every other platform shift, and how might it be different?By Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
AI and Everything Else 35:34

6M ago35:34

35:34

Every year, Benedict produces a big presentation exploring macro and strategic trends in the tech industry. Here are some of the key takeaways from this year's presentation - AI, and everything else. Presentation - https://www.ben-evans.com/presentationsBy Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
LLMs, links, and the death of links 30:31

8M ago30:31

30:31

We spent the last 30 years building structures on top or instead of the raw links of the web, from Google to TikTok… but now LLMs might read all the links for us.By Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
Bundling/Unbundling AI 37:45

8M ago37:45

37:45

ChatGPT and LLMs can do anything (or look like they can), so what can you do with them? How do you know? Do we move to chat bots as a magical general-purpose interface, or do we unbundle them back into single-purpose software?By Benedict Evans and Toni Cowan-Brown

1
The magic customer 58:54

9M ago58:54

58:54

A conversation with Leonard Brody, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Caravan. How do you build brands and consumer products in a world of infinite choice and infinite media? And how does celebrity fit into that? CaravanBy Benedict Evans and Toni Cowan-Brown

1
Unbundling ChatGPT 24:58

11M ago24:58

24:58

Nine months on, everyone is still trying to understand where ChatGPT will go, but one big question for us: how is this useful, for us, today? What's the product? How does this get unbundled?By Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
Threads 42:43

11M ago42:43

42:43

What is Threads? A Twitter that doesn't suck? Something else? Could it work?By Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
Vision Pro, two weeks on 44:44

1y ago44:44

44:44

Two weeks after Apple showed us the Vision Pro - what have they built, what is it for, what does it mean for Meta, and why does it cost $3,500? Check back in 2025. Apple's product pages (watch some of this if you haven't already).By Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
Apple Vision 28:22

1y ago28:22

28:22

Apple does VR. We watched. We took pictures. We talk about it.By Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
Working out AI questions 38:24

1y ago38:24

38:24

We don't know what generative AI will be (or what will happen next week), but we're starting to work out what questions to askBy Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
Buzzfeed News, Reddit and OpenAI 34:09

1y ago34:09

34:09

Buzzfeed News dies just as Reddit and Stack Overflow say they'll charge LLMs to train on their data. Who owns content and how does distribution work in an LLM age? Are those the right questions? What should we be asking?By Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
Metaverse and crypto - beyond the BS 38:53

1y ago38:53

38:53

Crypto crashed, metaverse was silly, and now we know that generative AI is the future of everything. Right? Well, sort of. But though the hype has moved on, the reasons web3 and VR were interesting haven't really changed.By Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
AI, copyright and collective knowledge 29:31

1y ago29:31

29:31

If you spend an hour typing prompts into MidJourney, who owns the result? There are easy answers to this, but they're probably wrong - these are new questions with new puzzles, much like radio, photography or music before.By Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
GPT-4 is here, now what? 39:34

1+ y ago39:34

39:34

Generative machine learning is moving so fast it's impossible to keep up. What questions can we ask about GPT4, before everything changes again next week?By Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
The right questions to ask about TikTok 40:41

1+ y ago40:41

40:41

The 'ban it' snowball is getting bigger and bigger, but what problem are we solving - privacy, or propaganda? How does this scale to all the other Chinese apps? And meanwhile, how well do we pay attention to the product itself?By Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
Amazon's $40B advertising business 31:00

1+ y ago31:00

31:00

Amazon sold close to $40bn of advertising last year - bigger than Prime, bigger than the entire global newspaper industry and probably more profitable than AWS. But is this really advertising, rent, or something else? And what does that mean for Google? Blog post and chartsBy Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
ChatGPT versus Google 34:11

1+ y ago34:11

34:11

Microsoft thinks (or says) that Generative ML will reset the search market, unlocking Google's market share and collapsing those 60% operating margins. Really? What would that mean?By Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
Generative search 35:26

1+ y ago35:26

35:26

What would generative search mean? Generative video? Indeed, Generative products? Last week we talked about how ChatGPT, LLMs and generative ML work - now, what might they mean.By Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
Generative AI 34:55

1+ y ago34:55

34:55

The wave of enthusiasm around ChatGPT and generative AI feels like another Imagenet moment - a step change in what ‘AI’ can do that could generalise far beyond the cool demos. But - it makes things up, and it doesn't actually understand anything it's doing. Probably. What does that mean? What's this for?…

1
Why are chips interesting again? 41:10

1+ y ago41:10

41:10

Chips have always been the foundation of tech, but the rest of us didn't need to pay much attention - stuff just got faster every year. But now there are actual real, big, interesting structural changes happening - what does that look like?By Jay Goldberg, Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
No Soup for You! Regulating tech M&A 38:47

1+ y ago38:47

38:47

Within and Activision, but also PA Semi and Android - how do we think about big tech buying stuff, and why is it hard for regulators?By Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
ChatGPT and the Imagenet Moment 40:31

1+ y ago40:31

40:31

When machine learning started really working, back in 2012-13-14, the demos were amazing, but it wasn't immediately obvious how universal the applications would be. The same with Generative AI now - now - the demos are cool, but what will they mean? How will this generalise to change search or law firms?…

1
All the other things happening in tech part 1. 30:01

1+ y ago30:01

30:01

What does Anker have to do with Mr Beast, Amazon ads or Aesop? A chat about unbundling ecommerce and building brands in a world of infinite media.By Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
The FTX face-palm 30:34

1+ y ago30:34

30:34

What can we say about a ‘crypto’ crash if we’re not crypto people, nor Wall Street people? How much does it matter?By Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
How many metaverses? 32:10

1+ y ago32:10

32:10

Every now and then, big company CEOs all read the same tech trends piece and send the same email - "what's our strategy for this?!" And in 2022, there were a lot of "metaverse?!" emails. But what does 'metaverse' mean, can you have a strategy for it, and do you even need to care? Probably not.By Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
Wondering about generative AI 36:03

1+ y ago36:03

36:03

Generative AI looks like second wave of ML hat might be as big a deal as the Imagenet wave from 2013 or so. What questions can we ask?By Benedict Evans, Toni. Cowan-Brown

1
Figma, unbundling and $20bn of antitrust 36:37

2y ago36:37

36:37

What does Adobe's purchase of Figma tell us about the ways that software is changing, and the kinds of tools that people build and use? And, how long until the antitrust lawsuit arrives?By Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
TV after software 30:28

2y ago30:28

30:28

‘Software eats the world’, and now it’s eating TV, but then what? Pretty soon software seems to stop mattering, and all the questions become TV questions, fashion questions, or music questions, while tech moves on to something else. Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on TwitterBy Benedict Evans and Toni Cowan-Brown

1
A new wave of company creation 30:48

2y ago30:48

30:48

Adam Neumann's latest venture shines a light on some of the interesting questions that arise, such as: What is this, what could it be, and can it work? Can this person make it work? As well as, is this the kind of deal we should be doing? Do we understand this? Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on Twitter…

1
Lighting and tech diffusion 26:06

2y ago26:06

26:06

What does a light on a restaurant table say about the failure of smart home startups? Or Shein? Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on TwitterBy Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
The FTC's antitrust thesis 26:46

2y ago26:46

26:46

The US is fundamentally rethinking its approach to competition, and M&A, and tech, and big tech buying startups. The FTC trying to block Meta from buying Within is the test case for all of those. How many interesting problems can we cover in 30 minutes? When big tech buys small tech Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on Twitter…

1
When the point of leverage changes 37:33

2y ago37:33

37:33

What does 'focus' mean for a trillion dollar company? Amazon is buying doctors and Apple might be a bank - should we change our assumptions for what these kinds of companies would never do? How does the point of leverage change? Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on TwitterBy Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
Remember AI? 34:08

2y ago34:08

34:08

Five years ago AI was everything, but attention moved on (Metaverse! Crypto!) and ‘Applied AI’ became useful but boring. Now things like DALL-E look cool, but what are they useful for? What’s the second wave? Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on TwitterBy Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
What's next for advertising? 32:11

2y ago32:11

32:11

Advertising is $700bn - after IDFA and the cookie apocalypse, what else is breaking apart and where do things land? Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on TwitterBy Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
Three ways to say no 30:00

2y ago30:00

30:00

The more that governments, regulators, policy-makers and activists demand that tech works differently, the more argument there is, and the more that tech people and companies people say ‘no!’ But what does it mean when a tech company, or indeed any company in any industry, says ’no’? Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on Twitter…

1
Shein, TikTok and Netflix - thinking about limits 35:50

2y ago35:50

35:50

Shein added 60k new products in the last week - double Zara and H&M's total combined stock. Netflix made more shows last year than the entire US TV industry back when it start streaming. What happens when you remove physical limits? What's the feedback cycle? Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on Twitter…

1
Metaverse - how to be wrong in the right way 34:31

2y ago34:31

34:31

What do we mean when we say 'the metaverse'? And what do we mean by interoperability? It's far more useful to get specific about how we think about the future of the internet. What will it do and not do? How will it work and not work? If we are going to make predictions and be wrong, we might as well be wrong in specific ways. Follow Benedict on Tw…

1
Stories in the noise 39:23

2y ago39:23

39:23

Elon made a lot of noise this week, but what else was going on? We chat about half a dozen things that happened in tech this week, all of them more interesting than the bird company. Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on TwitterBy Benedict Evans, Toni Cowan-Brown

1
Netflix isn't a tech company 39:48

2y ago39:48

39:48

Netflix missed its numbers, but what's really going on in streaming? Is this a tech company, and does it have winner-takes-all effects? Or are all the questions to ask really about television? And whatever happened to the Apple TV? Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on TwitterBy Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
The future of Twitter 35:38

2y ago35:38

35:38

Elon is on manoeuvres, but what are the problems? Has he thought about this at all? Why has Twitter always been such a mess, and why is it such a tiny company?By Benedict Evans, Toni Cowam-Brown

1
Are you a seal? 31:03

2y ago31:03

31:03

‘Big tech’ is big and scary, but do they care about your market? They could come in, yes, and make a mess, but would that make any sense for them? And, do you look like a seal? Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on TwitterBy Benedict Evans, Toni. Cowan-Brown

1
The Evolution of networks 41:13

2+ y ago41:13

41:13

Web3 will remake networks, content and online publishing - apparently. But how many cycles have we been through, how much do the forms, networks and intersections change, and what does it mean to own your data? Is that even possible? Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on TwitterBy Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
Ukraine 38:19

2+ y ago38:19

38:19

A chat about Ukraine without pretending we know about Russia, geopolitics and Ukraine. Rather we will focus on some of the things happening in and around tech with regards to this. And we are absolutely conscious these may not be the most important things happening right now. Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on Twitter…

1
Talking about crypto 39:54

2+ y ago39:54

39:54

Crypto is so big and yet so unclear that we can’t even agree what to call it. What does ‘web3’ mean, what might it mean, how do we ignore the noise, and what questions might matter? Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on TwitterBy Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

1
The retail reset 33:43

2+ y ago33:43

33:43

Everything comes out of Covid (we hope), especially retail. US ecommerce penetration jumped forward a little and the UK a lot, but what kinds of companies, brands and stories can be created now that everything and anything can be online? Follow Benedict on Twitter Follow Toni on TwitterBy Toni Cowan-Brown, Benedict Evans

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Benedict Evans And Toni Cowan Brown Podcasts

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