⚡Another “L” for Google

Gemini should come with a “DOES NOT WORK AS ADVERTISED” label... [The Jolt with Stephen McBride] Another “L” for Google Happy Monday! The month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is usually a dead zone. This year, a lot of exciting breakthroughs are happening. Let’s get after it… - Here’s what I think of Gemini—Google’s new ChatGPT competitor that’s getting rave reviews. Gemini’s demos are jaw-dropping. It looks to be much more than an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. It can do things like infer that a “dot-to-dot” picture is a crab before it’s even drawn… and create games (like guess the country) based on images you show it, as you can see here: Source: Gemini Google’s (GOOG) stock jumped 5% on the launch news. As you probably know, I dislike Google as an investment. It squandered the huge advantages it had in the AI race and is getting its lunch eaten by OpenAI. Does Gemini change things? Nah. When I was a kid, I remember trailers for new video games that looked awesome. But when you got your hands on the game, the graphics weren’t nearly as good as expected. Google pulled the same trick to make Gemini look more impressive than it is. The demo is essentially fake. It wasn’t carried out in real time—by talking to the AI—or showing it images, as the video suggested. It was basically a stitched-together highlight real. Gemini should come with a “DOES NOT WORK AS ADVERTISED” label. Google also claims Gemini matches the latest ChatGPT on a variety of tests. Great job, guys. You launched an AI model that’s similar to the one OpenAI built nearly a year ago. Another “L” for Google. Sticking to my guns on this one: [Google has grown too fat and lazy to innovate](. Today, Google enjoys a monopoly over search and rakes in monopoly-like profits. Even if it figures out how to be competitive in AI, it won’t enjoy such a privileged position. Invest accordingly. - Several RiskHedge readers have asked me if they should play around with AI… YES! I think we’ll make a lot of money investing in great businesses profiting from AI. But the biggest personal gains may come from learning how to master this game-changing tech. What makes AI unique is that, unlike most other tech breakthroughs, non-tech-savvy folks can use it. That’s why I think it has the potential to be the biggest boom of our lifetime. AI simply lets you get more work done in less time. Software engineers using GitHub’s Copilot tool are writing code in half the time. ChatGPT helped Boston Consulting Group employees boost the quality of their work by 40%! A tool that lets you do the same amount of work in half the time? We’d be crazy NOT to use it. If you’re on the “free” version of ChatGPT, GPT-3.5, stop using it. GPT-4 knocks the socks off its predecessor. GPT-4 costs $20/month. But here’s a little trick… you can get it for free through Microsoft Bing. It’s incredible that the best AI on the planet is freely available to anyone with an internet connection. I use it dozens of times a day. It’s awesome. Think of “jobs” that take up a lot of your time. Maybe it’s a mundane office task or helping your kids with their homework. See if Bing’s AI can lend a helping hand. Soon, people who don’t know how to use AI will seem as ancient as folks who can’t turn on a computer. Start experimenting and let me know if you find it useful. - Did you see Tesla’s new Cybertruck? I don’t get the Elon Musk haters. He’s firing 400 ft. rockets into space. He may have singlehandedly saved free speech by buying Twitter and rejecting censorship. AND he’s making the coolest vehicles in history. Heads will turn when this beast passes by: Source: Tesla Ever notice the colors and logos of most cars all look basically the same? Elon is standing out by designing a truck that looks like something from a Stanley Kubrick movie. The Cybertruck rocks! It’s iconic. It’s the new Ferrari. The new way to flaunt your wealth. The haters are wrong—it’s going to be a BIG hit. The truck is bulky and yet it beat a Porsche 911 in a race... while also towing another Porsche 911. Of course, the Cybertruck is also fully electric. Electric vehicles (EVs) are going to be one of the fastest-growing industries over the next decade. Historically, the problem with EVs has been a lack of great businesses in the space. That’s changing. Chris Wood and I are currently doing our due diligence on several EV stocks for Disruption Investor. Happy Monday, and make it a productive one. A good start to the week is half the work. Stephen McBride Chief Analyst, RiskHedge Suggested Reading... [My top "catch up" stock is leading the cybersecurity sector](  [Expect the election to get wild]( If someone forwarded you this email and you would like to be added to our email list to receive the Jolt every week, [simply sign up here.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} as part of your subscription to The Jolt. To opt-out, please visit the [unsubscribe page](. 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