Stratechery Aggregator's AI Risk
Mar 4, 2024
The impact of the printing press parallels today's internet revolution, shifting power from institutions to the public. Tech aggregators like Google and Meta reshape how information influences society and politics. Philosophical reflections on societal progress challenge our understanding of technological advancement. The complexities of AI image generation raise concerns about bias and diversity. Lastly, the Topics API balances privacy with effective interest-based advertising, critiquing the political landscape for tech companies.
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Printing Press Impact
- The printing press drastically reduced printing costs, leading to wider information dissemination.
- This created incentives to produce popular books, transforming history.
Aggregation Theory
- The internet's zero marginal cost distribution challenged newspaper economics.
- Aggregators like Google gained power by indexing and making sense of the abundance of online information.
Aggregators and Politics
- Aggregators initially avoided politics, focusing on serving everyone.
- However, the internet's impact on political information distribution shifted power to the demand side, influencing elections like Trump's.