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A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

nytimes.com

41–50 of 91 posts

Re: A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has become a bit of a pest in Germany since weed was legalized. Every other method of distribution is either inconvenient, like growing it yourself, or borderline difficult to establish, like the social clubs. Now, you just pay 10 euros, fill out an online form, and receive a prescription. I’m not against legalization, quite the opposite but these empty promises that weed is a "cure" for anxiety, depression, and o…

No, it sounds like you're against legalization.

How so?

Re: A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

#42
post #10

The opposite of an “A.I” company, he is reselling the services of another filled with humans. A great, profitable business, sure, a notable success, yes, but a 2-man billion dollar company made possible by A.I? No. Businesses like this have existed for decades and are vulnerable to their service providers stealing the business out from under them.

A very astute comment. While the service providers are experiencing massive growth they are happy to share. When growth plateaus they will go after every cost reduction, including squeezing out non-value added resellers. Especially those with warning letters from the FDA for making false claims, as noted below. As a distributor your value add was always making me markets. Once made, those markets are now trivial to t…

but this is the opposite right? they own the customer relationship. Amazon does the opposite. They control the customer relationship. Can the supplier raise prices possibly but so can they middle man. if they turn over the relationship to the provider then use bad business.

Re: A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

#43
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The beauty of capitalism is that you can just not use Adobe, Microsoft or drive Tesla. Blaming Trump on capitalism is also quite a stretch.

So the beauty of capitalism is billion dollar companies are free to try to scam you, because you're also free to avoid them? Maybe I should just stand on the street and be a 3-card-monty...

at least the 3-card Monty guy is dealing with you one on one. These companies hire lobbyist to make the illegal, immoral sh*t legal. Easy to keep winning the game when you write the rules.

Re: A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

#44
post #10

The opposite of an “A.I” company, he is reselling the services of another filled with humans. A great, profitable business, sure, a notable success, yes, but a 2-man billion dollar company made possible by A.I? No. Businesses like this have existed for decades and are vulnerable to their service providers stealing the business out from under them.

Well, this guy isn't training models in his basement—if that's what you're looking for? I think the point of this article is that AI enables people to do so much more? Much of marketing is creating engaging content and AI allows people to create more than ever.

I’m struggling to see how anything he did is AI at all. Literally everything about his company is outsourced to an army of contracting firms. All this guy did was generate a marketing site that was filled with fraud.

Re: A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes doing illegal things and getting away with it is a great way to make money.

Some laws represent moral truths and some laws represent the attempt of a prior generation's upper class to protect that wealth. The willingess to break a bad law is a sign of a good person.

Yeah illegally running a cab is basically the same thing as being Rosa Parks.

Re: A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

#46
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also relies on many outsourced doctors, correct? In this particular case, this is not a great vibe code business example imho.

What is this platonic ideal of a vibe code business that doesn't rely on some outside vendor to create value? If all you're offering is something for a niche (CRM just for car repair business), that's getting cloned yesterday. Unless your value is locked behind some moat, like hiring licensed doctors, you won't survive, and even then.

Just pointing out a business that is fundamentally about doctors prescribing and delivering compounded GLP-1 is not something "agents" will whip up for you, nor is it a one-man business.

Re: A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some laws represent moral truths and some laws represent the attempt of a prior generation's upper class to protect that wealth. The willingess to break a bad law is a sign of a good person.

Yeah illegally running a cab is basically the same thing as being Rosa Parks.

Correct. While ride-sharing services aren't perfect, they have significantly reduced rates of service refusals and long-wait times based on race.

Re: A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

#49
post #6

Looks like they are selling GLP-1 prescriptions online, with online consultations. This is borderline illegal.

It has become a bit of a pest in Germany since weed was legalized. Every other method of distribution is either inconvenient, like growing it yourself, or borderline difficult to establish, like the social clubs. Now, you just pay 10 euros, fill out an online form, and receive a prescription. I’m not against legalization, quite the opposite but these empty promises that weed is a "cure" for anxiety, depression, and o…

You said it yourself, people are just paying the 10 euro for the prescription to avoid the hassle of growing themseleves or establishing/becoming part of a social club. It's a loophole that works, I doubt those people actually think that it is curing their illnesses.
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