AI Hype Cycle or Revolution? Why We're Still in the Early Days

Quarter-Life Capital

After 2.5 years of ChatGPT dominating headlines, Matt, Soham and George dive deep into the biggest question in tech:

Are we witnessing the next revolutionary technology or heading for another dot-com style crash?

What We Cover:

The AI Bubble Debate

• Why OpenAI makes $10B in revenue but still isn't profitable
• Johnny Ive's mysterious $6.8B device deal - innovation or insanity?
• How "wrapper" companies are getting billion-dollar valuations for prompt engineering

What's Actually Working vs. What's Still Hype

• Why coding achieved true product-market fit with AI (while email writing didn't)
• The 90/10 rule: AI gets you most of the way there, humans perfect the last 10%
• Why the best developers from 5 years ago are also the best at using AI today

The Coming Hardware Revolution

• Why we might be in "summer 2012 Bitcoin territory" - right before ASICs changed everything
• How China's DeepSeek proves innovation happens under constraints
• The specialized hardware breakthrough that could make AI incredibly profitable

Future of Work Reality Check

• Why "AI will replace everyone" is wrong - but so is "AI changes nothing"
• How to use AI without becoming dangerously dependent on it
• The rise of AI loyalties: "We're a ChatGPT family, son"

White-Collar Work Revolution

• Why law firms and accounting will be next after coding
• The death of control+F - hello context search across 300-page contracts
• How everything needs to become "LLM accessible" to stay competitive

Key Insights:

💡 "There will be two types of people: those who make LLMs smarter and those who teach them the world" - The future job market split
💡 "It's like having a junior developer who's incredibly good at syntax" - How to think about AI capabilities
💡 "Humans evolved through effort - the more you put in, the more you get out" - Why shortcuts backfire

Perfect For:

• Young professionals wondering how AI will impact their careers
• Anyone trying to separate AI hype from reality
• Developers and tech workers navigating the AI transition
• People considering which AI tools are actually worth learning
• Those who want to understand where the technology is actually heading

This isn't another "AI will save/destroy the world" take. It's a practical analysis of what's working, what isn't, and how to position yourself for whatever comes next.

Follow the podcast:

• Podcast
• YouTube
• Twitter (X)

Follow our co-hosts:

• George Pu: @thegeorgepu on Twitter (X)
• Matthew Black:@matthewjablack on Twitter (X).
• Soham Mehta:LinkedIn, coming soon on Twitter (X)!