Organized Money

We've discussed the financial aspects of the AI boom and bubble in previous episodes, but today we're trying to demystify the technology itself. 
This week we're joined by Gary Marcus, scientist and author of many books about AI and the Marcus On AI Substack. We discuss how chatbots like ChatGPT work, how they've advanced in recent years by harnessing large language models to more traditional symbolic AI systems, and also how the technology still feels stuck in the mud. 
We also discuss the economic problems these technologies have to overcome, whether there's really demand for AI compute, get into recent the hype for AI "hacks" and math breakthroughs, and finally get into regulatory solutions, based on Gary's congressional testimony on AI.

Of all New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's campaign promises, his plan for government-subsidized grocery stores has resulted in the strongest, and sometimes strangest, ire. Critics have called it bad policy, bad business, and even the tipping point on our slide towards Venezuelan socialist oblivion, oh no!  

Today on the show, we have one of the experts who consulted with the mayor on his grocery plan: Errol Schweizer, grocery consultant, host of the Grocery Nerds podcast, and writer at the The Checkout Grocery Update newsletter. Errol argues that far from an untested policy, many Americans already love government-run grocery stores; they just don't realize it. Errol also dismantles much of the criticism the pilot program has received as we discuss the logistics of scale and how the private sector will actually run the stores. Among many things, we get into how the subsidies will work, grocery policy at large, and get a very frank assessment of what to make of the criticism coming from think tanks like The Manhattan Institute.

We’re back with an update on the Paramount merger! We continue to make fun of Makan Delrahim’s legal strategy, David Ellison’s op-ed in the New York Times, and poke holes in the Paramount-engineered framing of the story as a first-amendment issue about CNN. See you for a regular episode next week!

Kay Sharaf started a Kitchen Tune-Up franchise business to provide for her family. Five years later, it has nearly bankrupted her, and she's fighting back. Today on the show, Kay and Keith Miller of Franchise Advocacy Consulting (who is also a Subway franchise owner), are here to discuss the wild world of franchising. 

Franchise businesses run the gamut from serious, healthy businesses where local and national branches can coexist, to schemes designed to extract money from the franchisee, to the benefit of the franchiser and other middlemen. Kay and Keith help illuminate this under-known corner of the business world, which is often shrouded in arbitration, NDAs, and non-disparagement clauses. Finally, we discuss the regulatory steps we need to make franchising more equitable. 

Check out Kay's youtube channel, and read David's reporting on franchising in The American Prospect.

Comedian and podcaster Adam Conover of Adam Ruins Everything, Factually, and so much else, is here to help ruin the Paramount merger, literally! 

Today on the show, we break down the breakdown in the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, as the state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America West lawsuits have led to a pause until next year. We cover the events leading up to this turn, then get Adam's take on the situation. 

Adam is especially well-suited to comment on the merger, both as a creator and as a board member of the WGAW, where he ran on an anti-consolidation platform. They discuss how the merger will result in fewer buyers, fewer platforms, and fewer opportunities in general. In this surprisingly optimistic Organized Money episode, we also get into the groundswell of anti-monopoly energy that is appearing in Hollywood and the entertainment industry, and how to channel that energy through organization.