Better Offline Monologue: It's The Beginning Of History
90 snips
Mar 13, 2026 A sharp monologue on the end of tech’s hypergrowth and why generative AI has not become a viable business model. It digs into a recent Anthropic controversy, financial revelations, and the ethical questions around AI in conflict. The conversation calls out hype-driven corporate decisions, software debt from leveraged buyouts, and argues for returning to economic fundamentals.
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Anthropic's Ethical Posture Versus Real Use
- Ed Zitron highlights Anthropic's public stance against military misuse as performative given its models were used in the Iran war.
- He notes likely use involved feeding targets and coordinates to Claude, shifting responsibility, not proving model power.
Anthropic's Revenue Claims Don't Add Up
- Ed reveals Anthropic's CFO affidavit stated $5B lifetime revenue to March 9, 2026, contradicting earlier claims of far higher figures.
- He contrasts that with $10B spent on training/inference and calls the leaked annualized numbers misleading.
Huge Funding Failed To Produce Profits
- Ed calculates Anthropic raised ~ $60B and after spending ~$10B on training made only $5B total, implying massive capital destruction.
- He frames this as evidence that leaked inflated revenues or lies misled the public.