Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson Andrew Sharp and Ben Thompson

A look at Walmart’s challenges and opportunities as it builds an ad business, how Walmart became a differentiated competitor to Amazon, and a question about AI skepticism spawns extended discussion of life in the middle of a bubble. At the end: Picks for the NBA Finals.

A question about generative AI and the hardware powering voice assistants, projecting the GPU future with the dot com bubble as context, and thoughts on Amazon’s capital expenditures and the state of AWS and Amazon Supply Chain. At the end: An Elon hater reviews the Cybertruck.

A question about the spectrum between LLMs and AGI spawns a conversation about where and how AI might introduce upheaval in the workplace, what TSMC can teach us about probabilistic LLMs, whether AI will be a feature for all big companies or a differentiating product for one winner, and frustrations at the barriers to entry that have thus far allowed big tech to retain control of AI's mainstream applications. Also: An important note about Scarlett Johannson.

The Microsoft Build conference and the introduction of Copilot+ PCs, the potential for Windows as an AI platform that gives developers more certainty, and reactions to Scarlett Johansson's statement about her negotiations with Sam Altman and the launch of GPT-4o.

A variety of notable Netflix developments over the past few weeks, Hollywood's continued move to a (kinda) rebundled future, and what sports leagues are learning as internet realities take hold across entertainment. At the end: Andrew finally watches "Her" and shares his review.

Reactions to two hours of Google on stage this week, thoughts on what an AI makeover for search will mean for businesses that rely on Google for customer acquisition, and answers to mailbag questions on Google Cloud, Apple's rumored partnership with OpenAI, Amazon, and the continued ascent of SpaceX and Starlink.