#108 Meta vs. OpenAI: Who Wins the Next Attention War?

In this episode of More or Less, we dive into the shifting landscape of AI, attention, and business models. From the rise of ChatGPT as both productivity tool and entertainment, to the coming collision between commerce and AI-driven recommendations, the Morins and Lessins debate what’s hype, what’s real, and where the next big opportunities are for startups and VCs. Plus: the truth about local news, why coding is fun again, and a pop culture corner you won’t want to miss.
Chapters:
01:30 – Wedding Stories & The Early Jackson Hole Days
03:00 – Interviewing Mark Zuckerberg Goes Wrong
09:30 – Building Audiences: Why Longer is Better (and Sponsors Are Lining Up)
14:00 – Is AI for Productivity or Personal Use? The Real Data
16:00 – Big Tech vs. Startups: Who Wins Consumer AI?
20:00 – Can AI Save Local News? The Verticalization Debate
24:00 – The Real Business of Local Data: City Councils and Real Estate
28:30 – AI Business Models: Advertising, Affiliate, or Something New?
31:00 – Is AI Stealing Attention from Instagram? The Frenetic Race
33:00 – Commerce, Discovery, and the Death of Search
37:00 – The Productivity Trap: Why Margins Go to Zero
39:00 – How Are VCs Really Using AI? The Memory Game
40:30 – AI as Entertainment: Coding vs. Netflix
43:00 – The Future of Commerce: Push vs. Pull, Meta vs. OpenAI
46:00 – Google, Gemini, and the Battle for Relevance
47:30 – Late Night Coding: Why Claude Is Addictive
53:00 – Pop Culture Corner: Lena Dunham, AI Bands, and Wimbledon

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