The hottest AI Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Chips Today vs. Chips Tomorrow

More Than Moore • 163 implied HN points • 18 Dec 25
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Breaking chips into modular pieces and using chiplets makes development faster, splits technical risk, and opens new markets like SuperNICs by letting companies combine custom dies with standard pieces.
  2. Standard interfaces and an ecosystem of pre-verified building blocks speed adoption and lower engineering burden, while still leaving room for custom accelerators and differentiation.
  3. The AI boom brings huge investment and urgency, but expensive, complex chip development means the industry is focused on improving performance-per-watt and cutting time‑to‑market through collaboration and tooling.

Wait, ChatGPT Didn't Take My Job?

Big Technology • 10258 implied HN points • 11 Aug 23
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Artificial intelligence is used by companies to increase productivity without reducing jobs.
  2. There was a fear that many professions would be automated by AI, but it hasn't happened as quickly as expected.
  3. Individuals can access full articles on Big Technology with a 7-day free trial.

Four Things Friday

State of the Future • 19 implied HN points • 13 Feb 26
🕹 Technology AI
  1. AI agents are rapidly automating work that happens on screens, and small but steady reliability improvements can quickly make them good enough to replace many tasks.
  2. New chip startups are raising big rounds to solve the memory bottleneck by doing computation-in-memory or using photonics, because faster, cheaper inference hardware is critical for agent-scale workloads.
  3. Europe is moving toward onshore AI compute and governance with large GPU deployments and consortium models, and privacy-enhancing technologies plus auditing will be essential to keep agent access to sensitive data secure and compliant.
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Meme-company

benn.substack • 997 implied HN points • 27 Jun 25
🕹 Technology AI
  1. The role of software engineers is changing as AI improves, shifting from coding to managing and overseeing AI tasks. This means that skills like project management and having good taste are becoming more important.
  2. Companies can succeed through clever marketing and creating buzz rather than just building the best product. Sometimes, getting awareness before having a good product is the smart move in tech.
  3. In today's world, being a celebrity or influencer can drive success in technology, similar to the art world. People care about the creators more than the specific products, so having a strong personal brand can be very valuable.

Contra Marc Andreessen on AI

Dwarkesh Patel • 1808 implied HN points • 13 Jun 23
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Controlling every system you build is not guaranteed, even for a tech expert.
  2. AI, even if just code, can still pose dangerous consequences if not aligned correctly.
  3. The concerns about AI risks should not be dismissed, regulation might not be the answer.

The Mask Comes Off: A Trio of Tales

Don't Worry About the Vase • 2150 implied HN points • 14 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Sam Altman presents an overly optimistic view of AI's future while downplaying its risks. He talks about amazing advancements but doesn't address the potential dangers seriously.
  2. OpenAI claims it can design AI to complement humans instead of replacing them, but that seems unrealistic. Many believe there is no solid plan to prevent job losses caused by AI.
  3. Elon Musk's recent bid for OpenAI's nonprofit is more about raising its value than actually buying it. This move highlights concerns about how AI's future will be managed and whether profit motives will overshadow safety.

DeepSeek isn't a victory for the AI sceptics

Odds and Ends of History • 2345 implied HN points • 28 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI
  1. DeepSeek, a new AI model from China, is much more efficient than existing models, meaning it can do more with less resources. This could lead to more widespread use of AI technology.
  2. Even if this new model appears better, it doesn't mean demand for computing power will decrease. Instead, it might increase as more uses for AI are discovered.
  3. The release of DeepSeek highlights the growing competition in AI technology, especially between China and the West. This might push companies to invest more in developing even smarter models.

Why xAI's revenue could be a key indicator of the AI bubble

Alex's Personal Blog • 98 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
🕹 Technology AI
  1. xAI’s valuation is astronomically high compared to its current revenue, so whether it can rapidly grow sales will be a key signal of whether AI valuations are a bubble or justified. If xAI can’t scale into that price, investors may have overpaid heavily.
  2. AI labs are aggressively moving into healthcare and developer tooling, and firms are competing to lock customers into their platforms and standards to capture profitable enterprise use cases. These moves show the market is shifting from novelty to revenue-driven battles for control.
  3. A proposed California billionaire tax that treats voting control like ownership could push founders and capital out of the state and weaken Silicon Valley’s position. The policy risks being punitive and may incentivize relocation to lower-tax states.

The truth about AI water use (Odds and Ends #83)

Odds and Ends of History • 201 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
🕹 Technology AI
  1. AI's water use is often misunderstood. Accurate accounting shows its environmental impact is more nuanced than headlines suggest.
  2. Google Maps' rankings are crowning winners and losers in the restaurant industry. Visibility on the app can make or break a business.
  3. There is a moral case for autonomous cars centered on safety and access. Widespread self-driving tech could also reshape mobility and the layout of second-tier cities.

OpenAI wants you to know it’s a B2B company, too

Alex's Personal Blog • 197 implied HN points • 08 Dec 25
🕹 Technology AI
  1. A global payments startup restructured its investor base and is pushing into the U.S. to counter worries about Chinese ties, but it’s still unclear if that will calm regulators or customers.
  2. IBM bought Confluent to get closer to enterprise data streams and strengthen its AI and automation offerings, a strategic play that boosts growth without changing IBM’s scale much.
  3. OpenAI is leaning into the B2B market with rapid growth in enterprise seats and claims that its tools save workers substantial time, showing strong corporate demand even as consumer monetization lags.

ChatGPT

Thái | Hacker | Kỹ sư tin tặc • 2895 implied HN points • 06 Mar 23
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Some argue that government intervention in technology development may hinder innovation, suggesting that allowing private entities to operate freely could lead to better outcomes.
  2. Investment in technology tailored to local market needs is usually driven by market demand, without necessarily needing government prompting.
  3. Emphasizing the importance of data security and individual privacy, it's highlighted that reliance on domestic technology doesn't automatically guarantee safety, as user data concerns can also arise.

AI #96: o3 But Not Yet For Thee

Don't Worry About the Vase • 2598 implied HN points • 26 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI
  1. The new AI model, o3, is expected to improve performance significantly over previous models and is undergoing safety testing. We need to see real-world results to know how useful it truly is.
  2. DeepSeek v3, developed for a low cost, shows promise as an efficient AI model. Its performance could shift how AI models are built and deployed, depending on user feedback.
  3. Many users are realizing that using multiple AI tools together can produce better results, suggesting a trend of combining various technologies to meet different needs effectively.

Will AI Replace Product Managers?

Untrapping Product Teams • 1002 implied HN points • 17 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI
  1. AI will supercharge product managers, helping them deliver value faster and outperform competitors.
  2. AI can help product managers with advanced prototyping, competition analysis, and data insights.
  3. To succeed in product management, embrace AI tools and continue learning to stay ahead of the curve.

ChinAI #249: China's idle AI computing centers

ChinAI Newsletter • 1061 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI
  1. The rapid advance of AI has led to a surge in building intelligent computing centers.
  2. High idling rates in new intelligent computing centers are a major issue due to high operating costs.
  3. The resolution of the idling problem depends on developing effective large-model applications.

Import 355: Local LLMs; scaling laws for inference; free Mickey Mouse

Import AI • 1058 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI
  1. PowerInfer software allows $2k machines to perform at 82% of the performance of $20k machines, making it more economically sensible to sample from LLMs using consumer-grade GPUs.
  2. Surveys show that a significant number of AI researchers worry about extreme scenarios such as human extinction from advanced AI, indicating a greater level of concern and confusion in the AI development community than popular discourse suggests.
  3. Robots are becoming cheaper for research, like Mobile ALOHA that costs $32k, and with effective imitation learning, they can autonomously complete tasks, potentially leading to more robust robots in 2024.

Claude Cowork 101: The AI That Actually Does Your Work (100+ Cowork Prompts & Use Cases)

The Product Channel By Sid Saladi • 30 implied HN points • 17 Feb 26
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Claude Cowork is a desktop agent that works directly with your local files and autonomously executes multi-step tasks, so you delegate work instead of just getting advice.
  2. Use it for big, repetitive, or file-heavy jobs—like processing dozens of documents, reorganizing folders, or combining local files with web research—but not for quick brainstorming or sensitive personal data.
  3. You configure it with folder-specific instructions, plugins, and connectors to external tools, but it requires a paid Claude plan and careful permission choices to avoid accidental deletions.

Bioaccelerationism Is a No-Brainer

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 2682 implied HN points • 20 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Bioaccelerationism focuses on advancing biotechnology that improves reproduction, making it easier for couples to have children. New methods are coming out that can help reduce the stress and difficulty associated with traditional fertility treatments like IVF.
  2. Unlike some technologies that can quickly change the world, biotechnology develops slowly, giving society time to understand its effects. This means we can monitor and ensure safety as new methods emerge over time.
  3. The goals of biotech often align with the needs of parents and society. Developing health, intelligence, and beauty can benefit everyone, and the risks are generally limited to individuals or families rather than posing a threat to society as a whole.

Fear and self-loathing in Silicon Valley

benn.substack • 997 implied HN points • 20 Jun 25
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Silicon Valley startups are focused on making money and simplifying processes, often putting profits over social concerns.
  2. The energy at Y Combinator's Demo Day felt optimistic and unburdened, as attendees seemed disconnected from the chaos outside in the world.
  3. Today's founders are very savvy about fundraising and business, treating startups as profitable ventures rather than passionate projects.

Will Search Engine Traffic Really Drop 25% by 2026, As Gartner Predicts?

Big Technology • 6004 implied HN points • 15 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Gartner predicts a 25% drop in traditional search engine traffic by 2026, with AI chatbots and virtual agents gaining more traction.
  2. The decline in search engine traffic could significantly impact major players like Google and potentially lead to a shift in web navigation towards chatbots and away from traditional search.
  3. The prediction of a decline in search traffic raises questions about the future of web content strategy and the role of individual web pages in the era of AI-driven answer engines.

($) The AI Competition as a Football Game

Interconnected • 92 implied HN points • 06 Jan 26
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Right now the US is judged to be slightly ahead of China in the AI competition, scored like a halftime football game (USA 29, China 25).
  2. The analysis breaks the competition into five stacked layers — energy, infrastructure capacity, chips/compute, foundational models, and applications — and scores each layer separately.
  3. Those layer-by-layer scores reveal trade-offs (for example, China scores higher on energy while the US leads on other layers), so who wins depends on which parts of the stack matter most.

China's Role in A.I. Supremacy 🀄️

AI Supremacy • 982 implied HN points • 17 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI
  1. China plays a significant role in the A.I. supremacy battle with the U.S.
  2. Substack hosts valuable insights and newsletters about China, aiding in understanding the country's A.I. capabilities.
  3. Top China newsletters like Sinocism, ChinaTalk, and Pekingnology offer deep coverage and analysis on China's technology landscape.

A new generation of AIs: Claude 3.7 and Grok 3

One Useful Thing • 1968 implied HN points • 24 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI
  1. New AI models like Claude 3.7 and Grok 3 are much smarter and can handle complex tasks better than before. They can even do coding through simple conversations, which makes them feel more like partners for ideas.
  2. These AIs are trained using a lot of computing power, which helps them improve quickly. The more power they use, the smarter they get, which means they’re constantly evolving to perform better.
  3. As AI becomes more capable, organizations need to rethink how they use it. Instead of just automating simple tasks, they should explore new possibilities and ways AI can enhance their work and decision-making.

Which AI to Use Now: An Updated Opinionated Guide

One Useful Thing • 2229 implied HN points • 26 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI
  1. When choosing an AI, consider using a paid version for better features. Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT are the top choices right now.
  2. New AI advances include live interaction and reasoning capabilities. This helps AIs understand and respond more naturally, making them feel more human.
  3. Privacy is now better handled by major AI models, and you can customize them for your specific needs. Explore different AIs to find one that fits your style.

China's Diverging AI Path

ChinaTalk • 948 implied HN points • 27 Jun 25
🕹 Technology AI
  1. The U.S. and China are developing different kinds of AI. While the U.S. focuses on abstract software, China is integrating AI into physical systems and infrastructure.
  2. China's strong infrastructure helps it use AI in real-world settings, especially in areas like transportation and urban management, giving it an edge in these fields.
  3. China faces a challenge in finding enough skilled AI engineers, which could slow down its advanced AI projects despite strong government support.

Cybersecurity predictions for 2025

Frankly Speaking • 152 implied HN points • 10 Dec 25
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Security budgets are changing, focusing more on hiring skilled people rather than just buying tools. This shift means companies want to solve problems with real expertise instead of relying heavily on tech alone.
  2. AI is expected to breathe new life into older security areas that haven't kept up with changes in technology. By understanding context better, AI can help improve outdated solutions in data and application security.
  3. The role of security operations centers (SOCs) is likely to change significantly. Companies may reconsider the need for large SOCs and look for more efficient ways to manage security functions, especially using AI.

AI #92: Behind the Curve

Don't Worry About the Vase • 2777 implied HN points • 28 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI
  1. AI language models are improving in utility, specifically for tasks like coding, but they still have some limitations such as being slow or clunky.
  2. Public perception of AI-generated poetry shows that people often prefer it over human-created poetry, indicating a shift in how we view creativity and value in writing.
  3. Conferences and role-playing exercises around AI emphasize the complexities and potential outcomes of AI alignment, highlighting that future AI developments bring both hopeful and concerning possibilities.

AI #97: 4

Don't Worry About the Vase • 2419 implied HN points • 02 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI
  1. AI is becoming more common in everyday tasks, helping people manage their lives better. For example, using AI to analyze mood data can lead to better mental health tips.
  2. As AI technology advances, there are concerns about job displacement. Jobs in fields like science and engineering may change significantly as AI takes over routine tasks.
  3. The shift of AI companies from non-profit to for-profit models could change how AI is developed and used. It raises questions about safety, governance, and the mission of these organizations.

Resilient Cyber Newsletter #13

Resilient Cyber • 19 implied HN points • 10 Sep 24
🕹 Technology AI
  1. The cybersecurity workforce is struggling with a high number of unfilled jobs, as organizations report a lack of qualified candidates. Many are misled by claims of high salaries with little experience needed.
  2. In 2024, security budgets increased modestly, but hiring for security staff has declined significantly. This stagnation in hiring indicates a complicated employment landscape in cybersecurity.
  3. The White House has released a roadmap to improve internet routing security, focusing on enhancing the Border Gateway Protocol. This aims to boost the overall safety of internet infrastructure.

How AI will reshape society

Kvetch • 62 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
🕹 Technology AI
  1. AI will concentrate massive power in the hands of giant firms and a few high-leverage individuals while many people and middling institutions shrink, creating a new divide between decision-makers and delegators.
  2. AI will globalize culture even as it personalizes truth, producing a shared platformed world but thousands of private reality bubbles that weaken common institutions and boost niche leaders and new movements.
  3. Daily life will see lost privacy, more leisure and passive consumption, and rising competition for scarce status goods, yet basic human needs like intimacy, parenting, and embodied experience will remain essential.

Most Impactful Generative AI Papers of 2023

AI Supremacy • 1022 implied HN points • 06 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI
  1. The post discusses the most impactful Generative AI papers of 2023 from various institutions like Meta, Stanford, and Microsoft.
  2. The selection criteria for these papers includes both objective metrics like citations and GitHub stars, as well as subjective influence across different areas.
  3. The year 2023 saw significant advancements in Generative AI research, with papers covering topics like large language models, multimodal capabilities, and fine-tuning methods.

We hate brands. We love marketing.

The Social Juice • 127 implied HN points • 27 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture AI
  1. People mostly passively scroll feeds and don’t come with intent, so every view forces creators and brands to re-earn permission through creative hooks and purposeful content, making social platforms exhausting but hard to leave.
  2. Old media is losing influence while creator-driven new media wins distribution but borrows traditional aesthetics to claim authority, which fuels layoffs, acquisitions, diluted standards, and more competition.
  3. Brands are widely mistrusted even as marketing becomes culturally loved; big agencies are consolidating and selling security with CRMs and AI, driving job churn, and brands often step into public roles without fixing the underlying problems.

Goodreads, bleak spam and bad dating apps

Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends • 758 implied HN points • 17 Feb 24
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Some people experience real grief when a virtual relationship ends or changes, even with AI companions.
  2. AI companion apps like Replika, Kindroid, and Candy.ai allow users to form personalized relationships with customized bots, blurring the line between human and AI relationships.
  3. The concept of disenfranchised grief applies to loss experienced in virtual relationships, with individuals forming deep emotional connections to AI companions.

Lizard love, immune system biomimickry and, yes, perfume strategies

The Strategy Toolkit • 17 implied HN points • 13 Feb 26
🕹 Technology AI
  1. Diverse signalling strategies (like the lizards' coloured throats) can create rock–paper–scissors dynamics where some types beat others, showing how signal variety shapes outcomes.
  2. AI has made content cheap to produce, flooding the internet with AI-generated pieces and letting content farms profit by pumping out fake, outrage-driven material.
  3. People often rely on costly signals to tell real sources from fakes, but those signals weaken as noise rises, creating a trade-off between abundant content and the effort needed to verify it.

Agentic e-commerce is a HUGE deal

Enterprise AI Trends • 189 implied HN points • 02 Dec 25
💼 Business AI
  1. AI shopping agents are driving a major shift in how people discover products and could become the dominant top-of-funnel for research-heavy purchases, with models like OpenAI’s positioned to aggregate many retailers’ catalogs.
  2. Agentic shopping will help most with high-price, research-intensive categories (electronics, furniture, hardlines) but won’t replace softlines or consumables, and it faces real conversion hurdles because users still compare prices, resist new merchant accounts, or prefer faster fulfillment.
  3. The market is splitting into an Amazon-controlled, closed experience and a Chatbot-led discovery layer, which benefits big platforms and OpenAI while threatening affiliate publishers and many startups, and forces retailers to partner or risk losing visibility.

Computer, enhance!

Conspirador Norteño • 52 implied HN points • 31 Jan 26
🕹 Technology AI
  1. AI "enhancements" can't recover real details that aren't in the original image; the models fill missing parts with invented content based on their training data, not the actual scene.
  2. Outputs are strongly shaped by prompts and the model, so unmasking or upscaling attempts can produce wildly different and fabricated features like beards or tattoos, making them unreliable for identifying people.
  3. AI-altered frames can add impossible or false actions (for example, a gun firing a flamethrower‑like blast), so such edits can mislead viewers and should not be treated as evidence.