iPhone moment for AI?
Welcome to my first Newsletter on Substack 🚀
Two weeks ago, I started a Newsletter on my LinkedIn Account, and it has reached over 65,000 subscribers by now. Some users asked for an English version, and what better place to launch it than here on Substack! 🎉
I follow many newsletters here on Substack: high quality, often niche content (Deep-Tech, Stock Market, VC Eco-System, …). It is an important part of my input stream.
I love being in touch with and getting input from my community on Social Media and am looking forward to hearing your thoughts as well!
ChatGPT - iPhone moment for AI
Back in 2018, I devoted an entire chapter to artificial intelligence in my first book Startup-DNA. I may have described AI-based voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa as pipe drops back then, but I was already convinced that AI would develop exponentially and change our lives and industries in a few years.
Now this moment appears to be very close - for the first time we are using programs and tools not to work more efficiently ourselves (Steve Jobs: "A bicycle for your mind"), but to be "actively" supported in our work. AI-based chatbots not only answer just about any question, provide information and explain even complex issues - they write emails and marketing texts, compose entire blog articles, social media posts, poems, usable code and Excel formulas.
AI systems are now starting to actively contribute to our work
I think the release of ChatGPT represents an iPhone moment for artificial intelligence in everyday life. We've been calling them AI assistants for a while, but now the systems are starting to live up to their name: They are working for us, suggesting intelligent actions, thinking along in the background.
We are now entering a period in which we will once again become significantly more efficient in a kind of hybrid model together with AI systems. Until now, we had to perform every action ourselves and tools were only there to help us digitally create and manage data. Now the data is starting to work for us. ChatGPT is just the beginning: the wake-up call that has shaken up the entire industry.
“Google has issued Code Red over ChatGPT”
Sometimes, all it takes is that "iPhone moment" to show: it's time. While Google Assistant has been the leading AI voice assistant for a long time, it hasn't been able to make any real breakthrough in recent years. Google has now called out Code Red against ChatGPT. The Alphabet Group has to present a competitor in the near future to stay in the game. But OpenAI is also extensively funded, with Microsoft alone announcing another $10 billion investment recently to intensify their partnership and positioning itself in this new growth market.
Who is going to win the race?
In addition to OpenAI, Microsoft and Google, many other US and Chinese giants are in the race: Tesla, Nvidia, AMD, Palantir, Baidu - they are all developing new AI chips or AI software that could soon make not only our everyday lives, but also our companies and our mobility, much more efficient.
Numerous existing tools could also benefit from AI-systems and create better products:
Notion is testing a beta version that makes AI-based text suggestions
Slite yesterday unveiled "Ask", a new tool that generates answers from company-internal data
Tome builds entire graphical presentations with a few keywords
These are all short "wow effects" rather than real breakthroughs. But they will drive change in more and more places in the coming months. In 2023, more capital will flow into AI than ever before. We are currently examining where to invest with Freigeist & 10xDNA, either directly or indirectly - for example into an existing product that can be x-fold better due to the new possibilities presented by AI.
Will AI soon be able to do our job?
It remains to be seen at what point and to what extent AI will be able to reliably take over tasks on its own. Currently, ChatGPT still often contradicts itself, and it is not yet clear how the AI system handles sources or validates information.
Nevertheless - for the few who haven't done it yet: Please, please test ChatGPT. The developments in this area are really impressive in most cases and represent an opportunity to work more effectively together with AI systems.
For those who are already worried about their jobs: I can reassure you that it's not AI itself that poses a threat in the near future, but rather people who are skilled at working with AI systems and using them to do your job more efficiently and effortlessly.
If you don't get in, you can be informed via email when capacities are free again. Then you might even with a bit of luck be able to subscribe to the Pro version for 42$ (= The answer to everything?).
DLD 2023: Cornerstones for a successful Europe
AI was also one of the core topics at this year's DLD. I was on a panel with Personio founder Hanno Renner amongst others to discuss the competitiveness of Europe in global comparison.
The outcome: We have great engineers and first-class technical universities, but we currently lack the capital and political framework to lift important projects off the ground. In Germany, we are slowly seeing more politicians like Verena Hubertz, Christian Lindner and Thomas Heilmann who are aware of the urgency.
I also took the chance to have two really exciting conversations at DLD for my new podcast, one of them in English. They will be out soon, you can subscribe to the podcast here: https://frank.io/en/podcast/
Freigeist portfolio company PROSION launches new design
One topic that I’m in the lead for at Freigeist is supporting our portfolio companies in branding. Many founding teams underestimate the importance and don't have the capacity to take care of high-quality design and communication, especially in the beginning. But from my experience, it can make a big difference – especially in fundraising, sales and recruiting. Here is the current result of our rebranding with Prosion. We used Figma for the design and Webflow for the implementation.
PROSION has developed a technology platform that makes it possible to target previously unaddressable proteins to develop drugs for chronic diseases such as cancer. Especially with such a complex topic, an appealing and high-quality visualization can help to make the whole thing more tangible and understandable.
Books, Podcasts, Tools
Book 📙: ALMANACK OF NAVAL RAVIKANT
I try to improve every day by trying new tools and learning from people much smarter than me. One of the most important thought leaders for me is Naval Ravikant. This book summarizes his wisdom from the last decade, which he shared on Twitter, in podcasts and essays.
Warning ❗️: must be read in small doses with pauses for thought, not in one go (https://www.navalmanack.com/)
Podcast 🎧: The All in Podcast
I listen to it every Sunday. 100% Valley view on Tech & Stocks. I don’t always agree, but these are some smart minds, plus it gives me a condensed view of what the Valley is thinking right now.
Tool 🛠️: Raycast (https://www.raycast.com/)
I have opened this app more than 10,000 times 😊 It is a console into your operating system and saves you valuable seconds every time you access it which could easily turn into hours saved per week.
welcome to Substack! And please subscribe to https://www.fivethin.gs! ✌🏻