Beware Excessive Investment and No Moat in AI ...and This Week In The Degenerate Economy (Zyn Is The New Kale)

Good morning from Sonoma.

Ellen and I are at a wedding. My Partner Tom and Colleen’s oldest son Nic got married.

Here is my impersonation of the yoots today with their short short suit pants and low socks

Ellen tucked me in to bed soon after!

Onward…

I say it here each week…I love AI.

Each week I try new AI products that my team at Stocktwits is using to be more productive. Same with my partners at Social Leverage.

Furthermore, for companies and products that have unique content and data (I have long mentioned YouTube, Spotify, Netflix here) AI is an ‘enabler’.

As AI proliferates across every industry, you will see the ‘enablers’ show up as new leaders in the stock market. Last week, course creator, Coursera ( $COUR ( ▲ 36.23% ) ) exploded higher on earnings that surprised.

I am excited about AI making Stocktwits an ‘enabler’ as we integrate AI and build to launch in the near future.

As an investor though I remain skeptical of the excessive investment going on in companies with few moats.

My friend OM explained the new reality in technology reading between the lines of Satya’s Microsoft memo:

Despite the pitfalls that remain for investors, the consumer will keep on winning as AI arms the smart, the curious and the talented with tools that can turn you into a content and production machine.

Outside of AI, my focus on the ‘degenerate economy’ continues to amaze me. I covered the key stories in the industry again this week.

In short…Zyn ( $PM ( ▼ 0.1% ) ) is the new kale, the SEC gave up, margin debt hits a trillion, and boomers are making prop bets on earnings calls. Meanwhile, Wall Street’s stuffing Bitcoin into SPACs like it’s 2021 again.

You can also watch it here on YouTube:

Finally, Ellen, Rachel and I really enjoyed ‘The Pitt’ on HBO.

Have a great Sunday.