My end-of-week morning train WFH reads:
• Wall Street Banks Are Using AI to Rewire the World of Finance: Lenders are experimenting with artificial intelligence. Not even Warren Buffett is sure what happens next. (Bloomberg)
• The $1 Trillion Company That Started at Denny’s: AI made Nvidia the world’s most valuable chip maker. So did three guys sipping diner coffee and planning to conquer markets that barely existed. (Wall Street Journal)
• Is Apple’s weird headset the future? Apple’s new goggles aren’t for normals. Not yet, anyway. So why does Apple want to show them off? (Vox)
• The rare license plates selling for millions: A simple lesson in Supply & Demand: If you thought luxury cars were a status symbol, wait until you hear about the market for heritage license plates. These are handmade, low-digit numeric license plates. They’re increasing in popularity around the world, but especially in Australia. Over the past six years, the market has gone into overdrive. People are now paying millions. For a license plate. (Alts.co)
• Why You’re Losing More to Casinos on the Las Vegas Strip: Gambling companies shift betting further in their favor, raising minimums at blackjack tables and tipping the odds in roulette. Innumeracy is expensive! (Wall Street Journal)
• BuzzFeed and the Education of Ben Smith: What kind of business models support good, high-quality journalism? (Bloomberg)
• Big Tech Isn’t Prepared for A.I.’s Next Chapter: Open source is changing everything. It also takes control away from large companies like Google and OpenAI. By providing access to the underlying code and encouraging collaboration, open-source initiatives empower a diverse range of developers, researchers, and organizations to shape the technology. This diversification of control helps prevent undue influence, and ensures that the development and deployment of A.I. technologies align with a broader set of values and priorities. (Slate)
• The Policy Paradox: The more obvious an idea is the less likely it will happen (Comment is Freed)
• Exclusive secrets of the National Spelling Bee: Picking the words to identify a champion. The panel meets a few times a year, often virtually, to go over words, edit definitions and sentences, and weed out problems. The process seemed to go smoothly through the 2010s, even amid a proliferation of so-called “minor league” bees, many catering to offspring of highly educated, first-generation Indian immigrants — a group that has come to dominate the competition. (AP)
• How to Hire a Pop Star for Your Private Party: For the very rich, even the world’s biggest performers—Beyoncé, Drake, Jennifer Lopez, Andrea Bocelli—are available, at a price. (New Yorker)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Ramit Sethi writes about money, business, and psychology. He is the author of NYT bestseller I Will Teach You to Be Rich and the host of the popular Netflix series “How to Get Rich.”
The buying power of the federal minimum wage is at its lowest point since December 1949
Source: Github via New York Times
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Ritholtz Reads is taking a vacation, and will return June 15th.
