> As with reality TV, it turns out that's where the money was all along. If it doesn't cost anything to produce then you can create endless hours at zero marginal cost. Why people listen to this stuff I honestly have no idea, but they do.
I imagine people listen to that calibre of podcast for similar reasons that people passively listened to the radio in the past: They are lonely, or they enjoy having background noise.
Personally, I'm with you. I'd prefer to listen to a truly well done programme or good music -- but to each his own.
It's a great strategy for the long game. The AI tech itself (e.g. OpenAI) will just be a low margin, commoditised utility in the long run. The value is at the edges.
QR codes are conducive to dining use cases where automation is desirable. For instance, QR codes would fit in with the old automat model [1]. A more modern example might be Chinese restaurants, where the food (i.e. temperature, taste, price) is more important than the experience (e.g. rude but fast waiters are fine).
In use cases where the experience is an important component, such as the steakhouse example from the article, QR codes can be a net negative. Automation might not be desirable there.
When you’re 20, you care about what everyone thinks about you. When you’re 40, you don’t care about what other people think of you. When you’re 60, you realise that no one was really thinking about you anyway.
