Latest / Connecting the Dots / Connecting the Dots - 6-13-2025

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Connecting the Dots - 6-13-2025 · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarful Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Dots, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. Welcome to Connecting the Dots, brought
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  to you by Snarful Solutions Group here in Sacramento,
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  CA. I'm Alex. And I'm Morgan. It's Friday, June
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  13th, 2025. Hope you're having a great Friday.
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  Quick look at the weather. Looks like widespread
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  showers, thunderstorms across a lot of the central
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  and eastern U .S., some heavy rain possible too.
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  Yeah, watch out for that, especially parts of
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  the Mississippi Valley and the Gulf Coast. Here
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  in Sacramento though, pretty nice, sunny. heading
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  into the mid -80s later. Sounds good. And the
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  markets, as of Friday's close, the Dow ended
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  the week at $42 ,505 .91. And the S &P 500 closed
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  shop at $6 ,007 .53. So today, we're using the
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  SNARFL internal tech article report. to connect
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  the dots on three major tech stories. That's
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  right. They seem kind of separate on the surface,
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  but when you look closer, they really weave together
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  this picture of, well, AI acceleration, the friction
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  that creates, and how global competition is shaping
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  everything. Exactly. It feels like AI is just
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  rocketing forward, but at the same time, it's
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  hitting these roadblocks, right? Like how it
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  affects jobs or these big international trade
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  issues. Let's start with that first big story,
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  a real shakeup in the AI world involving Scale
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  AI and Meta. Right. Scale AI's co -founder and
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  CEO, Alexander Wang, is stepping down. And he's
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  moving over to Meta. This comes right after Meta
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  made a, well, a very significant investment in
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  Scale AI. Significant is putting it mildly. We're
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  talking reported numbers like $14 .3 billion.
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  giving Meta a 49 % stake. And valuing Scale AI
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  at around $29 billion. Just a massive valuation.
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  Okay, so Scale AI, they do the data labeling,
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  right? The stuff that actually teaches the AI
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  models. Why is Meta making such a huge play here
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  and bringing Wang over? Well, Scale AI is a key
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  player. They provide that really high quality
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  label data you absolutely need to train the big
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  Large language models, the LLMs powering a lot
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  of the generative AI tools you might be using.
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  For Meta, this looks like a really strategic
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  move. Reports suggest they felt they were maybe
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  playing catch up a bit compared to rivals like
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  Google, OpenAI, Anthropic. Hmm, trying to close
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  the gap. Seems like it. And they reportedly lost
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  some key AI talent last year, too. So bringing
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  in Wang, who's a known leader in this foundational
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  data space, plus getting this huge stake in his
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  company. It signals they want to seriously boost
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  their own AI efforts. So Wang's role at Metta
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  is specifically tied to their AI ambitions, not
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  just a general executive hire. Oh, very specific.
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  Metta confirmed he's joining their quote, super
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  intelligence efforts. He's actually going to
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  head up a new research lab. A new lab focused
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  on what exactly? Focused on developing AI systems
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  aiming for artificial super intelligence ASI.
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  You know, AI that could potentially go way beyond
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  human capabilities. ASI. That's ambitious. And
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  maybe a bit of a shift for Metta. I thought their
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  chief scientist, Jan Lacoon, had maybe different
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  ideas about the best path towards advanced AI.
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  That's part of what makes this interesting. Lacoon
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  has reportedly been somewhat skeptical of the
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  current massive LLM approach being the sole path
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  to truly advanced AI. Bringing in Wang to lead
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  an ASI lab suggests Metta might be exploring
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  multiple avenues or perhaps bringing in a different
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  perspective at a high level. Fascinating. So
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  what does this mean for Scale AI itself? They
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  lose their CEO, gain a massive investor who's
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  also a customer, and a competitor to their other
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  customers. Right. It's complicated. Scale AI
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  is emphasizing that it remains an independent
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  entity. Jason Druge, their chief strategy officer,
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  he's stepping in as interim CEO. And Wang will
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  stay on the board. Scale AI also mentioned the
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  investment helps pay back earlier investors and
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  will fuel their growth. But what about those
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  other customers, like Google or Microsoft? They
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  use scale AI too, don't they? Are they worried
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  about Meta having influence? That's the critical
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  point scale AI is trying to manage. They've stated
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  that Meta's stake, even though it's huge, 49
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  % does not come with voting power. And crucially,
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  Meta won't get access to other customers' business
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  information or proprietary data that scale handles.
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  That separation is key for scale to maintain
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  trust in the market. So the takeaway here is
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  Meta is making a big aggressive move to accelerate
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  its AI development. Securing talent and data
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  resources while scale AI tries to balance its
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  independence and its roles serving the wider
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  industry Exactly and for you listening it just
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  underlines the intense competition happening
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  behind the scenes the race to build better AI
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  Really comes down to these foundational elements
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  like who has the best data and the right people,
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  okay? So from developing AI let's pivot to how
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  AI is impacting creative work Big news on that
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  front, too. The SAG -AFTRA video game performers
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  strike. It's finally ended. Wow, that went on
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  for a long time. Over 320 days, wasn't it? Felt
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  like it. Started way back, July 15th, 2024. What
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  were the main sticking points that kept it going
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  for so long? Well, much like the earlier Hollywood
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  strikes, it really boiled down to two core things.
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  Fair pay. So wage increases and maybe even more
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  critically, AI regulation. AI again. Yes. Performers
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  were really concerned about the unrestricted
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  use of AI to, you know, replicate their voices,
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  their performances, their likenesses, potentially
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  without their consent or fair compensation. You
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  can see why that's a huge concern for them. Their
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  entire livelihood is based on their unique performance.
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  Absolutely. SAG After A's leadership, Fran Drescher
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  and Duncan Crabtree Ireland, they emphasize that
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  this tentative deal secures necessary, quote,
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  AI guardrails. AI guardrails. We hear that term
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  a lot. What does it actually mean in this context?
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  What did they secure? It means putting rules
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  in place. The core idea is about informed consent
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  and fair pay specifically for AI uses. The union
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  says this deal requires getting explicit permission
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  from the performer each time AI is used to generate
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  or manipulate their voice or performance. Not
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  just a one -time blanket permission. Exactly.
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  Informed consent for each specific use. And it
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  also aims to establish how performers get paid
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  for that AI usage. Beyond just their initial
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  session fee, it's about recognizing the ongoing
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  value of their digital likeness. That sounds
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  like a pretty significant win for the performers
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  setting a precedent. It's definitely seen that
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  way. A major step in trying to protect creative
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  professionals as this technology advances so
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  rapidly. It affects not just game actors, but
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  potentially anyone whose performance could be
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  replicated by AI. OK, so this deal is agreed
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  upon. But what's the next step? Is the strike
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  officially over now? Not quite yet officially
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  over. It's a tentative agreement. It's been approved
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  by the SAG AFGRA negotiating committee, which
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  is a big hurdle clear. Right. But now it has
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  to go to the union's national board for review.
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  And then crucially, the union members themselves
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  have to vote to ratify it. So the members get
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  the final say. Correct. Until that ratification
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  happens, they technically remain on strike, although
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  they expect a strike suspension agreement soon,
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  which will allow work to resume while the voiding
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  happens. Got it. And which companies were they
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  striking against? The big players. Oh yeah, major
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  video game companies like Activision, Electronic
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  Arts, Epic Games, Insomniac, Take Two, Warner
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  Bros, Games, the ones who rely heavily on these
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  performers for voice acting, motion capture,
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  stunts, everything that brings characters to
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  life. So for you, the listener, especially if
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  you play games, this deal directly impacts the
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  future of how the characters you see and hear
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  are created. It's about ensuring the human artists
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  behind them have control and are compensated
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  fairly in this new AI era. All right, let's connect
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  one more dot. From AI development and labor impacts,
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  let's look at the hardware side and global politics.
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  NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang made a pretty striking
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  announcement. What was that? He said NVIDIA will
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  essentially exclude the China market from its
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  future revenue and profit forecasts. Oh, excluding
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  China. For NVIDIA, that seems huge. China is
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  a massive market for their chips, isn't it? It
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  is, or it was becoming one for their high -end
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  AI chips. This decision is a direct result of
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  those strict U .S. export controls we've talked
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  about before. The U .S. government is limiting
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  the sale of the most advanced AI chips to China,
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  citing national security concerns. And Jensen
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  Wong has been pretty vocal about his feelings
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  on those controls, hasn't he? He really hasn't
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  minced words. He recently called the export controls
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  a failure, point blank. A failure? His argument
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  is basically twofold. First, It's significantly
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  hurt Nvidia's business. He said their market
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  share in China dropped from like 95 percent down
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  to maybe 50 percent. And second, he argues it's
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  actually motivating China to double down and
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  develop its own domestic ship capabilities faster.
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  He mentioned Huawei making, quote, enormous progress.
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  So the restrictions might be having the opposite
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  effect in his view. That's his argument. that
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  the assumption China can't make these chips is
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  flawed and the U .S. policy hurts American companies
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  while pushing China towards self -sufficiency.
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  Has this hit Nvidia financially in concrete ways?
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  Oh, definitely. They talked about leaving, I
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  think it was, $2 .5 billion in revenue on the
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  table in Q1 because of chips they couldn't sell.
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  Wow. And for the current quarter, they apparently
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  had about $8 billion in planned orders, specifically
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  for their China -focused H20 chips that just
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  had to be scrapped because the rules tightened
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  again. Right, the H20 chips. Those were the ones
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  they designed specifically to comply with the
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  earlier restrictions, weren't they? Exactly.
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  They were deliberately less powerful versions
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  of their top chips, tailored for the China market
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  under the previous rules. But then the US government
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  tightened the restrictions again, and even those
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  modified H20 chips got caught up in it. So pulling
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  China out of the forecast is basically acknowledging
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  that the situation is too uncertain and the financial
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  hit is real. Precisely. Huang said he doesn't
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  expect the controls to be lifted anytime soon,
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  so removing China from the official forecast
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  takes out that volatile variable, as he put it,
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  for investors. It's like, hmm, zero basing China.
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  Any sales they do manage to make there now will
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  just be considered upside, not part of the baseline
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  expectation. Man, it sounds like Nvidia's really
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  caught in the middle here trying to follow U
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  .S. policy while not losing a massive market.
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  They absolutely are. Hong is walking a tightrope.
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  You see him engaging with U .S. politicians,
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  but also saying Nvidia will, quote, unswervingly
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  serve the Chinese market where legally possible
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  and even praising Chinese tech progress. It's
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  a tough balancing act. U .S. says national security.
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  China calls it bullying. And Nvidia is trying
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  to navigate it all. Hong's message seems to be,
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  look, China will figure this out one way or another
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  with or without our top chips. So for you, the
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  listener. This affects more than just Nvidia's
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  stock price. It impacts the whole global tech
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  supply chain, the speed of AI development worldwide,
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  and potentially the cost and features of the
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  tech products and services you use every day
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  that depend on these advanced chips. OK, so let's
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  recap the connections we've drawn today. First,
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  Meta's huge investment in scale AI and hiring
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  its CEO, showing this intense race for AI dominance,
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  right down to the data level. Then the end of
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  the long SAG -AFTRA strike in gaming, securing
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  those crucial AI guardrails for performers, highlighting
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  the push for human protection and regulation
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  amidst technological change. And finally, Nvidia's
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  strategic shift away from forecasting China revenue,
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  forced by US chip controls demonstrating how
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  global trade tensions are directly shaping the
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  hardware foundation of the AI revolution. Three
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  stories, all pointing to this complex interplay
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  between AI's rapid advance, the societal and
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  economic friction it causes, and the geopolitical
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  forces shaping its future. It really makes you
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  wonder, doesn't it? With AI pushing forward so
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  fast on so many fronts, development, creative
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  disruption, hardware competition, competition,
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  but also running into these significant demands
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  for control, for ethical guidelines, for national
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  security limits. What's the next few years going
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  to look like? Yeah, will innovation keep outpacing
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  regulation, or will these friction points start
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  to fundamentally alter the trajectory of AI development?
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  It's a huge question. Definitely something to
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  keep watching. Absolutely. We are here to help
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  here at Snarful, so reach out on our website
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  if you have any more questions. That's a wrap
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  on today's top stories. Remember, tech doesn't
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  have to be complicated, and we're here to help
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  connect the dots. If you've got questions or
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  want to learn more, visit us at snarful .com.
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  Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next
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  time.