One thing I have found myself wondering is why this didn't play out similarly with Google in the early days.
I guess their secret sauce was just so good and so secret that neither established players nor copycat startups were able to replicate it, the way it happened with ChatGPT? Why is the same not the case here, is it just because the whole LLM thing grew out of a relatively open research culture where the fundamentals are widely known? OTOH PageRank was also published before the founding of Google.
I'd be curious to hear if anyone has theories or insight here.
Being "data driven" wasn't much of a thing yet back then. I mean, of course, there was massive energy around the web... but your average non-web corpo still had no idea. Of course there was pets.com or whatever dumb dotcom bubble shit, but I think noone saw data and digitalization as an absolutely essential part of making profits, or at least grabbing money, like we do now.
Conversely, the 2020s has execs and other rich individuals doomscrolling LinkedIn and thinking that if they don't invest in the latest crypto/quantum/genai crap, they're missing out on a vital element of retaining competitive edge.
I guess their secret sauce was just so good and so secret that neither established players nor copycat startups were able to replicate it, the way it happened with ChatGPT? Why is the same not the case here, is it just because the whole LLM thing grew out of a relatively open research culture where the fundamentals are widely known? OTOH PageRank was also published before the founding of Google.
I'd be curious to hear if anyone has theories or insight here.