Microsoft Wins the First Round in AI Warfare

Microsoft is beating Google at its own game

Who would have thought - we have a serious bout in the search. I mean this is, Francis Ngannou vs Jon Jones kind of a big deal.

I know, your head must be hurting with all the AyEye chat, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to put your brain holder in the sand. AI is freaking huge. This ain’t no Clubhouse.

Look at the adoption rate. This isn’t just a number of users - this is a number of active users. (again, this ain’t no Clubhouse).

The software passed business, law, and medical exams. And mind you - this is version 1.0 🤯

On my recent trip back to Slovenia, I chatted with about a dozen of friends who are in tech. Every one of them is either talking about ideas or already building something. Scale that worldwide - everyone is leveraging AI.

But I digress…

Buying OpenAI is the smartest move Microsoft has made. Search has been broken for a long time which is ironic since I’ve been in the content game for 7+ years.

It’s not that the SEO model is wrong, but if you’re truly honest, it’s hard to get an answer you’re happy with fast.

I’m not getting any schadenfreude seeing Google buckle at its knees. I’ve always been rooting for the underdog but saying Microsoft is an underdog is hilarious.

Microsoft’s team did an amazing job with positioning and messaging with this new tech. Not over the top. They press and shine a light on the problem. Aggravate it and show the solution in real life. Classic copywriting executed in real life during their keynote (I mean PowerPoint).

Virality is hard to predict (no matter what your Influencer TikTokers say). However, there are two reasons why this worked really freaking well.

2- Timing

Eeeeeeeevery body is talking about AI right now. And as the law of category suggests - 90% of the eyes are aimed at the two biggest players. And currently, there’s only one big player.

2- Distribution power

Microsoft is basically embedded in almost every personal computer. The message to you is way easier than OpenAI going in solo. And time is of the essence here.

Bonus points: This relationship will persuade some Microsoft-deniers to try a little bit of that curious Edge cake.

3- Capacity

OpenAI and Microsoft start ogling each other back in 2019. Mcrsft already invested a modest 1 billy to confirm the intention. Why? They need a piece of that search revenue, they have to innovate, and they have the power to do so. Besides distribution, Microsoft supports OpenAI with the Azure service which can handle the computational labor.

Google is worried ofc. Search is bringing in 60% of all revenue and ChatGPT is going to disrupt the search game. Google can’t allow that to happen. By any means necessary.

I mean, check the hurried trainwreck of a launch of BARD.

Microsoft on the other hand, chill as cucumber approach to search with a pretty sweet demo of how it will look like. And it looks… good!

After Google's Bard AI tool made a factual error, the Alphabet (Google's parent company) stock fell by 7% (which equates to $100B's in their checkbook). But more damaging than that is Microsoft’s roundhouse kick to the face. Google lost the round and they need to come back fast.

Microsoft’s deal with OpenAI? 75% of OpenAI profits until it makes back the investment and 49% stake after that.

I’ve never thought that I’d see the day when Microsoft looks… cool!

Google is not going to dilly-dally. It’s going to be vicious warfare. The first round goes to Microsoft tho.

Are you going to be checking Microsoft’s Edge browser with AI?

Join the waitlist here.

3 Savage Tweets

Yeesh. Poor dude. I actually did something similar this past week by pitching my services to a person who walked in a co-op space. Later I found out he wasn't a business mogul but a political personality who wanted to gain some voters.

Trololol. Happy Valentines Day to you tho <3

We do content marketing, PPC, social media, graphic design, TikTok influencer campaigns, copywriting, email marketing, SMS automation,

3 Wicked Songs

A pop hitters SZA and Lizzo to get your fists up and feel especially self-confident this week, meandring Ryan Adams, and some rockin' Black Pistol Fire (if you're into Black Key's you're gonna dig them. 🤘🤘

1 Mindblowing Knowledge Nugget

I'm in the first week of Daniel Vassalo's Small Bets cohort - a course where you aim to launch and take many shots and embrace the so-called stochastic world - a world where you embrace randomness and creator mindset.

This newsletter is one of my small bets.

Ben's article is a good example on taking many shots on the goal.

I sincerely hope you like the first edition of Show Your Horns. Over the next weeks, I’ll find a better rhythm of flow, content, design and delivery.

And to do that, I would love your feedback.

Q: What’s the one thing you’d like to see in a tier 1 newsletter?

🤘🤘

d.