Byrne Hobart on What The First AI Agents Will Do + China, Google Analysis

This week on Upstream, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss the potential of AI agents in tech support, economic impacts of passive investing, historical financial strategies of Warren Buffett, and the implications of tariffs and technological developments in national wealth.

—

📰 Be notified early when Turpentine's drops new publication: https://www.turpentine.co/exclusiveac...

🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse

—
SPONSORS:

🤲🏼 GiveWell spends 50,000 hours every year doing deep-dives into different charitable programs to try to find the ways to do the most good for your dollar. GiveWell has now spent over 17 years researching charitable organizations and only directs funding to a few of the HIGHEST-IMPACT opportunities they’ve found. Visit https://www.givewell.org to find out more or make a donation. (Select PODCAST and enter Econ 102 at checkout to support our show.)

💥 Head to Squad to access global engineering without the headache and at a fraction of the cost: head to https://choosesquad.com/ and mention “Turpentine” to skip the waitlist.

—
LINKS:

Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co

—
X / TWITTER:

@byrnehobart
@eriktorenberg
@turpentinemedia

—
TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro
(00:30) Exploring AI agents and their applications
(04:04) The evolution of return on equity
(12:16) Google’s innovation and strategic moves
(16:27) Sponsors: GiveWell | Squad
(18:58) The impact of tariffs on the economy
(26:47) China’s technological independence
(29:34) The one big shot approach to wealth creation
(30:30) The wealth beyond core businesses
(31:39) The impact of software and AI
(33:47) Technological innovations and GDP
(41:15) The rise and fall of passive investing
(46:46) The gamble of meme coins
(54:40) Buffett’s investment strategies
(01:00:33) Wrap