Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 15h

The TINA economy: When “hard work” isn’t enough to get ahead, everyone is forced to take more risk.

“A growing number of lower-earning Americans are entering financial markets, with 54% of those earning $30,000 to $80,000 now holding taxable investment accounts.”

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 1d

Silicon is doing to thinking careers what film did to acting careers: Bigger prizes, worse odds, zero stability.

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 1d

Using AI: 3-day workweek!

Building AI: 10-day workweek…

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 1d

Investors are betting against work.

"Ari Emanuel, the Hollywood talent agent & sports tycoon, has raised almost $3bn from investors for a new events venture in a bet that artificial intelligence will shrink the working week and give people more free time."

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 1d

China has a shortage of therapists, and plenty of AI ones.

"A survey of young Chinese people... found that nearly half had used an AI chatbot to discuss their mental health... Nearly 80% of general hospitals in China do not have a psychiatric department."

restofworld.org/2025/young-p...

Young people in China are embracing AI therapy

Cheap, accessible, and friendly AI tools can augment scarce professional help, but there are risks to overreliance on the technology.

restofworld.org

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 2d

What people think GDP is: A simple measure of economic health

What it actually is: A committee's vibe check on what counts as 'economic activity'

www.palladiummag.com/2025/10/03/h...

How GDP Hides Industrial Decline

For the past few years I have been mulling a paradox: U.S. GDP keeps going up, yet it seems like we make less stuff and that most of the smart people I know work fake jobs. Growing up in the…

www.palladiummag.com

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 2d

Manhattan leads the nation in office-to-residential conversions. A lot is happening, but it's not enough to clear all the unwanted office space *or* to meaningfully decrease housing shortages.

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 3d

As someone once wrote, "Over time, crypto will not become as normal as the rest of the economy. Instead, the rest of the economy will become as crazy as crypto."

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 4d

The latest remote work “victim”: yacht design.

“Almost every single large new build that I’ve been involved with in the past few years has a designated office space on board”

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 6d

Bloomberg: Wholesale electricity near data centers costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago.

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring

Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

www.bloomberg.com

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Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 6d

The good news: AI will merely intensify trends we've been seeing for 50 years

The bad news: AI will merely intensify trends we've been seeing for 50 years

2

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 8d

"OnlyFans employs just 46 people in a co-working space in London. It generated $7.2bn [in revenue] from last year....

Blair claims that the company gives more tax to the UK government than the entire British fishing industry."

www.ft.com/content/9411...

OnlyFans chief Keily Blair: ‘People can be quite uncomfortable talking about sex’

The boss of one of Britain’s biggest tech start-ups on the ethics of porn, the future of the content creator economy — and why the platform banned Bonnie Blue

www.ft.com

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Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 11d

Why do bad jobs happen to good people?

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 11d

Is OpenAI the New WeWork?

The AI company is probably worse, but possibly much better. Here's why.

www.drorpoleg.com/is-openai-th...

Is OpenAI the New WeWork?

The AI company is probably worse, but possibly much better.

www.drorpoleg.com

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 11d

“OpenAI generated US$4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2025 [reflecting] a net loss of US$13.5 billion… Research and development expenses were its largest cost, totaling US$6.7.”

www.techinasia.com/news/openais...

OpenAI’s H1 2025: $4.3b in income, $13.5b in loss

Research and development expenses were its largest cost, totaling US$6.7 billion in the first half.

www.techinasia.com

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Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 15d

🙈 One way to solve the office crisis: Tenants want "Class A" buildings, so landlords just relabel everything "Class A."

From Crain's: 60% of NYC offices labeled "Class A," but barely half of them actually qualify. Some even rebrand to "A+", "A++" and, soon.... "A+++"!

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 16d

The first issue of Playboy had an article about office design. It distinguished between "awe-inspiring" but "depressing" offices of the 1950s and the more "progressive" ones that are filled with light and are "simple and functional."

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 23d

Hey robots, we're coming to take your jobs!
One of the world's largest hedge funds is replacing it's algorithms with humans. Kind of.

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 24d

Most companies already have more intelligence than they can handle.

www.drorpoleg.com/you-dont-nee...

You Don't Need AI

Most companies already have more intelligence than they can handle.

www.drorpoleg.com

1

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 24d

Tired: profit multiple
Wired: revenue multiple
Inspired: “expectations” multiple

It’s not a bubble until it pops…

2

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 26d

Not sure about the conclusion, but this sentence is true and important:

“modern AI is grown, a bit like an organism. Engineers understand the process that results in an AI, but they don’t much understand the AI that results.”

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

AI Is Grown, Not Built

Nobody knows exactly what an AI will become. That’s very bad.

www.theatlantic.com

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · 29d

Like any employee, AI gets blamed when it fails and doesn’t get credit when it succeeds.

Keep that in mind when reading “data” about corporate AI pilots.

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · Sep 10

“the game is no longer optional. Everyone must play. We have little to lose because we already lost everything: Stable jobs, affordable homes, education that lasts a lifetime, and worry-free retirement are no longer an option.”

www.drorpoleg.com/no-floor-no-...

No Floor, No Ceiling

The internet gives more people an opportunity to win. But it forces everyone to play the game.

www.drorpoleg.com

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · Sep 9

Microsoft is going back to the office!**

** Next year. For 3 days a week. "Expectation", not requirement. Only if you live within 50 miles of an office. Exceptions available. Teams can set/keep their own policy.

Dror Poleg @drorpoleg.com · Sep 9

Intelligence is like electricity. If you give companies 10X more, most of them won’t know what to do with it.