2026 Tech Predictions: AI Layoffs, a $500B IPO, and the Death of SaaS as We Know It

Summary

More or Less Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title

2026 Tech Predictions: AI Layoffs, a $500B IPO, and the Death of SaaS as We Know It
Podcast: More or Less
Hosts: Dave Morin, Jessica Lessin, Brit Morin, Sam Lessin
Date: December 19, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this lively year-end episode, the More or Less crew debates their tech predictions for 2026, reflecting on which of their last year’s forecasts came true and speculating on what's to come in AI, social platforms, IPOs, SaaS, crypto, and culture. The discussion blends deep industry insight with inside jokes and friendly ribbing, capturing the energy of a group who’ve weathered Silicon Valley’s ups and downs together for over a decade.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Looking Back: Scoring 2025 Predictions ([03:47]–[13:11])

Bitcoin and Crypto

• Sam’s prediction that Bitcoin would hit $200,000 fell short; it capped at $123,000.
  • “Number go down.” – Jess [04:17]
• Solana ETF was (sort of) approved, and more governments own Bitcoin.
• Chinese sellers on Amazon rose to 57%, defying Brit’s prediction of more American brands.
• “Like tariffs, anyone?” – Sam [06:44]

Manufacturing & Regulation

• American onshoring in manufacturing didn't materialize as expected; Chinese brands remain strong on Amazon.
• Dave called for a new era of AI-driven software engineering; panel agrees there was progress ("Cursor Sprint"), but debate if it’s become mainstream.

Big Tech & GLP-1

• Jess describes Google’s leap with Gemini as the biggest surprise/delta of the year. Apple lost ground but is expected to rebound.
  • “Google has the biggest…delta…in sentiment and execution.” – Sam [12:47]
• Brit notes GLP-1 drugs made a huge splash, with more celebrities openly using them than expected.

Notable New Terms

• “Slop” becomes the token word of 2025.
  • “2025 was definitely the year of slop.” – Jess [11:34]

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2. Shifting Power & Capex Press Releases ([11:51]–[16:10])

• Government’s changing posture with Silicon Valley highlighted, especially in chip diplomacy and large tech investments.
• Massive capex announcements are the “art of the deal” now, but real progress (“shovels in the ground”) lags due to setbacks like Texas rains.

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3. 2026 Predictions

Brit’s 2026 Predictions ([16:28]–[20:34])

• Apple will “come back” in AI and introduce a new hit product (not Vision Pro), possibly in AR or home devices.
  • “I think they will be a more hearty competitor…one new hit product…along the lines of when the watch was announced.” – Brit [17:26]
• Wearables & Agents: All hosts will have a “thing” (ring/necklace) that listens/summarizes their day, and a personal agent integrated with multiple platforms.
  • “We’ll still be in the early adopter cohort, but long-term, a lot of people are going to start using these—even though they evade our privacy.” – Brit [18:07]
• AI and Celebrities: A major A-list artist will license themselves for AI-generated content.
• AI Social App: A new AI-powered consumer social app will finally break through.
• Pop Culture: Taylor Swift will get married, release a new album, and announce pregnancy by year’s end. ([51:31])

Sam’s 2026 Predictions ([20:34]–[27:07])

• Emmy Goes to a Creator: Predicts a YouTuber or non-traditional creator will win an Emmy.
• Massive Layoffs: Expects “massive layoffs across Silicon Valley” due to AI efficiencies and pressure on capex.
  • “I think what’s happening is companies are realizing they don’t need to be this big.” – Sam [21:48]
• Big IPOs: The landscape could see SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic going public, raising liquidity and creating “have/have-not” divides.
  • “Two people…bought houses after seeing me tweet [about IPOs].” – Sam [23:33]
• Prediction Markets: Kalshi, Polymarket, etc., will face regulatory headwinds and stall after a breakout year.
• Gemini Adoption: At least one major tech company will abandon its own model for Google’s Gemini.

Jess’s 2026 Predictions ([29:05]–[34:42])

• Third Space Explosion: Predicts real-world “third space” experiences (social/wellness clubs, arcades, spas) will become the new tech trend as people tire of digital life.
  • “People are just crying out for physical experience and real-world experience.” – Jess [30:15]
• Tale of Two Cities in Valley: Ongoing division between digital “influencer/creator” types and those seeking more authentic, meaningful, in-person connections.
• Games as Media: IP owners will increasingly launch new brands in gaming first (notably Fortnite), with potential regulation incoming for platforms like Roblox due to child safety.
  • “I think we’re going to take games as digital community, games as social media, a lot more seriously.” – Jess [34:42]

Dave’s 2026 Predictions ([36:11]–[39:42])

• $500B+ IPO: Only one $500B+ IPO next year—could be SpaceX or OpenAI.
• Market Moves: Google up 15%, Nvidia down 15%, Meta at an all-time high.
  • “TPU story…other suppliers of chips. They don’t really have a monopoly.” – Dave [37:02]
• Government Policy: As long as government policy favors “GDP go up,” markets will stay stable/up.
• AI Ad Gold Rush: AI-driven ad automation will drive Meta’s revenue growth.
• Crypto: Broadly stagnant, no dramatic changes; AI/betting narratives have replaced crypto hype.
• AI Porn: 2026 will see mainstreaming of AI-generated NSFW content as tech improves.
  • “There’s just like all these opportunities in the NSFW world where like people have dabbled with AI, but…I think it’s about to go super mainstream.” – Dave [49:41]

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4. Sectoral Shifts: SaaS, Media, and More ([45:38]–[48:55])

• Death of SaaS? Dave predicts “AI is the new UI,” threatening traditional SaaS models as AI-generated interfaces become more accessible—challenging seat-based enterprise software.
  • “Most of SaaS was: complex UX on top of a Postgres database…people will be able to generate UIs in a way that is very rapid and fast.” – Dave [47:11]
• Journalism: Sam and Jess discuss the “ROI on truth”—AI could boost local journalism, but also weakens the incentive for factual reporting.
• Media Shakeups: Predicts major layoffs and at least one big editor departure at a major publication.

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5. Pop Culture & Lifestyle ([51:13]–[54:29])

• GLP-1 Usage: Brit expects usage of GLP-1 drugs nearly doubling year-over-year, potentially reaching one-third of adults.
• Taylor Swift: Brit predicts marriage, a new album, and pregnancy announcement.
• Desire for “Real” Experiences: Book clubs, wellness hotels, and “third spaces” top cultural wants.
• Memes and Branding: The meme economy (e.g., Mooses’ “6-7” shirts) and questions about monetizing meme culture.

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6. Industry “Wants” for 2026 ([52:22]–[53:14])

• Cash: VCs want distributions and liquidity.
• Kids’ Mental Health: Jess pushes for more industry focus on children’s wellbeing and better screen-time controls.
• Phones Out of Schools, Self-driving Cars (Waymos) In: Sam’s half-joke summary of his policy wish.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The funny thing about that is like $10B doesn’t even get me out of bed anymore... they're not even buying a Miata.” – Dave [00:04, 13:42]
• “I think all four of us by this time next year are going to have a thing on us that is listening and summarizing our days.” – Brit [18:03]
• “I think what’s happening is companies are realizing they don’t need to be this big.” – Sam [21:48]
• “The ROI on truth is changing…” – Sam [44:48], on AI-generated media and facts
• “AI is the new UI… SaaS is under threat.” – Dave [47:11]
• “I think this upcoming year is going to be the year of AI porn.” – Dave [49:29]
• “Will anyone be able to harness the power of memes... to make actual money?” – Jess [54:05]

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Predictions Recap for 2025: [03:47]–[13:11]
• State of Big Tech (AI, Apple, Google): [12:33]–[13:11]
• Capex, Press Releases, Government: [13:35]–[16:10]
• Brit’s 2026 Predictions: [16:28]–[20:34]
• Sam’s 2026 Predictions: [20:34]–[27:07]
• Jess’s 2026 Predictions: [29:05]–[34:42]
• Dave’s 2026 Predictions: [36:11]–[39:42]
• SaaS/AI “UI” Shift: [45:38]–[48:55]
• AI Porn / NSFW Markets: [49:29]–[50:59]
• GLP-1 & Taylor Swift: [51:13]–[51:50]
• Industry Wants: [52:22]–[53:14]
• Closing Thoughts & Memes: [54:05]–[54:46]

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Summary Takeaways

The More or Less crew sees a 2026 shaped by:

• Mainstreaming of AI into personal and professional life (agents/wearables, creatives, automation).
• Significant sectoral shakeups: massive layoffs due to AI, SaaS business models threatened, and a cultural hunger for real-world connection.
• The biggest stories may be wonky (massive IPOs, market cap shifts), but the real fun is in how AI changes our daily habits and relationships—with technology, with truth, and with pop culture itself.

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Transcript

[Sam]

Amazon is in talks to invest $10 billion in OpenAI.

[Dave]

The funny thing about that is like $10 billion doesn't even get me out of bed anymore. It's like you're like $10 billion of like a multi trillion dollar company. They're not even buying a Miata. But it's like $10 million is like chump change. That buys you like three engineers or ten.

[Brit]

Yeah, ten. Ten. One. One bill per engineer.

[Sam]

More or less.

[Brit]

Is it no or is it yes?

[Sam]

We'll debate the tax or less.

[Brit]

Dave and Brit, plus Ham and Jess

[Sam]

put it all right to the test. More or less.

[Brit]

Why? Hello, friends.

[Sam]

Welcome to More or less Predictions episode. Oh, God, I'm really excited. Who else is excited?

[Brit]

I'm really excited.

[Sam]

Britt, did you take notes? I took notes. Lots of notes. Okay.

[Jess]

Oh, interesting.

[Brit]

It's funny. You did physical notes. I have my notes app up on my screen.

[Jess]

I'm definitely winging it.

[Brit]

Sam and Dave wing it.

[Dave]

I forgot that we were doing this. That's fine.

[Sam]

Brit sent a text.

[Brit]

This kind of explains all of our personalities. Jess takes physical handwritten notes on her notepad. I'm like, very organized digitally. And Sam and Dave are winging it.

[Jess]

Yep. That's all right. Let's go.

[Sam]

Well, great. We're going to go. But first, and we'll keep it brief, but the Morins naughty or nice holiday card here. Now, lest you think I was like, they've gone like east coast yachting here because we have the nautical theme. But I know that's not totally the vibe.

[Dave]

But then, well, you guys are boat people now. Is that your boat?

[Brit]

That's the. That was the point. It was the there's idea. We became boat people this year and naughty is spelled N A U T I for those who aren't looking at the video.

[Sam]

Yes, but guys, this is the Morins. So they're not just going to send a holiday card. That would be so, like, lesson of the situation. So I want to. I'm going to flip to the back where my kids thought it was a lottery ticket, but it's basically a scratch scratch. What do you call these things? Scratch cards.

[Brit]

Scratch off cards.

[Sam]

Scratch off cards. And you scratch to guess how they stacked up and being naughty or nice on multiple categories. Oh, the only ones my kids didn't do was your birthday outfit, Brit. So hold on, let's see. No, I know that I was there. It was definitely naughty.

[Brit]

It started naughty and got naughtier. I didn't include the naughtier image because we send this card to like old people that are friends of the family and professional people. But I included these somewhat naughty.

[Sam]

Anyway, Morins. 10 out of 10. No, you didn't. You didn't show your abs. You didn't show your abs. Britt, what's going on? You missed a great opportunity here.

[Jess]

I. I agree, Jess.

[Brit]

Dave thought I could have been more risque.

[Dave]

Did you like AI it up and

[Brit]

give yourself, like, super abs0ai0ai.

[Jess]

No, she doesn't need it, man.

[Sam]

But hadn't we talked about AI holiday cards on the pod? So I thought I like was like. I. I wondered that, but I sent

[Dave]

like 300 copies of our book to

[Brit]

people as your holiday card.

[Dave]

I used. I actually found. So I didn't know that we had a holiday card list, but I found it because Jessica sent him. He's very, very well done.

[Sam]

Yes.

[Dave]

So then I just went through and marked all the people and just sent them books.

[Sam]

You sent all those people books or you created a column?

[Dave]

I only the names I recognize.

[Sam]

Oh, good Lord. This everyone who's ever worked at the information.

[Dave]

What?

[Brit]

Yeah, the whole information team got your book.

[Dave]

No, no, I skipped those people.

[Sam]

Former employees. I keep the formers on. You know, I still like them.

[Dave]

Some of them.

[Brit]

I have some of my formers.

[Sam]

Okay, 2026. Brit, we're starting with looking back on 2025 and scoring. Or we're starting by looking ahead. What. What are we doing?

[Brit]

I think we should look back and score. Did you like me to list out each person? Yes, I have it here digitally organized, as I said. All right. Sam had three things. He. He predicted about 2025. The first Bitcoin goes to 200,000. Yes. $200,000.

[Sam]

Where are we?

[Jess]

Number go down.

[Sam]

We're at 85.

[Dave]

Yeah, but went to. I. Wait a minute, hold on.

[Brit]

This is in audio. I can pull this clip. Sam.

[Dave]

Oh, no, I'm not. I'm not saying. I didn't say that. I'm actually curious where bitcoin was trading at the time.

[Sam]

It went to 123 year to date. It went to 123.

[Dave]

123. But where was it trading on? Jan, when did we do this episode?

[Jess]

Like in December.

[Brit]

Like in December last year, it was

[Sam]

roughly trading around 90.

[Dave]

Like, 90. Whatever. Yeah. I didn't go to 200.

[Brit]

Okay, okay. Sam said, Solana ETF.

[Dave]

That happened.

[Jess]

Sort of did happen. Sort of.

[Brit]

I give you that one. And Sam said, cut all of yours for crypto. Sam, you said bitcoin owned by more governments globally.

[Dave]

That also happened.

[Jess]

Yeah, that happened.

[Sam]

That also happened. Two out of three.

[Brit]

Okay. Brit said less foreign brands on Amazon and more American manufacturing and domestic brands.

[Sam]

I don't think that's happened. Sorry, Brit. Ah, Sheen's doing just fine.

[Brit]

Well, wouldn't you have thought like all the American manufacturing push, like Trump would have maybe regulated something on Amazon that

[Sam]

would have thought that you thought regulation would be effective. So. No, that didn't happen.

[Jess]

But yeah, 2025 was like probably my lowest amaz year ever because of this.

[Dave]

What?

[Jess]

Yeah, we.

[Dave]

I'm shocked. We are now up to like multiple a day. We like a receiving department.

[Brit]

You know what I just got into, thanks to Ricky Van Bean. Dave doesn't know this yet. I have an Amazon Prime Visa where you get 5% cash back on all Amazon purchases. Because we spend so much on Amazon holistically as a family that that's a lot of money back.

[Dave]

Wait, do you have the store card or do you have the V. I have all of the cards. I have the store card.

[Brit]

Well, I don't know. It's just the Amazon Prime Visa.

[Dave]

The thing is, I have so much Amazon credit because I never remember to use it. I think I have like $20,000 of Amazon credit is my bill.

[Brit]

Well, give. Give some to a. To a friend for Christmas. Okay, so here's the stats. Last year, Chinese sellers represented 50% of active sellers on Amazon globally. This year, Chinese sellers represent 57% of Amazon sellers globally, which is a stunning.

[Sam]

Like tariffs, anyone? Right. That was April. So that. That's a good. I'm. You know, it was a reasonable bet, Brit, but didn't cut your way.

[Dave]

I guess. I only have $3,000 of Amazon points available on my Amazon credit card.

[Sam]

Okay, this isn't important. Let's move on. We should have made you specify further infused.

[Brit]

I know, I know. But the second part of that was that Elon's university quote, unquote, tits was going to get off the ground because he did say he was going to get it off the ground this year. It has not actually launched and is not yet operational.

[Dave]

Is it called Tits, though?

[Brit]

It might still be a meme. It is called Tits. The Texas Institute of Technology and Science.

[Dave]

I love that. I've just given into the branding.

[Brit]

Okay, but wait for my last prediction. I'm so excited. Ready? Taylor Swift gets engaged. Who called that one?

[Sam]

I mean, you and everybody else, but we'll give it to you.

[Brit]

I know. Okay, over to Dave. Dave said, AI and software engineering rapidly advances and a new era of personal apps, a new ecosystem of software begins.

[Dave]

Well, I think the first part. Yeah. Second part. What's happened?

[Sam]

Yeah. You get 0.5, Dave.

[Jess]

I get credit. Come on. This is definitely. This is like the story of the year.

[Dave]

Well, that's the narrative of the year. Has it actually happened?

[Jess]

Yeah. I mean, you're using software you built for yourself. I'm using software I built for myself,

[Dave]

but we were doing that anyway.

[Jess]

You've built easily 2x the amount you usually do.

[Brit]

I agree.

[Dave]

I guess I did a bunch this summer.

[Sam]

There was the summer Cursor Sprint where I couldn't watch Netflix. I remember that.

[Dave]

Yeah, I'll give you that. The Cursor Sprint was a thing.

[Jess]

Yeah, yeah. Remember, we were debating whether it was better than social media.

[Dave]

Sam, it certainly is entertaining.

[Brit]

Better than Netflix.

[Sam]

Okay.

[Brit]

Dave also said American Manufacturing was going to have a lot of investment in this space. There's no number on that, though, but

[Sam]

there's been a lot of promises. I'll give you, like, Headline Data Center.

[Jess]

A lot of investment.

[Sam]

Yeah, I guess, if you count data center. Do you count data centers?

[Jess]

Our biggest investment of the year was in this.

[Dave]

Really? What did you invest in?

[Jess]

Mitra.

[Dave]

What is Mitra?

[Jess]

Mitra does robots in the material flow warehouse in factories. So they make.

[Dave]

What is a material flow?

[Jess]

Material flow is the part of the. Is where all of the materials come in before they go onto the assembly line.

[Dave]

So like the raw rubber for the tires when they come in.

[Jess]

Yep. Or the metal for the robots. All that kind of stuff goes in a warehouse. And it usually gets managed in two dimensions. And using forklifts. And mitra makes it 3D.

[Dave]

Well, doesn't the forklift do the third dimension up and down?

[Jess]

Not really.

[Dave]

Really?

[Jess]

They can't move it in the third dimension.

[Dave]

This is like cytronic. We invested in something like this, too. Completely different business.

[Brit]

All right. The last one Dave said was that it was going to be a good year for crypto and regulatory clarity around crypto.

[Dave]

Well, I'm not sure there's regulatory clarity, so.

[Sam]

Yes and no.

[Jess]

There was regulatory clarity. Come on. Compared to one year ago.

[Dave]

I guess they dropped a lot of lawsuits. Is that regulatory clarity?

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Yeah. And they tore up some letters.

[Dave]

Love tearing up letters.

[Jess]

Unclear whether it was a good year for crypto, so I'll take half credit on that one.

[Sam]

I'm bad at predictions because I have, like, a pipeline of actual reporting, and if I give one of those things away.

[Brit]

I thought maybe you were the best, actually. But because of your reporting, I. So you said TikTok will operate in the US With Ellison or Musk?

[Sam]

No. Oh, Ellison, I guess.

[Brit]

Yeah, Ellison. And in the US you said companies focused on models would vertically integrate with chips and factories, et cetera.

[Sam]

Yeah. Oh, that's happening.

[Brit]

Yes, that's happening. You said the New York Times and media copyright issues will bring forth no product innovation, but instead media companies will just get paid more and have more tailwinds. And the strong will remain strong in media.

[Sam]

Yeah, that's true. But that these aren't very specific. Mine this year are going to be way more specific. Don't worry, guys.

[Brit]

Okay, good. Let's do more specific this year. I also said one last thing. I said there'd be one big health breakthrough and a huge GLP1 leap. I feel like that happened.

[Sam]

Oh, the GLP1 leap.

[Dave]

You called Amy Schumer is the GLP1 loop.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Got thin, divorced her husband, Serena.

[Sam]

If you had told me Serena was gonna be on a GLP1 and contemplating a return to tennis, I would have said.

[Brit]

I also wouldn't have thought as many celebrities would be public about their GLP1s as they have been.

[Sam]

That's been a surprise of the year.

[Brit]

No big deal. There's, like, less shame.

[Sam]

I just wondered if before we move to next year, is there any, like, I love looking back because I. You totally, like, the year is long in the technology news cycle. Like, are there other things? Like, what will 2025 be the year of? I feel like, for example, slop entered the lexicon in 2025.

[Jess]

For sure. 2025 was definitely the year of slop.

[Brit]

Have you heard the term slop music instead of pop music?

[Sam]

No, not in that context.

[Brit]

Yeah. Well, that's the new category. Yeah.

[Sam]

Is there anything else the indelible mark of 2025 will be?

[Dave]

I think it was the AI talent wars will be a big coda.

[Brit]

The AI talent wars.

[Sam]

I think we can't overlook the government's changing relationship with the private sector.

[Jess]

2025 in what way? Oh, meaning like taking positions in the private sector? Yeah, yeah, well, everything.

[Sam]

Like, so you see like these direct things like Intel. I don't think it will happen, but taking a huge percentage of every Nvidia H200 sold in China and then just, you know, the tech leaders and their relationship to the administration. Not a new theme, but I think a, like a big departure, big fork in the road.

[Brit]

I was also surprised it was not a bigger year for Apple. I feel like Apple lost some ground this year. But sneak peek of my prediction. I think they're coming back.

[Jess]

And Google gained enormous Ground.

[Sam]

Google has the biggest, biggest surprise, biggest delta, biggest whatever you finance people call a change in sentiment. In sentiment?

[Jess]

Oh for sure. Not just sentiment, also in execution. I mean if you just look at the usage of Gemini year over year, one year later, they were the most dramatic mover.

[Dave]

Did no one really make any predictions about OpenAI?

[Sam]

I think we had by the December episode we had just the same as now. I have nothing left to say. No, just kidding. I have a lot left. But did you guys see by the way the information breaking this week that Amazon is in talks to invest $10 billion in open AI?

[Jess]

Someone's got to do it.

[Sam]

It's just chip diplomacy. It's use those Trainium chips. Someone's got to use them.

[Dave]

The funny thing about that is like $10 billion doesn't even get me out of bed anymore. It's like you're like $10 billion of like a multi trillion dollar company. It's like that's the equivalent of like they're not even buying a Miata. It's like it's like such an irrelevantly small number and so like it is a big number. Like obviously it's more than like all the VC deployed in the air received but it's like these things have so decoupled that it's like $10 million is like chump change. That buys you like three engineers or ten.

[Brit]

Yeah, ten, ten and one. One bill per engineer.

[Sam]

So when they announced this small cloud partnership it was like no, they're not just talking about a tiny cloud deal. There's gotta be a lot more to it. And I think commerce is the big shoe to drop. I think how goes commerce and any potential partnership between those two in commerce is obviously the thing to watch. So that's not a prediction because it isn't specific, but okay. Any other winners and losers of 2025?

[Brit]

I was surprised that Anthropic also stayed the course and is like climbing on the same curve as OpenAI.

[Jess]

Their choice to focus on software engineering was a huge breakthrough.

[Dave]

So you're saying Dave, that companies that focus can win?

[Jess]

Indeed they can.

[Dave]

You're saying focus is a good idea?

[Jess]

I mean the converse on this is does the massive amount, I mean massive capex will be one story of 2025. Right. And whether or not debt funded capex is a it was good or bad will is yet to be determined.

[Sam]

And also specifically the art of the massive CapEx press release. But like even some of these deals, there's news today that or Oracle is it or Blue Owl's Pulling out of a big Oracle project. So it's. Everyone sort of got the art of the deal mentality in their press announcements. And it's a good reminder that that's very different from money in the bank

[Jess]

or shovels in the ground.

[Sam]

Shovels in the ground.

[Jess]

My favorite story is that there were ridiculous amount of Texas rains this year. And so that put back like a ton of these data center projects by like, almost a quarter or more because they literally just couldn't build them.

[Sam]

There you go. Weather. Who knew? There goes our imprints. Okay, let's look ahead, guys. This is fun. Who wants to go first? I'll give Sam more time to prepare. Brit, pull up those digital notes.

[Brit]

Okay.

[Sam]

You know you've got it.

[Brit]

I have four, and if you want me to do a pop culture one, I can. I can go for five if you'd like, want, need. I mean, I can do many pop culture ones, but I'll. I'll leave it to one. Okay. My predictions for 2026, speaking of Apple, I think they come back next year, both in the AI realm. Like, they're going to make either one big acquisition.

[Sam]

Like, anthropic spending money does not constitute coming back. Define coming back.

[Brit]

I think that they will be a more hearty competitor to the Googles and OpenAI's of the world in the AI race by this time next year. And I also think that they will have one new hit product next year. And I don't know if it's going to be for the home or something in the AR space or something else, but I think there's a sleeper product that's going to happen next year.

[Sam]

Can you define hit? Would we call the Vision Pro a hit?

[Brit]

Like, not the Vision Pro, more along the lines of like when the watch was announced. Like, like something, but one big acquisition and one new hit product, not the same thing. Those are my app. That's so that's my Apple bet next year. And I think it gets them back into sort of the cool kids club in AI. I also think these kind of go together, but they're separate. I think all four of us by this time next year are going to have a thing on us that is listening and summarizing our days for us. Like whether it's a ring or a necklace or something or that. Like, I think we will all have them at this point next year and we will still be in the, like, early adopter cohort. But I think long term, a lot of people are going to start using these even though they evade our Privacy and all the things. But they're going to be so helpful to us that we're going to keep them around and keep them on. And similarly, I think each of us is going to have one primary agent that's not just your open chatgpt. It's connected into more than one platform. So into Amazon and GPT and your health data and something that is your primary agent that starts to really know more about you. Today actually, Google launched cc. I don't know if you saw this, it's in Google Labs, but it is. It's part of like Gemini, built into their email calendar, docs, you know, workspace. And it summarizes your day ahead. And it actually is like exactly what an assistant would send you. And I could see this, especially with commerce on the horizon.

[Sam]

I asked Gemini every morning to summarize my day. I just say summer is my day in Gemini. So I used to try cc, but. But like, how do I find. This is Google. I have to go in the Google Labs.

[Brit]

What if Google Labs? Yeah, it's just Google Labs. So it's.

[Sam]

I'll figure it out. I. I can find my way around the Internet.

[Brit]

Yeah. And it's probably like Google slash lab, slash cc. Okay. And then so we're gonna have a wearable thing that we're using in an agent. Maybe they'll be in the same category. Okay. And the la. And then I also think there's going to be one major AI talent deal with one major artist this year. We saw like Matthew McConaughey and some like sort of BC list artists. But I think there's going to be like someone really big a lister, whether it's like Beyonce or somebody that's going to license themselves into their AI everything. And so we're going to start to see like all the celebrity AI stuff really hitting the ground and them being infiltrated until music and movies and things with their AI. Then my last one is, I think there will be a new AI social app that actually works. I think people are ready for the next thing in consumer social. And it's been really tough to break through for a lot of reasons for the incumbents. And there will be one new thing that starts getting serious adoption next year.

[Sam]

I like, I think we. I'm a little worried about like serious traction or momentum. These are like squishy concepts, but I'm willing to let it go. I don't know if I actually believe this, but here goes. I think a creator is going to win an Emmy. Do you guys know this?

[Brit]

Yeah. Well, does that mean, like a podcaster?

[Jess]

Does that mean, like, actually, like crossover? I mean, didn't they add podcasting as a category? So does that even count?

[Brit]

Well, that was the Golden Globes.

[Sam]

That was Golden Globes. The Emmys. It's technically possible, but I know a lot of YouTube creators that are launching campaigns, and I bet one of them is successful.

[Jess]

Like creators that don't have TV shows or they're trying to make their YouTube thing become considered a TV show because, like, Mr. Beast made a TV show, right?

[Sam]

No, no, these aren't. They don't have the Netflix special. They exist on YouTube. You guys also saw YouTube's going to get the Academy Awards stream them. I don't know if that's a win or not, but so interesting.

[Brit]

YouTube TV.

[Dave]

Yep.

[Brit]

Nice. They're going to hold dominance next year. I agree. I concur.

[Sam]

I mean, they remain dominant. We love YouTube TV. I think they're going to be massive layoffs across Silicon Valley.

[Dave]

Ooh.

[Brit]

Because of AI.

[Jess]

Interesting. Why?

[Sam]

I think what's happening is we're still in the era where the companies are realizing they don't need to be this big, and so they're sort of selectively cutting when other places cut. Kind of like Microsoft will do that will trim here and then Meta will trim here. But I think what will happen is there will be. I mean, I think that these capex investments are going to come under intense scrutiny. Like, I don't think that. I mean, if you have an enterprise cloud business, maybe you'll have a story for investors on those, but otherwise, I think it's going to be really hard. And I think also these tech companies will get some leverage through AI in some specific ways. So I think they're going to be very significant layoffs. That doesn't outpace. I had a big tweet this week about sort of taking stock of the fact that by the beginning of 2027, we are likely to be in a world of Sam. Are you talking but we can't hear you.

[Dave]

That's because I was eating. I muted myself. I was saying you had a big Twitter week because you have a lot of Twitter followers, but you don't normally shit post.

[Sam]

I did. I don't think this was a shitpost. I was basically saying it was actually a job ad designed as a declarative statement. But I was saying, I think we're really headed. I think I've said this here. By end of next year, beginning of the next, real chance of SpaceX IPO, OpenAI IPO anthropic IPO.

[Brit]

Well, that's already been.

[Sam]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But what I was musing on what I was musing on in the tweet was I don't think we have considered the sort of second and third order liquidity ramifications of that.

[Dave]

Buy your MIATAs.

[Sam]

Now, two people told me, or told someone who told me that they bought houses after seeing me tweet that. So you're welcome. But anyway, I what?

[Brit]

That's a very high conversion of house bought to your post. Two people bought a house.

[Sam]

I mean, I presume they were in consideration and then pulled the trigger because I just tweeted it. But I also think this was true this year too. But there were like these very conflicting have and have not narratives, right? Even within the tech world. And so I think the continued growth, continued momentum about the big AI companies, more skepticism on their investments, but will be coupled with layoffs. This doesn't count as a prediction for next year. But a smart person on X pointed out in response to my post, he said after that comes the antitrust. And I think that is a really smart thing if you start thinking about 2027, 2028, of course political wins make a deal. But I don't think the American people are going to want Elon Musk to be a trillionaire. I just don't. Now the American people might not have much in their control to do about that. But imagine do we really want multiple $20 trillion companies? I don't know. So I thought that was an interesting Continue to connect the dots. Which by the way, is not. This isn't like in my mind a statement that's like hypey about AI in these companies because this liquidity point is a big deal even if valuations are half of what they are today. So I think that's an important differentiator. I think the prediction markets are going to really be hamstrung by regulation and face really tough years next year. Specifically Kalshi and Poly Market. I think they've like, this has been a breakout year for them in a lot of ways, but I think they're getting ahead of their skis a little bit, especially when it comes to sports betting and other stuff. So I think it'll be a really tough year for them. Which isn't to say that their growth or significance is going to shrivel, but I think they're going to be very stalled in their like if this year was sort of, to use the Uber analogy, the year they said fuck it, we're going to do all these things anyway, I think next year is going to be like a tough year for them. I. And then I guess I think one major company that is currently in the race to develop their own AI models will be using Gemini.

[Brit]

One major company. What does that mean? Like an example?

[Sam]

Like it could be. I don't have a. I may have some specific companies, mine, but I can't say them.

[Jess]

But like, that's pretty obvious.

[Sam]

No, but I would include like enterprise companies too. So I'm not just talking. I'm not just talking about like Meta and the consumer race or something like that. I don't think Meta will actually be using full on Gemini next year.

[Jess]

But do you think there's a chance?

[Sam]

I mean, all the reporting which has not been from our team has been, you know, heavy reliance on distilling other models. I am not an AI researcher. I don't know what level of distillation is typical or not, but I take note of that reporting.

[Jess]

Are we going to have to start adding a proof amount to models? Like this is 90 proof, this one's 70 proof. How distilled is it?

[Sam]

I mean, it's all fuzzy, but I think there's so many people, right? The sales forces of the world. I mean, there are a ton. And I think at least one major, major tec company, you could do that by market cap or something is going to go pretty full Gemini. I think that's what I got. Circle back to me later for a media one because I feel like I should do that.

[Brit]

Oh yeah. I never did my pop culture. We'll come back to that.

[Jess]

What about our friends over at Warner Brothers? I think last week the prediction was it would go to Paramount, but it looks like it's going the other way.

[Brit]

Is it?

[Sam]

It does. At this moment, the scales have tipped well. Last Week Polymarket said 50. 50. Let's see what they say now. I think we're in the earliest innings still of this deal.

[Brit]

I think this is going to take a while to figure out. And it's like, I think we're going to not know until what, mid late January probably.

[Sam]

I said, you know, someone I've known since she ran MySpace PR in 2005 when they had the privilege of covering that company. Dani Dudek, who's run comms at Instacart.

[Brit]

Oh yeah.

[Sam]

Danny announced this week she's going to run comms at Netflix. And I was like, that is going to be fun. Buckle up, lady. I mean, I think she'll be great at it because she's Also nice. So that. That helps. Yeah. So I don't know which way that deal's going, other than. Was it you, Sam, last week, who was like, these media people just want to keep their names in the headlines. That's probably how that deal is going.

[Brit]

Which means Paramount. Right.

[Sam]

If that's true, it means just prolonged mess and many twists and turns. There's also the variable of what's getting sold and how it's carved up. So I don't know. Do not know. Okay, Mr. Dameorin.

[Jess]

Oh, I have to go first.

[Sam]

Well, you're technically third, but.

[Dave]

Yeah, but way to only. Way to be only considered the male gaze.

[Jess]

Yes. No, I mean, of the two of us that came into this, winging it with so much advanced notice, I'm strangely. I'm strangely nervous about this. I don't like making predictions.

[Brit]

You're an investor. You literally make predictions for a living.

[Jess]

Well, okay, one of. I'll go with a cultural one first, which is that I think that we're kind of in this. It depends on how you count it. But we're five years post Covid happening. And if you look at what's going on in San Francisco with retail spaces and third spaces, I think that in combination with how tired people are getting of the Internet and of just kind of digital culture rotting their brains, I think we're going to see an even more sort of aggressive explosion in third space culture. And, you know, we saw this happen with concerts and the, you know, Taylor Swift's Eras tour. People are just like, crying out for physical experience and like real world experience. And so I think that that narrative is going to get even stronger this year and that people are just going to, you know, they want somewhere to go every Thursday. Right. And it's like a really difficult thing to find these days. And we're. We're hearing a lot of this from, you know, youth culture and things like this.

[Sam]

What are your. What are examples?

[Jess]

We've been hearing a lot about arcades. We're hearing about, you know, we're seeing pitches come through for the Soho House for families, for example.

[Dave]

I've also seen a few of those,

[Jess]

for what it's worth.

[Brit]

Gyms and spas, wellness memberships, sauna in

[Jess]

New York City and la, which, you know, are front edge of culture. You've got a massive number of new clubs, but they're not just the sort of nice place with a bar. It's like, this is a sauna. This is a, you know, a wellness experience. This is. Yeah, like a private health club. There's just a lot of this going on for a bunch of different genres.

[Dave]

Now I'm really curious if we're talking to the same people.

[Sam]

This is the classic you guys in the chat can figure out.

[Dave]

Well, now I'm like quite curious because who we're talking about because I.

[Jess]

It's all good. No, I just think this is a real trend and it's happening. You're also seeing this play out in travel culture, like wellness hotels, wellness centric travel culture is exploding globally, which that's not the most insightful thing you probably could have called that five years ago. But I do think that people are looking for more meaning, more belonging, more in person as much as they're looking for yet more digital experience in their life. And so I think that that narrative will become stronger this year and be a major narrative of 26. So that's number one, I think. Similarly, I think you're going to see A Tale of Two Cities in the Valley, where one of the things that I'm noticing is that there's this really strong culture. We talked about it a little bit last week where entrepreneurs are really kind of going full influencer, full creator. There's this, everyone's kind of taking a page from the Elon Sam Altman just style of constant communication. And I think Gen Z also, having grown up terminally online, there's just this like constant need to get attention, get attention, get attention, get attention. And I think that exists in creator culture, entrepreneur culture, media culture, music culture, like all these different areas. And then on the other hand, to my point that I just made, I think that people are also now looking for curated things, things that aren't just about attention. They're more about meaning and belonging. And so I just think that you're going to see this, this is going to play out in a bunch of different ways across culture. And that might mean, you know, a return to a lot more businesses that have, you know, Sam, I think we've talked about this a lot on the pod, but just like real world businesses that actually impact the actual atoms rather than just bits and have like real solid business models. On the other hand, like, I think you're going to see a lot more of that. You'll see it in terms of people deciding to get trade degrees rather than, you know, college degrees. I think that that acceleration is going to happen in the, in the face of this sort of digital AI, constantly terminally online boom. I think that narrative's gonna get even bigger. What else I think you're gonna See people start to go even more games first with their launch strategies. I think this thing that happened with Daft Punk this year on Fortnite is actually the harbinger of much more of this going forward. I think you're gonna see IP holders actually start with games and then do everything else second. I think that's going to be a big thing in 2026. Along with that, I don't know, we might see regulation against something like Roblox, which, like, I think is actually continuing to do enormous damage to children worldwide. And it's interesting, like, there was a big article this morning about Disney holding back their IP from Roblox, and I give them serious props for that. But I think that we're going to take this games as digital community, games as social media thing a lot more seriously in 2026, and parents are going to demand it.

[Sam]

And that means more scrutiny on games.

[Jess]

Yeah, yeah. I think people look at them as, oh, it's just a game. Rather than looking at it like, no, these are actually the most sophisticated and most influential form of social media ever created.

[Sam]

Well, here's a data point for you. So Lion's iPad is on its last leg. So he got a new one. And, you know, he's like, is my stuff going to transfer over? Is my stuff going to. You know, And I think I'm like, what? You know, and all he cared about was FIFA, you know, and like, FIFA. And I was like, did your downloads transfer? Like, did your, you know, your school, like, not. It was just like, oh, I don't care, Mom. FIFA works and I've maintained my level. God forbid the kid doesn't understand the cloud.

[Brit]

Exactly.

[Sam]

So anyway, I thought that was interesting.

[Brit]

Those are good ones, Dave.

[Sam]

Those are good predictions, Dave. I'm thinking of starting a book club. Speaking of.

[Brit]

Oh, you have time for that?

[Sam]

No, but I'm not. I'm reading the Correspondent, which, I don't know, I don't know, maybe. It's just so good. It is so good. It is an excellent book. And it was given as a gift in the Information Secret Santa, not by me, but by someone else. And so that sort of sparked it. So, no, I don't have time, but I do think, anyway, I'm just validating. That's a plus one to your point, Sam, we've somehow made it to you.

[Dave]

Sorry, I just finished your email prediction one. There will be one, but only one. $500 billion plus IPO.

[Brit]

Wait, but that counts. SpaceX.

[Jess]

And it will be SpaceX.

[Dave]

Well, or OpenAI.

[Sam]

Yeah, OpenAI is not going to be next year.

[Brit]

That's heavily discounting SpaceX. Why wouldn't you bring the number up?

[Dave]

I'm just saying there's a few. Someone's gonna. That's also like, I mean look, who knows. I'm just saying there's gonna be one. It could be, it could be anthropic. Who knows, they might have a killer year. Google will be up 15%, Nvidia will be down 15% and SAM will not

[Brit]

have invested still and be complaining about it every week on the pot.

[Dave]

I will have made no money on either of these stocks. Meta will be at all time highs.

[Sam]

Meta at all time highs. You're going to have to defend that. But first Nvidia down how much? I didn't Hear the number.

[Dave]

15%.

[Brit]

Why?

[Dave]

TPU story. Lots of other suppliers of the chips. They don't really have a monopoly on this stuff. Like they're priced China, China, China, China, China, China. I just. They'll be fine. Like to be clear, it's a huge fucking company. They do good stuff. I just, I think we're going to come 15% down and I think Google comes 15% up which is a fine year for them. It's not like a blowout year. It's probably outpaces the market but it's not like crazy.

[Brit]

Do you think the market stays stable? Slash up next year overall?

[Dave]

Yeah, I mean like look, I think my macro is. Is that going into next year the government still needs to figure out how to make GDP go up, right? They just, that's like the only thing and so as long as the government is stuck in GDP go up right then I think we will continue to manipulate things to make that go up.

[Brit]

Manipulate things. That sounds like a good long term strategy.

[Jess]

No, it's just true.

[Sam]

It's an election winning strategy.

[Dave]

It's narrative capitalism Meg. All times how is easy which is like I honestly think that two things will happen. One, well three things.

[Sam]

One is actually all time high. Isn't that dramatic?

[Dave]

I don't want to say I think all time high is fair. Here's the story. I think the ads AI ad story is going to turn on big time this upcoming year. Huge time. I'm seeing all these startups in the space doing like insane revenue growth and like I just think that ultimately all accrues back to Meta and the startup.

[Sam]

Sam are just finding ways to use AI to show better ads, target better ads.

[Jess]

Is that or just like be like

[Dave]

hey here's my website. Generate all the ads for Me and stick them places like. It's just the entire automation pipeline is getting really good and so I think that'll, like, all accrue back to meta. I also just think, like, they'll figure they'll spend way more money on computers, but figure out how to manage the cost. And like, candidly, if they're not doing that, they'll just cut more. Reality Labs make number go up.

[Jess]

Reality Labs is already de minimis small. Like it doesn't even matter.

[Dave]

No, it's not. They're still paying a fucking fortune on that shit.

[Jess]

It's tiny compared to everything else.

[Dave]

What tiny is, I guess, a relative. I guess it depends. Are we calling Amazon's $10 billion into OpenAI tiny? Then maybe it's tiny.

[Brit]

That is tiny.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Those are my predictions.

[Sam]

Those are good.

[Brit]

Interesting. Okay.

[Dave]

They're specific.

[Brit]

What about crypto? No one talked about crypto.

[Dave]

Crypto, you. Fine.

[Brit]

That's all you talked about last year. So I'm just curious if you have a point of view.

[Dave]

So I. So it's interesting. Cryptos. I would actually argue December. December, kind of broadly, slightly down, because everyone got really excited about Trump and there's a Trump bump, but they're not sure what the narrative is. And again, as I've said all along, the only thing that kills a narrative is a better narrative. And right now the better narrative is split between betting on random things and AI.

[Jess]

Right.

[Dave]

So there's like, there's less excitement because, like, it's a different thing like that. So I think it's fine. I don't think it, like, dramatically changes. It might be up a bit. I doubt it's down that much, but it is kind of in that range. I would say. No, I shouldn't predict this. There's one thing that I'm very optimistic will be very exciting in crypto in the next 12 months. But I don't want to say more than that right now.

[Sam]

Oh, my God, what a teenage. You can talk about it in a future pod. We can predict once a week for 52 weeks.

[Brit]

At what time frame will this thing happen?

[Dave]

Q1 I predict in 2026, one very interesting thing will happen in crypto.

[Sam]

I feel compelled to come up with a media prediction, yet I don'.

[Brit]

I think you should.

[Dave]

How about buzzfeed goes bankrupt? Can buzzfeed finally go bankrupt?

[Brit]

That's all that's been on the table for years now.

[Dave]

No, I know, but it just doesn't die.

[Sam]

It's not going to go bankrupt next year.

[Dave]

Why not? It's 30 you want to buy it? It's $33 million.

[Sam]

I've been asked and I said no every time. Dave? Yep.

[Jess]

What about prediction about prediction markets?

[Brit]

That's what we did. Jess did that.

[Jess]

Well, no, I actually wonder if next year is the year. There's sort of two ways I feel like prediction markets could go. One, I'm hearing a lot of parents talking about their kids being addicted to sports betting on prediction markets, which, if that spirals next year, could bode badly for prediction markets in 2026. On the other hand, you could see this become even more packaged with the financial markets and being able to take multi, I don't know, multi hop positions on things and, you know, the whole thing becoming a lot more like crypto and just ripping even further into the future because the lack of regulation by the Trump administration. But it's something I think about a lot in my head is the tension between gambling is a very real risk to youth and, and whether or not this is just, you know, the financialization of everything.

[Sam]

Well, the narrative, you look at the deals with the stock exchanges, right? Like the story they want to tell is the latter. But I just think it takes regulators and states some time. But they're just not going to sit here and say the billion dollars that we get in tax revenue on sports betting, we're just happy to give that up. They're not.

[Jess]

But do they get that on Kalshi and polymarket?

[Sam]

No, they don't.

[Brit]

No.

[Dave]

They'll figure out a deal around that. I mean, look, here's my thing. I bet that Barron Trump loves this stuff. I bet he loves it.

[Sam]

Barron.

[Dave]

Barron, Trump's son.

[Sam]

Okay, why does that matter?

[Jess]

But why does that matter?

[Sam]

Yeah, the Trumps are directly making money from all this. Why does Barron need to like it for them to keep it around?

[Dave]

I'm just saying, I think Team Trump is gonna be very pro. But Team Trump also wants to make money for governments. So broadly speaking, I know it's a state's issue. Da, da, da, da. I would say so long as Trump and Barron remain in power, if the power of Barron will be pro gambling. But Trump's also got to get government paid because he loves getting paid. So maybe there's going to be some, like, if he's powerful enough for the next year, some like federal pro gaming, gambling, unified market. But kick back to like government slash Trump empire feels real.

[Jess]

This is the thing for sure. There's no way that's not happening. The sort of like lawless, nobody's making any revenue. But These prediction markets thing, like, oh, we're not gambling. We don't. We're not subject to the same thing. Like, that's not going to keep going for very much longer. There's no way.

[Sam]

How about this for media? I'm trying to be interesting. Oh, this won't be interesting. This will be interesting to my 20 friends in my group chat. But I think there's going to be a major editor shake up in a major publication.

[Dave]

Yeah. No, no one even knows who they are.

[Brit]

No one cares. Yeah, sorry, Jess.

[Sam]

No, and then there's the obvious one. Is like, you know, is that because

[Jess]

you're going to take them all?

[Dave]

No, it just doesn't want them.

[Sam]

No, I just think I just know some things, but. And then I think, like hundreds of journalists are going to lose their jobs to AI. Like, that's already happening.

[Jess]

The one area where I think that's interesting, Jess, is that maybe local journalism will rise again thanks to AI.

[Dave]

Ah, the classic return of local journalism.

[Brit]

Who's going to pay for it?

[Jess]

It doesn't need to be paid for. If you can get like, I already have. Like, my chatgpt pulse tells me a lot about what's going on in my hometown. For example, like, I think that this is like, might be a good thing.

[Dave]

I can make a letter meme for you, Dave, with cartoons.

[Jess]

Ooh, cool. But you'd need. You need the information, Sam. That's part of the problem is that like, without I just scrape Twitter, make it up.

[Dave]

People just want good stories anyway. It doesn't have to be real.

[Jess]

Local markets don't have anything on Twitter.

[Dave]

Doesn't have to be real.

[Brit]

Oh, God.

[Dave]

Cat saved.

[Sam]

This is also. I, one day I'm going to publish this essay, but I'll just talk about it until then. But like, definitely the ROI on truth is changing in the sense that there are times where it is actually somewhat economically rational to not need the truth. So, for example, this is what AI does, right. Sam made these podcasts for our kids that are pretty cool, using 11 labs and AI. And if they get 85% of the facts about Napoleon. Right, you're sort of being a reasonable human to look the other way on the 15th. But that is also a dangerous and slippery slope in terms of society knowing what's happening to itself. So we will accelerate that.

[Jess]

Similarly, I have a similar prediction, I guess, about the startup market. And I think of this as that AI is the new ui and that I've been saying this for years, But I think 2026 might actually be the breakout year for this.

[Sam]

Dave, by that do you mean like the chat interface or you mean a. Say more.

[Jess]

No, I don't what I specifically mean. So for example, like last week somebody, they showed an example of rebuilding an interface really for software called Harvey, which is this legal software that, you know, has been immensely funded. Somebody just, you know, used Claude code, took one or two days, rebuilt it from the ground up and then open sourced it. And I think that there's this future coming where you're going to be able to generate the UI for whatever task you want to accomplish using Vibe code or whatever you want to call it, like using AI coding tools, you will be able to generate a UI for whatever task that you want to get done in order to accomplish some business workflow or something like that, or even personal workflow. And that this has mostly been the provenance of people like Sam and me and people that just want to, you know, mess around with these tools and build things themselves. But it hasn't been broadly available to consumers, not because they can't do it, but just they don't have the time to learn or whatever. And I think we're sort of rapidly moving towards a world where the UI, which largely was the entire business model of SaaS for the last 10 years, most of SaaS was like, I'm going to build this complex UX on top of a postgres database, then I'm going to sell it to a business by seat and make a big business through a sales motion. I think a lot of that is going to be threatened because people are going to be able to generate UIs to do things on top of data in a way that is very rapid and fast. And we're going to see the early innings of this, this coming year and it's actually going to make the entire ecosystem question whether or not this like SaaS business model that we've been using for the last decade is viable and whether a lot of the startups that are being funded right now are viable. And it's going to get really interesting really quickly.

[Sam]

So Dave, that's the sort of databricks thesis, right? I mean that's the, that thesis is

[Jess]

definitely, I don't know, the databricks thesis

[Sam]

well, but, but data, because databricks would be one of the underlying layers, right? I mean it's a data, data river, data warehouse, data whatever. Right.

[Jess]

So data intelligence, sure, whatever you can put, you can put data into a lot of, into a lot of lakes.

[Sam]

But their thesis is like, you're not going to need your salesforces and so on, because you can have the data in one place and then you can build these flexible, tailored workflows and interfaces and so forth.

[Jess]

But I think this might extend across everything, Jess. It might start to be on your phone. You might just make an app on your iPhone that you want for one event or one workflow. And you might do it in a bunch of different ways, not just on top of your data lake. It might extend across the entire UI

[Sam]

layer because the not so bearish, although I hesitate to call it bullish use case for legacy software, which is somewhat compelling, is there's just a lot of other stuff like data storage, security, regulation, also enterprise workflows. Probability doesn't work. You can't like probably show the best guess at data.

[Jess]

So I might be early on this, but I think you're going to see the initial seeds of this kind of stuff happening next year pretty rapidly.

[Brit]

Okay.

[Dave]

I will say on the spirit of AI impact, I think this upcoming year is going to be the year of like, AI porn.

[Sam]

Sure. I thought we were there already.

[Jess]

What do you mean?

[Dave]

No, we're not. We're not. There's like, we're getting there, but like, there's just like all these opportunities in the NSFW world where like people have dabbled with AI, but I actually think it's not really that mainstream yet. I think it's about to go super mainstream.

[Jess]

Why? Just because the, the, the models are getting good enough, the model getting good

[Dave]

enough, people are figuring out what the product experiences are actually should be like. There's just. Yeah.

[Brit]

I tried this new app from Google called Doppel a couple of weeks ago where you could like try on outfits on you.

[Sam]

I really enjoyed this. I really enjoyed this.

[Jess]

Oh, no. I know what she's gonna say.

[Brit]

One of Dave's comments was like, there was one in kind of a Kim Kardashian esque dress where it also made my boobs look nicer. And Dave was like, I could see more like images of you in these dresses. And he goes, you, there should be an AI app where you're just your wife. You can like style her in dresses. I was like, I would give my own licensing consent, but only to Dave. Like, how would that work? You know, I don't know how this all works in the future, but I could see how Google and Doppel were actually the first. This is the first AI model that could get my face right and my body mostly right in like many different instances of new images.

[Sam]

I liked your ski get Up. I liked that. I thought that was good.

[Brit]

Well, yeah, that one was good. Dave thought that was hot too.

[Sam]

Yeah, I thought I commented on that one. These are good predictions.

[Brit]

Wait, I have two last ones ready before we wrap. We didn't talk about GLP1s.

[Dave]

Ugly fast right now, will you be on a GLP1?

[Brit]

18% of adults have tried GLP1s. By next year, I think it's almost double. I think it's at least one in three. Like 33%.

[Sam]

It's more than half of the information subscriber base who responded to a survey.

[Brit]

Well, they're early adopters, so that makes sense.

[Jess]

Yeah. As the price comes down, everyone's doing it.

[Brit]

My Taylor prediction is not only is she getting married, which we know she will have one new album and she will announce her pregnancy by the end of the year. She's gonna be 37 and girls gotta get on top of that shit.

[Sam]

No, Brit, we know. She's very clear about that.

[Brit]

I know. I'm just saying one new album.

[Sam]

That's probably true. I am enjoying the docu series. Are you enjoying. I don't know. Releasing two episodes every week is like kind of not my cup of tea.

[Brit]

It's. Cause she's building it up to Christmas. Yeah.

[Jess]

It's also doesn't. It's like a very strange storytelling style. Like they're jumping all over the place.

[Sam]

They are jumping all over. I agree, Dave. It's like sort of thematic, but then there's a couple themes per.

[Jess]

That must be what it is. They're like, let's do it from one different, you know, different angles each episode or something. Must be hard. There's a lot of stories to tell, I'm sure. But yeah, it's kind of random so far.

[Sam]

Does anyone want to proffer a want for the year for the industry? So these are predictions, but like, is there something we just really want to happen?

[Brit]

Like distributions? DPI, please.

[Sam]

Okay. The VCs want cash.

[Brit]

Okay.

[Sam]

That seems simple.

[Jess]

I've said it enough. But I just want the industry to take kids mental health more seriously.

[Dave]

That really is quite aspirational, Dave.

[Jess]

I know, I know. It's aspirational.

[Brit]

Screen time. And on that note, please give us better screen time controls.

[Jess]

It's never going to happen again.

[Sam]

My platform for running not for office is phones. Out of schools. Waymos in schools. Very simple.

[Jess]

Nice. I like it.

[Sam]

Bring the waymos, leave the devices. Oh, that's so good, guys. Bring the waymos, leave the devices.

[Brit]

Oh. I also would like more plunging V necks On Jess next year.

[Sam]

Oh, thank you. This is a shout out to favorite daughter.

[Dave]

Yeah, I'm pro plunging. You look great.

[Jess]

We're all pro plunging. V neck.

[Sam]

I believe this is the Sarah Foster. Shocked, shocked. Hi, Sarah.

[Dave]

And by speaking, which you guys didn't call it a mice T shirt.

[Brit]

Oh, my God. My kids would love that.

[Sam]

Guys. We walk into the moose as one does, and they have an ode to 6 7. We're like, what is going on?

[Brit]

I'm sure our both of our boys will be buying that shirt.

[Dave]

It's so good. I'm like, I got it from my meme talk.

[Sam]

And then the hostess is like, it was our founding year and it's stalked me all year.

[Jess]

The real question of 2026 is will anyone be able to harness the power of memes like 6 psych, 6, 7, to make actual money?

[Dave]

Memetic warfare. Yeah, yeah, I got you.

[Sam]

I mean, look at the moose. I was going to say the question, Dave, is, are we going to have a good snowpack? I thought that would be.

[Jess]

Well, there's also that. Are we going to get any snow? That's like the real question. That is my wi. My wish for 2026 is that snow starts falling.

[Sam]

Snow starts falling from the sky on the west coast. The east coast is getting it.

[Jess]

It looks like it might tomorrow or something.

[Dave]

It would be really, really funny. You know, we still have a farm in northern Vermont. I think it'd be extremely funny to go on a ski trip to Vermont.

[Sam]

Yeah, great. You can go. I'd be happy.

[Jess]

There's some good skiing in Vermont. Depends on J Peak. It's just J Peak Killington.

[Dave]

It's just like a funny concept to fly from California to Vermont.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Well, dear listeners, I hope you got what you were looking for out of this predictions episode and this year of content. I think we're going to be back in 2026.

[Jess]

We appreciate you.

[Sam]

Yeah, we are grateful to your community.

[Jess]

I ran into some of our listeners at the 49ers game last week. That was cool.

[Dave]

Yeah. What was that? Who was that person?

[Brit]

And at the offline holiday party, I

[Jess]

think, Sam, it was the same person you met at the other event you went to.

[Dave]

Really?

[Jess]

Yeah, maybe Guys everywhere.

[Sam]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brit]

Do we have.

[Sam]

Well, maybe we don't have a prediction for more or less. I predict more of the same. We take all the feedback. We love it. So thank you, dear listeners, in wishing you guys all an awesome holiday. Please follow and subscribe and we will be back here soon with another episode of More or Less.

[Brit]

Bye Bye guys.

[Jess]

See you later.

[Brit]

If you enjoyed this show, please leave us a virtual high five by rating it and reviewing viewing it on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. Find more information about each episode in the show notes and follow us on social media by searching for more or less Avemorin lesson. And as for me, I'm Brit. See you guys next time.