WEF-Hater Elon Musk Makes Davos Debut & ‘Sinners’ Breaks All-Time Oscars Noms

Summary

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Morning Brew Daily – January 23, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, hosts Neal Freyman and Toby Howell dive into a big week in business, tech, entertainment, and pop culture. Highlights include Elon Musk’s headline-grabbing debut at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, record-breaking Oscar nominations for Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, the viral impact of HBO’s Heated Rivalry on hockey’s popularity, and quirky business news around Toto (Japan’s toilet tech king). Plus, the episode explores OpenAI’s latest moves, celebrates the Eagles’ historic album, and previews Alex Honnold’s daring skyscraper climb live on Netflix. The hosts blend humor, analysis, and storytelling while unpacking these major stories.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Elon Musk's WEF-Davos Debut and AI Future ([02:09–04:42])

• Elon Musk Joins Davos: Despite being a vocal WEF critic, Musk appeared on the main stage, hyping a future dominated by robots, teasing the public sale of Tesla’s Optimus robot, and making bold AI predictions.

  • Notable Musk quote: “I think there'll be an AI smarter than any human by the end of this year, and in five years from now AI will be smarter than all of humanity collectively.” ([02:00])
  • He quipped about Mars: “People ask me, do I want to die on Mars? And I'm like, yes, but not on impact.” ([02:09])

• AI's Role in Davos Conversations: AI emerged as a dominant topic, with breakout presence from Anthropic and widespread debate over AI’s societal impact.

  • Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s warning:

    "Ten million people, about seven million of them in Silicon Valley, could, quote, decouple from the rest of society, so they would enjoy as much as 50% GDP growth while the others were left behind." ([03:38])

  • Potential consequences: Economic inequality, rapid GDP growth paired with high unemployment (10%), an unprecedented scenario.

2. AI Hype, Caution, and Ground-Level Impact ([04:42–06:16])

• Skepticism and Bubble Talk:
  • Former OpenAI board chair Brett Taylor suggests AI may be a bubble—"causing both smart money and dumb money to fund companies like crazy" ([04:50])
  • Satya Nadella (Microsoft): Warns AI could "lose its social permission if it burns too much energy without real world benefits." ([05:20])
  • Despite skepticism, Taylor remains bullish: "This will be a revolutionary technology." ([05:32])
• Founder perspectives at Davos: Nearly every founder interviewed remarked how AI, especially since November 2022, radically shifted the business landscape.
  • Cybersecurity founder example: "Companies are getting attacked way more now that AI is a thing, way more sophisticated than ever before. But at the same time, we also have the tools to combat that." ([06:16])

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3. Lighter Davos Moments and Macron’s Aviator Sunglasses ([06:32–07:08])

• French President Macron’s iconic look: His €659 French-made aviators went viral, "crashing the brand’s website" after he wore them indoors—his stock (the sunglass maker) jumped 28%. ([07:08])

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4. Oscars Shake Up: ‘Sinners’ and the Warner Bros/Netflix Power Play ([07:08–10:38])

• Sinners Makes History: Ryan Coogler's vampire epic Sinners lands 16 nominations—the most ever, surpassing Titanic, La La Land, and All About Eve.

  • “After Sinners, Paul Thomas Anderson’s action roller coaster One Battle After Another received 13 nods, making those two films the big winners from the Oscar nomination announcement Thursday morning.” ([07:44])
  • Best Picture category includes: Sinners, One Battle After Another, Frankenstein, Train Dreams, and more. ([07:52])
  • Best Actor and Actress line-ups are highlighted, with Jessie Buckley ("Hamnet") as the frontrunner for Best Actress. ([08:36])

• Industry Power Dynamics:

  • Warner Bros Discovery leads studios with 30 nominations; Netflix and indie producer Neon also score 18 nominations each. ([08:36–09:34])
  • Potential Warner-Netflix merger would result in unprecedented Oscar clout.

• Behind-the-Scenes Dealmaking:

  • Ryan Coogler’s unprecedented deal: He will own the film outright in 2050—a studio rarity likely to shift future director-studio contracts. ([09:55])

• Oscar Ceremony Trends:

  • Viewership stabilized after years of decline; Conan O’Brien returns to host. In 2029, the Oscars move to YouTube, potentially reshaping the broadcast. ([10:38])

Notable Quote

• On the impact of the Warner-Netflix power combo:

  "That's a lot of Oscar nominations under one roof.” – Toby Howell ([08:36])

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5. Viral TV: 'Heated Rivalry' Boosts Hockey’s Popularity ([11:18–14:42])

• Stock of the Week: Hockey: The HBO hit Heated Rivalry has dramatically increased interest and ticket sales in hockey.

  • “SeatGeek said its weekly hockey ticket sales jumped over 20% after the show first aired last year, while StubHub saw searches jump 75%.” ([11:34])
  • NHL teams embrace the trend by selling jerseys with the show’s fictional player names, echoing the Taylor Swift–NFL effect. ([13:00])

• Cultural Spillover: The show sparks themed SoulCycle rides, actor lookalike contests, and tattoo fads. ([13:39])

• Production Story: Heated Rivalry started on a shoestring Canadian budget, was acquired by HBO for $600k per episode, and became a global phenomenon.

  • “I can't believe this just fell into my lap. This. This is available? Are you serious? And then you put it on HBO?” ([14:15])

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6. Tech & Markets: Toto Toilets Ride the AI Chip Wave ([16:13–19:28])

• Stock Highlight: Toto: Shares jump 11%—not just from toilets, but from their ceramics division making electrostatic chucks for chip manufacturing.

  • “It starts to make sense when you learn that Toto has a separate business making what's known as electrostatic chucks that are used in the chip making process.” ([16:14])
  • 42% of Toto’s operating income is now from this tech, and others in Japan similarly straddle consumer goods and semiconductors. ([18:49])

• AI Infrastructure Boom: Nvidia’s Jensen Huang claims we’re entering the largest infrastructure buildout in history, triggering massive demand for chips and supporting tech like Toto’s ceramics. ([17:07])

Notable Exchange

• “This is so funny. Like what do you mean? The same ceramic that you sit on on a toilet is perfect for the AI revolution as well.” – Toby Howell ([17:07])

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7. OpenAI, Apple & the Next Big AI Devices ([19:28–21:13])

• OpenAI Hardware Teasers: OpenAI confirms a new device is coming in 2026 (possibly earbuds, codenamed “Sweet Pea”) via Jony Ive. Apple rumored to be working on a wearable pin.

  • “Right now, glasses are the dominant form factor. But in the span of a few days, two totally new approaches look to be coming for our ears and our chests.” – Neal Freyman ([20:13])
  • “I wonder what it's going to be like to always have all of the intelligence of humanity whispering in my ear.” – Toby Howell ([21:13])

• Is Wearable Tech Shifting?: Glasses, pins, earbuds—debate on which will win over users, after high-profile flops like Humane’s pin.

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8. Music Milestone: Eagles Hit 40 Million Albums ([21:25–22:42])

• Eagles Reach Quadruple Diamond: Greatest Hits 1971-1975 becomes the first U.S. album to surpass 40 million units sold.
  • Runners-up: Michael Jackson's Thriller (34x Platinum) and Eagles' own Hotel California (28 million).
  • Certification now includes streaming: “If you stream an album 1500 times, that is now equal to one album sale.” ([22:34])
  • Eagles celebrate with new shows at the Sphere, Las Vegas.

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9. Alex Honnold’s Live Skyscraper Climb ([22:43–24:45])

• Daredevil Feat: Rock climber Alex Honnold will live-climb Taipei 101 (NT$101), without ropes, live on Netflix Jan 23 at 8pm EST (with a 10-second delay for safety).
  • “The New York Times asked him if he's worried he'll slip and he laughed and said, you just hold on tight.” – Neal Freyman ([23:15])
  • Discussion on the compromise between risk and spectacle, as Honnold is now married and "entering the next stage of his life.” ([24:18])

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “I think there'll be an AI smarter than any human by the end of this year, and in five years from now AI will be smarter than all of humanity collectively.” – Elon Musk ([02:00])
• “People ask me, do I want to die on Mars? And I'm like, yes, but not on impact.” – Elon Musk ([02:09])
• “Ten million people ... could, quote, decouple from the rest of society, so they would enjoy as much as 50% GDP growth while the others were left behind.” – Dario Amodei ([03:38])
• “[AI] could lose its social permission if it burns too much energy without real world benefits.” – Satya Nadella ([05:20])
• “SeatGeek said its weekly hockey ticket sales jumped over 20% after the show first aired last year, while StubHub saw searches jump 75%.” – Toby Howell ([11:34])
• “42% of its total operating income came from this neck of the woods. So at a certain point, maybe it's not a toilet company anymore.” – Toby Howell ([18:49])
• "You never know what's going to pop these days, and it's not so unique for a Japanese company that makes something entirely different to also have a product... in the semiconductor supply chain." – Neal Freyman ([18:11])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Elon Musk, Anthropic, Davos AI dominance: [02:09–06:16]
• Oscars nominations & Sinners record: [07:08–10:38]
• Heated Rivalry and hockey's surge: [11:18–14:42]
• Toto & the AI chip ceramics connection: [16:13–19:28]
• OpenAI / Apple device rumors: [19:28–21:13]
• Eagles quadruple diamond: [21:25–22:42]
• Alex Honnold climbs Taipei 101: [22:43–24:45]

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Tone and Style

Witty, sharp, and fast-paced—with friendly banter and pop-culture quips. Neal and Toby keep the energy high, blending serious business analysis with entertainment and humor.

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Summary prepared for listeners who want all the business, tech, and culture highlights from Davos week – no flight delays or freezing Swiss WiFi necessary.

Transcript

[A]

Good Morning Brew Daily Show I'm Neal Freyman.

[B]

And I'm Toby Howell.

[A]

Today, Sinners makes Academy Awards history and.

[B]

Heated rivalry has done the impossible getting people to care about hockey. It's Friday, January 23rd. Let's ride.

[A]

Good morning and Happy Friday. Though we are actually recording this Thursday afternoon since we have a flight out of Switzerland in the morning. So the Delta Wi Fi isn't quite there yet to record a podcast from Extreme Basic Economy. There's been a lot of huge news this week, but for probably the most exciting headline, we're going to hand it over to social producer Annie Bennett. Annie, what's the good word?

[C]

We got some breaking news that morning. Brew has a variety show at Caveat in New York City. Thursday, February 5th at 7:00pm if you and your friends want to watch us bully Toby live on stage, this is the show for you.

[A]

What about me?

[C]

Well, Neil was frankly not invited, but that's okay because he's going to show up anyway and we'll bully him then. So all good. It's going to be the best video sketch. Stand up. It's the best morning Brew content that you can see online. But this time you can't scroll ahead when it's boring. Am I selling this? Well, don't answer that.

[B]

And you could sell water to a fish. But please get out of our studio now. The link to buy tickets to the show will be in our show description. I will be there. Neil will probably be there and we hope to see you there as well.

[A]

And now a word from our sponsor. Indeed Toby, what are you doing to make better workforce decisions?

[B]

I ask our producer Emily what she thinks, then agree with her.

[A]

Smart man. But for even more insights grounded in real time data, there's the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. Indeed is there diving into things like how AI is transforming jobs skills and employer adoption. Indeed we'll be sharing real time insights into the global labor market and how leaders can navigate the workforce challenges and opportunities ahead.

[B]

Indeed's helping business leaders and hiring professionals dive into these perspectives through Indeed Global Labor Market and Workforce Trends Report.

[A]

These insights also include where job opportunities are growing, where skill shortages and mismatches could impact business performance, and how immigration patterns are shaping workforce capacity.

[B]

Learn more@ Indeed.com Davos that's Indeed.com Davos Elon Musk hates Davos. He said so himself. And yet the world's richest man made a surprise appearance at the World Economic Forum this year. Perhaps jealous of me. These presence here as well. In an interview on the main Stage moderated by Larry Fink. Musk waxed on the future as only he can. He hyped up a world where there will eventually be more robots than people. That prediction might have something to do with the fact that he also teased the sale of Tesla's Optimus robots to the public by next year. He didn't hold back on his AI predictions either, saying that he thinks there'll be an AI smarter than any human by the end of this year and and in five years from now, AI quote will be smarter than all of humanity collectively. It wouldn't be a Musk interview without a Mars mention either. And Elon delivered, saying, people ask me, do I want to die on Mars? And I'm like, yes, but not on impact. That got a laugh. Believe it or not, you could describe the half hour he spent on stage as a collection of his greatest hits. Mars, AI robots, robo taxis. All familiar Musk talking points. But given that it bookended the conference, Neal, how did it fit into the broader themes that dominated this year's wef?

[A]

Yeah, there was a joke that there are two main themes here in Davos this week, which was Trump and I talked a lot about Trump and the Greenland of it all and the tariffs and the schism between the United States and Europe. We haven't talked as much about AI, but everyone was talking about it this week. There was a breakout player in AI, and I want to talk about them. It's the company Anthropic. No one knew about this company a few years ago. It was just a small AI lab. And now CEO Dario Amadei is seen as one one of the truthsayers or one of the prognosticators about what a future could look like with mass adoption of AI. And he is someone who is developing AI, but at the same time quite pessimistic about the possibilities that could lead to huge economic inequality from artificial intelligence. He said that 10 million people, about 7 million of them in Silicon Valley, could, quote, decouple from the rest of society, so they would enjoy as much as 50% GDP growth while the others were left behind. He painted a picture of the overall global economy, economy growing at 5 to 10%, which is crazy because of AI, but there would also, at the same time be 10% unemployment. He said that's not a combination we've almost ever seen before, so we never. We haven't heard that much from Anthropic over the past few years. But Dario has become one of the people that people listen to the most when it comes to prognostications about the future.

[B]

And that fit very well into how the conference kicked off this year, which was Larry Fink, who is kind of running WEF this year, saying, if we're not careful, I can absolutely exacerbate the global inequality that we have seen emerge over the past few decades. Like, that was a main talking point from the very beginning of the conference to the very end. There was also a couple of doomsday prognosticators in terms of will I be a bubble or not? Brett Taylor, who is the former chair of OpenAI's board, said that AI probably is a bubble that is causing both smart money and dumb money to to fund companies like crazy. So that was definitely a buzzy sign. SOUNDBITE Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, said I could lose its social permission if it burns too much energy without real world benefits. So those are some of the more negative sound bites that we hear.

[A]

Yeah, but Fred Taylor was like, at the end of the day, he's the chairman of OpenAI. He's very bullish on AI, is the chairman of OpenAI, and he said that however things shake out, this will be a revolutionary technology. And let's talk about our personal experience. We sat here after we recorded these podcasts and interviewed a bunch of founders, and many of them were in the AI space. And talking to them was really, I thought, very interesting because we talked to them about their businesses. Some were doing AI, some were not doing AI. But they basically said when Chatbot was released November 2022, like, everything changed about the economy, about their companies. And, you know, obviously they are on the more optimistic side because they are building companies. But it was just striking to hear how, how much of a hinge point it feels like AI is here at Davos.

[B]

One of the biggest founders that exemplified that was we talked to a cybersecurity founder. He's like, yeah, companies are getting attacked way more now that AI is a thing, way more sophisticated than ever before. But at the same time, we also have the tools to combat that. So it really is both changing both sides of the equation, oftentimes, insecurity, oftentimes in coding as well. On a non AI front too, there was some funny stuff that happened in Davos as well. One that I want to mention. French President Emmanuel Macron's aviator sunglasses were a major storyline. He wore them inside during one of his speeches. And Internet sleuths kind of figured out, what is this brand of sunglasses he's wearing? They're €659. They're French made frames from Mason Henry Julianne and it basically crashed the brand's website when he went on says to wearing these things. It made me want to start wearing aviator sunglasses indoors because it's quite the.

[A]

Look and the company Stock was up 28%. We should be clear he's wearing them. Not for the fashion statement, maybe is but he also has a burst blood vessel. All right, moving on. Winner, winner Chicken Sinners Ryan Coogler's historical vampire epic Sinners scored 16 nominations for the Academy Awards, setting a new record for the most Oscar nominations in history. The previous record was a tie between Titanic, La La Land and All about Eve with 14 apiece. After Sinners, Paul Thomas Anderson's action roller coaster One Battle After Another received 13 nods, making those two films the big winners from the Oscar nomination announcement Thursday morning. They also share a common thread. Both Sinners and One Battle After Another are highly original, Americana focused films with huge budgets that seem to resonate with our cultural and political moment. Who else is in the running? Well, let's head to best Picture, the most prestigious category. Joining sinners in one battle are Bonia F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty supreme, the Secret Agent, Sentimental Value and Train Dreams. For best actor, Michael B. Jordan from Sinners and Leo from One Battle will go up against Ethan Hawke from Blue Moon, Wagner Mora from the Secret Agent and Timothee Chalamet and Marty supreme for best actress. Jessie Buckley is an overwhelming favorite for her performance in Hamnet. Also in the running are Rose Byrne and if I Had Legs I'd kick you, Kate Hudson in Sing Song Blue, Renata Ryan's from Sentimental Value and Emma Stone in Bugonia. Toby, I know one of your new New Year's resolutions is to become a movie snob. Thoughts on these nominations?

[B]

Well, I saw Timothee Chalamet and Marty supreme and I saw One Battle after another. It gets a little dicey for me after that, but my big takeaway from this is that all these roads seem to lead back to Warner Brothers Discovery. Sinners and One Battle After Another were both produced by Warner and in total, the studio led the entire Oscars nomination process with 30 nods. And then you also have to look over at Netflix because whatever we've been talking about for months now, Netflix's deal to potentially buy Warner Brothers Discovery, they did pretty well. They had Frankenstein and Train dreams. They earned 18 nominations as a whole. So you think about combining those two forces into one. That's a lot of Oscar nominations under one roof. One fun under the radar storyline that I think people should look out for Neon. A very indie producer of foreign language films like Sentimental Value like the Secret Agent also racked up 18 nominations. The exact same thing as Netflix with I would imagine, a little bit of a smaller budget.

[A]

Speaking of Netflix on talk about K Pop Demon Hunters. Now, K Pop Demon Hunters is Netflix's most viewed movie ever. It got a few weekends in theaters, so it doesn't show up so much in the Oscars. But it is nominated for. For best song, best original song. Of course, that song is golden, so I think that's got to win. That's one of my favorite songs of the year.

[B]

The amount of times I've prepped for this show while listening to golden, it is permanently seared into my brain. One other thing to look at as well is Ryan Coogler's deal that made a bunch of waves a few months ago. Remember, Ryan Coogler, director of Sinners, had this very unorthodox agreement with Warner Brothers for Sinners, which means he will actually own the movie outright in 2050. This is not a thing movie studios do. Movie studios are valued based off how good their catalogs are. They don't want to give up those catalogs lightly. This kind of completely changed the game. Is this going to change the way that Hollywood makes deals with directors? The fact that Sinners is now the most nominated movie ever is only going to make this movie even more valuable and make that deal look even more present.

[A]

So the question now is, is anyone going to watch the Oscars? That's what we've all been asking for the past few years. Last year, Conan O' Brien hosted the ratings hit a five year high for ABC. About 19.7 million people tuned in. That was up from 19.5 million the year before. As recently as 2019, there were 30 million people watching the Oscars. So Conan O' Brien is going again. This is happening in the middle of March. And then of course in 2029, the Oscars is leaving ABC and going to YouTube. And we're going to see how that changes the telecast. I hope it makes it shorter, but it's not going to be because YouTube doesn't have to end for anything coming after. And the problem is this, this thing. Runtime last year was 3 hours and 50 minutes.

[B]

Listen, we saw the Golden Globes add a podcast category this year. Oscars. Just think about it. Academy Awards. Just think about it. We're sitting right here. Moving on. It's stock of the week. Dog of the week Time. The segment where we pick one stock that cooks their pasta perfectly al dente and one stock that lets those noodles get soggy. I won the pre show game of a biathlon out here in Davos, so I'm up first and my stock of the Week has been seeing hockey stick growth. It's literally the game of hockey. In the wake of the breakout HBO hit heated rivalry, interest in the actual game is heating up to SeatGeek said its weekly hockey ticket sales jumped over 20% after the show first aired last year, while StubHub saw searches jump 75%. According to Bloomberg, Hollander and Rosenoff are introducing a lot of new fans to the game. Bloomberg talked to Nyala Williams, a part time book content creator on TikTok who spent $175 on a solo ticket to watch the Florida Panthers play. After watching the show, StubHub is seeing this reflected in their data as well, with hockey ticket purchases from first time buyers jumping 5% for anyone cough. Neal, who has missed the rise of this show. The story, which documents a steamy romance between two rival hockey players, is based on the book series from Rachel Reed called Game Changers before HBO picked it up. The the show was produced for Crave, a Canadian streaming service, and was filmed around Ontario, Canada on a shoestring budget. It since turned into a full on phenomenon. Neal, you haven't seen it yet, but the game itself is seeing a major boost.

[A]

We're going when we come back to the United States, there's going to be a massive snowstorm and I promise I will binge it then.

[B]

We have a long flight home too.

[A]

We have a long flight home. I will watch it at some point over the next couple of days. Pretty cool to see how hockey teams and the NHL are capitalizing it. They are fully embracing this and why shouldn't they? The Ottawa Senators have this official team shop. They're selling jerseys featuring the names and numbers of Shane Hollander and Ilya Rosenoff, who I know by name even though I haven't watched the show because you've talked about it so much. They sold out of jerseys at an actual game last Saturday night, so they are fully leaning into it's similar to what happened with Taylor Swift and the Chiefs. They. They saw the Chiefs saw home game ticket sales triple after Taylor Swift started going out with Travis Kelsey and you know that brought a whole new audience to NFL and looks like we're seeing the same thing with hockey.

[B]

It is touching so many different parts of Culture to SoulCycle has hosted nearly 100 heated rivalry themed rides on Sunday in New York City there's going to be a major snowstorm, but also scheduled is a Conner story in Hudson Williams, the two Actors Look Alike contest.

[A]

Do you think I would make the cut?

[B]

I don't think you will, but I think I have a little bit of Rosenth in me. That might be a little bold of me to say. And then tattoo parlors are also being inundated with requests of inside jokes from the show. Saying I am coming to the cottage has been a vocal stim for me over the past few weeks. It is really a great show and you absolutely should watch it.

[A]

And it's amazing how it came to HBO so just weeks before it streamed on this streaming service, Crave it landed on the desk of HBO head Casey Boyes and he binged it over one weekend like I'm about to do. And he said, like, I can't believe this just fell into my lap. This. This is available? Are you serious? And then you put it on HBO? They're licensing it for $600,000 per episode, extremely cheap, and has become one of the most breakout hits in television in the last few years.

[B]

All right, we're going to take a quick break and come back with Neil's Dog of the Week. Time for our morning Brew Daily Davos update with Lightspeed. We are joined by Lightspeed co founder and partner Ravi Matra.

[A]

Ravi, you've been doing this a long time. What's your personal rule for staying ahead of trends in tech before they're obvious?

[D]

Understand the technology deeply and think about the trend line for where technology is going, not where it is. Investing in technology is all about almost thinking a little bit outside of yourself to understand that we're on a exponential curve and not just plotting ahead linearly. And that forces you to have to understand deeply what technology might be capable of and imagining what's possible and then getting a sense of being right on the timing for when that knee in the curve and inflection is going to happen and arriving either just before or at the time when that inflection is starting to emerge.

[B]

You Ravi we have learned so much about the tech space this week at Davos and are very thankful to be working with Lightspeed to make all of this happen.

[A]

And be sure to head to our YouTube channel for special interviews with Lightspeed founders all week. We just posted one with Yotam Segev, who is the CEO and co founder of Sierra, a company using AI to monitor cybersecurity. Thank you again to our friends at Lightspeed and the generous founders who have gave us their time to talk about robot brains, fusion, energy, space, satellites and more. Give our YouTube page a follow at Morning Brew Daily show to watch all weekend long. Now, Toby, I hope you don't mind, but I couldn't really find a good candidate for dog of the week, so I'm going to piggyback with another stock of the week. I promise it's interesting.

[B]

Piggyback away, Neil.

[A]

Okay, My stock of the week is Toto, the Japanese high end toilet maker. Its stock just had its best day in five years shooting up 11%. But here's the thing. The surge has nothing to do with increasing demand for futuristic toilets and everything to do with the AI infrastructure build out. It starts to make sense when you learn that Toto has a separate business making what's known as electrostatic chucks that are used in the chip making process. Toto uses its expertise in ceramics that go in its toilets to produce these chucks and demand for chucks is expected to boom alongside AI. And I just got a shot in the arm from none other than Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia at Davos this week. Huang said that the AI boom has started the largest infrastructure buildout in human history, claiming that trillions of dollars will be spent on powering the next industrial revolution. Those comments lifted the stocks of AI companies across the board, including the AI stock. You never thought about Toto toilets?

[B]

This is so funny. Like what do you mean? The same ceramic that you sit on on a toilet is perfect for the AI revolution as well. It's not the exact same but their advances in ceramic technology do translate very well to this industry. They have great strength. When they compare them to different metals they it's lighter than metal. It does not fear electrically with chip making tools. That is why ceramic is such in high demand right now. And I do just want to zoom out a little bit to the wider memory industry right now because it is ripping. It is unbelievable. The stocks that are doing well not only in Korea with sk, Hynix and Samsung who are have seen stock run ups, but also American companies like Micron and Sandisk are doing well. Micron is up 250% over the last six months. It's now the 25th biggest company in the entire US and SanDisk, the little things used to plug into your computer in school is up over 1000% in the past six months. That sentence alone is very difficult to get used to saying. So toss in Toto and its electrostatic chucks. You never know what's going to pop.

[A]

These days and it's not so unique for a Japanese company that makes something entirely different to also have a product, a similar product. In the semiconductor supply chain, there's an MSG seasoning inventor center that makes chip insulating films, which is because it's so good about amino acids. And there's a cosmetic firms that sells facial cleaners, but it also has a chip wafer cleaning business. So they've been making chips for decades in Japan. So if you have a factory and you make something that could potentially be, you know, massaged a little bit to fit into the semiconductor supply chain, you're going to do it. And these companies are seeing huge successes because of the AI boom.

[B]

We're treating this as like a fun side business for Toto, but at this point, it's basic. It's almost their main business. 42% of its total operating income came from this neck of the woods. So at a certain point, maybe it's not a toilet company anymore. It becomes, you know, an electrostatic truck company.

[A]

Okay, but it's. But just know that the demand for toilets, for their Japanese high tech toilets is actually booming here. Toto's profits in the Americas have grown more than Eightfold over the past five years. More than two in five renovating homeowners in the US Are choosing to install toilets with specialty features like bidets, like heating. This is all the stuff that Toto has really pioneered, and so people are really embracing it here.

[B]

Let's sprint to the finish with some final headlines. OpenAI's quest to kill the iPhone is kicking off in earnest this year, according to comments from its chief of global affairs this week. Speaking to Axios, he confirmed that OpenAI is on track to unveil its first hardware device in the second half of this year. Coinciding with that confirmation, some leaks revealed that the device, spearheaded by former Apple design chief Jony I've could be a pair of earbuds if that wasn't spicy enough. The rumor mill also turned out a report that Apple is working on a wearable air pin of its own that resembles an air tag. Neal. Right now, glasses are the dominant form factor. But in the span of a few days, two totally new approaches look to be coming for our ears and our chests.

[A]

Yeah, here's where big tech stands right now in terms of AI hardware. We have Google going in on glasses, Metta going in on glass. It's been very successful so far. Open air, maybe earbuds, and then Apple is going with a pin. What do you, you know, where do you think this shakes out?

[B]

I mean, we've already seen a pin fail.

[A]

So from two former Apple execs who created Humane yeah, and that company got.

[B]

Sold for pennies to hp. So it is fascinating that Apple saw that and still is going the pin route. Maybe they have a technological leg up because they have manufactured a lot of air tags and they are very familiar with that form factor. The ear buds is interesting. This is codename Sweet Pea. Sam Altman and co have kind of hyped this up as being a very simple device. And you know what's more simple than essentially an AirPod knockoff that whispers sweet nothings powered by AI into your ear. So vastly different form factor from glasses though, which is the only thing that we've seen establish. I'm curious, you know, color me curious. I wonder what it's going to be like to always have all of the intelligence of humanity whispering in my ear.

[A]

And two years Toby's going to have the earbuds, the glasses, and then he's going to be wearing a pen as well.

[B]

What you hear come out of my mouth on the podcast will have been filtered by a million alarms before it reaches your ears.

[A]

Next, can you guess the best selling album of all time in the United States? I'll tell you. It's the Eagles. Their Greatest Hits, 1971-1975. And it just became the first record to officially surpass 40 million units. The Recording Industry association of America, which tracks U.S. sales and streaming equivalents, gave it the official quadruple diamond stamp, an unprecedented feat for an album that was released almost exactly 50 years ago. Fresh off making history, the Eagles are not taking it easy. They're launching their 12 final shows at the Sphere in Las Vegas tonight, which will set a record for the longest running residency at the venue.

[B]

40 million is a lot of albums. The top three is kind of a fun trivia fact. Obviously the Eagles are in first runner up is Michael Jackson's thriller, which is 34 times platinum. A platinum means you've sold a million units. And then in third place, it's the Eagles once again with Hotel California, which is 20 has sold 28 million units. It's also been interesting how certification of platinum and diamond status has changed over time because obviously album sales are not the primary way people consume music. Streaming service is. And so if you stream an album 1500 times, that is now equal to one album sale. So someone out there really loves the Eagles.

[A]

It might be, you know, someone out there.

[B]

A lot of people out there really love Eagles. Everyone does. All right, finally, Alex Honnold is Going to make you squirm. This weekend, the rock climber of free solo fame is back and ready to make your hands sweat. This Friday, live on Netflix, he will climb the futuristic looking skyscraper Taipei 101. Again. That is live. No ropes on Netflix. Neil, I was reading some interviews with Honda, the head of the event. This dude is not normal. The New York Times asked him if he's worried he'll slip and he laughed and said, you just hold on tight. They also ask him if he's practiced a lot on the building and he said he's climbed it two or three times. Is it two or three times, Alex? I have to know. Anyways, for Netflix, it's another foray into live entertainment and certainly its most dangerous one.

[A]

So Honnold's not going to be the first climber ever to ascend the sky scraper. Someone did it. Elaine Robert is a French rock climber. Did in 2004 when they opened this building. You got to look at this building. It's super cool. I wouldn't ever want to climb it, but I love looking at it from afar. So he did it with a rope. So Alex Honnold is going to be the first person to try without a rope. And yeah, he just is like so nonchalant about it. He said, I don't think it'll be that extreme. We'll see. I think it's the perfect sweet spot where it's hard enough to be engaging for me and obviously an interesting climb. What you want to pay attention to is the middle section. There's 64 floors in this. In this section they're called the bamboo boxes and there's going to be overhanging climbing and you basically go eight floors and there's a balcony. You go eight floors and there's a balcony. So he could kind of bail if he wanted at that section, but that's supposed to be the most challenging section.

[B]

A lot of people are a little mad at Alex Honnold for even attempting this because you know, he's married now. He's kind of entering the next stage of his life and they're like, why do you feel the need to do this stuff? But maybe the same way that we feel walking outside and just walking down the street. This is how he feels about climbing a building because the holds are very predictable. You know, it's not millimeter on a rock face probably. Compared to El Capitan, this does feel a little bit easier, but still a daredevil stunt for someone at a different part of his life now.

[A]

And if you want to watch through, you know, one Hand. It'll be streamed on Netflix Friday, January 23rd at 8pm Eastern. And there will be a 10 second delay which you can read between the lines. All right, that is all the time we have. Thanks for starting our morning with us. Have a wonderful Friday and an even better weekend. If you're one of the tens of millions of people in the path of the winter storm, please stay safe. If you want to get in touch, send an email to Morning Brew daily at Morning Broadcom or DM us on Instagram @MB. Daily show let's roll the credits. Emily Milian is our executive producer. Raymond Lu is our producer. Our associate producers are Olivia Graham and Olivia Lake. Big shout out to our AV team here in Switzerland, Mood Studios. You guys were incredible. Hair and makeup. You better pick us up from the airport. Devin Emery is our president and our show is a production of Morning Brew.

[B]

Great show today, Neil. I wish you all well.