PivotEveryone Wrote Off Hunter Biden. Then He Started Posting | Pivot
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
70 min read · 14,272 words- 0:00 – 0:17
Intro
- KSKara Swisher
What did they want from Professor Galloway?
- SGScott Galloway
To do one or more of those Andy Rooney segments.
- KSKara Swisher
So you're Andy Rooney.
- SGScott Galloway
You know what really bothers me about soda pop is...
- KSKara Swisher
[upbeat music] We've got a lot to get to, so let's dig in.
- 0:17 – 6:31
Hunter Biden on X
- KSKara Swisher
Hunter Biden, he's into his act too, and I'm loving it. He's, he has fame on X. Former president's son now has seven hundred thousand followers on the platform after he re-emerged last month saying, "I'm Hunter Biden. You ne- never actually heard from me." Since then, he's taken this incredibly candid approach. He's quite canny at social media, joking about his previous controversies, including drug use. In one post, he addressed the bag of cocaine found at the White House in twenty twenty-three, saying it definitely wasn't his because he would never forget in his... forgotten his drugs. In another, he replied to an accusation that he was part of an elite oligarch class with a selfie of himself at a Super Eight motel off I-Ninety-Five. Um, it's really interesting 'cause he's actually engaging with MAGA people a lot, and they're kind of liking it. They're kind of liking him. Really interesting. I know it's kind of silly and sort of meme-y, but I gotta say, I, I find it very interesting how he's doing it. It's authenticity, I guess. Any thoughts?
- SGScott Galloway
I think pe- yeah, he's, like, he's funny.
- KSKara Swisher
Self-deprecating.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, and I think people love that kind of vulnerability and honesty. And also, I think, I'm, I'm on this anti-optimization kick or-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Good
- SGScott Galloway
... I think the, I think the optimization trend has just gotten way too fucking far.
- KSKara Swisher
It has.
- SGScott Galloway
And you see that the... if you're truly about optimizing, you go to eighty percent. Eighty percent of good sleep, good health, good nutrition, and then you indulge the other twenty percent. You don't want your metrics to consume the joy in your life. [laughs] And I also, I think people are just sort of ready for a funny guy who smokes crack. I, [laughs] I don't-
- KSKara Swisher
Right. Well, he doesn't anymore, so that's very funny. [laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
Uh-huh. Anyways.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay. All right.
- SGScott Galloway
Um, from what I've heard, it has, it's pretty addictive. But anyways-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Mm-hmm
- SGScott Galloway
... I, I hope for him that he's no longer smoking crack.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
But I think Hunter, he's, he's just a unique personality. He's got, he's got that kind of, I don't know, for lack of a better term, that Twitter rizz. Um, but the thing that kicked it off, and I hate to admit this, was his interview with Candace Owens.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. That was interesting.
- SGScott Galloway
That was part of his comeback tour.
- KSKara Swisher
It was strange. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And I, I, I, I refused to watch it 'cause my understanding is he, he kind of indulged her conspiracy theories-
- KSKara Swisher
I would agree
- SGScott Galloway
... on Israel-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... Charlie Kirk, and Trump's assassination-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... attempts.
- KSKara Swisher
Or he didn't push back. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
But the Google, the Google search on Hunter Biden is, is skyrocketed. He is, you know, he's an interesting guy, and there's, get this, there's now a twenty-six percent chance on Kalshi that he runs for president in twenty twenty-eight.
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, [laughs] no. He's never gonna be our president.
- SGScott Galloway
One in four chance.
- 6:31 – 32:21
“60 Minutes” Fallout
- KSKara Swisher
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, the moron, has inserted himself in the 60 Minutes drama. I don't know why, 'cause he's supposed to be deciding on this. Carr posted on X about fired correspondent Scott Pelley after Pelley spoke to The New York Times, responding to a comment about how Pelley was surprised he got fired. Carr, the moron, wrote, "One of the reasons why trusted media is low, so many legacy journalists are completely out of touch. You do not get away with that behavior in any run-of-the-mill job." Well, yes, Brendan, you moron. He was asking a basic question of why were people who were-- had no reason to be fired, got fired. Anyway, w- he should not be weighing in. Neither should any of those people, though Pelley says CBS manager the ones out of touch. Let's listen to a clip, clip from an extraordinary interview he did with a friend of mine, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, at The New York Times. It was full of stuff, so let's listen to it.
- SGScott Galloway
Of course, we have to reach out to a younger and younger audience. Um, but their argument about joining the internet age is just disingenuous. Um, it's almost as if Barry Weiss and Nick Bilton were sealed in a time capsule in 1990, and it just cracked open. They've just discovered the internet, and they're running around telling everybody how important it is. At CBS News, yeah, uh, join the fight.
- KSKara Swisher
Anyway, [laughs] I love his voice.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, that's right.
- KSKara Swisher
It was such a good burn.
- SGScott Galloway
Very good.
- KSKara Swisher
We've been saying that. It's not the-- Everyone knows this. It's not new, fresh things. Um, so I wanna talk about this in a different way. I mean, I thought the interview was extraordinary and extremely damaging. Um, that said, I don't know if something's gonna happen about it. Um, but I, we had a great talk last night. Scott called me, and there's a business aspect to this I really wanna talk about. Obviously, the interview was really a lot, including this idea that he put his hands on Nick, Nick Bilton, who's g- who was put in place to run 60 Minutes, a lot of controversy around him, um, which didn't turn out to be true. But this one executive, Tom, and I don't know how to s-- I can't pronounce his last name. Anyway, he was saying that he t- he tried to manhandle Nick Bilton, which wasn't true, and then said, "Oh, okay, you didn't." Like, the lack of reporting on the behalf of CBS management is really quite striking. Um, and Scott called him out, Scott Pelley, whose voice is fanti-- mellifluous, um, mellifluous, whatever. Uh, but you had this really great take about business, and I'd love you to reel it out a little bit, 'cause I thought it was different than the typical "those fuckers" kinda thing, which, in fact, they are fuckers, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, I think if you just look at the industrial logic or lack thereof, you get to what's going on here, and that is, this is a, a, a rare instance of broadcast media performing well. And so from an industrial logic standpoint, you just wouldn't fuck with it, and we use the analogy performing open heart surgery on your best performing player.
- KSKara Swisher
I love that. I thought that was so smart.
- SGScott Galloway
Makes no sense, right? So why does this make sense? Because regardless of whether you like the Ellisons or not, David Ellison is a smart guy. His father is a brilliant business person [chuckles] . He just is. And they understand, they may not understand media or journalism, but they understand culture incentives, and they vastly understand shareholder value.
- KSKara Swisher
I would say Larry does, but go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
Fair enough. Um, although I, I, I would argue his son at least seems competent. Um-
- KSKara Swisher
He's competent. He's competent. Not around media, but he's good at making Maverick Top Gun. But go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
So the question is, why would they, why would they fuck with something that's working?
- KSKara Swisher
Yes.
- SGScott Galloway
[chuckles] I mean, that's the question. So it becomes, all right, first off, and this is where I go to, while journalists and media are obsessed with themselves and think this is, like, an attack on democracy and journalism, I understand that the chill on journalism and that journalism is a key component of democracy. I'm of the camp that, quite frankly, if The Washington Post and 60 Minutes go away, journalism's gonna be just fine. That's not to say we shouldn't be concerned. That's not to say this isn't another example of Trump trying to put a chill on journalism. I get it. When you try and encourage taking vaccines off the market, I think that is a real existential threat to the health and well-being of Americans. I think if 60 Minutes were to go away, those people are gonna find amazing jobs and create reasonable facsimiles of, of incredible journalism as they've continued to produce at 60 Minutes. Now-
- KSKara Swisher
May I just push back a tiny bit? This-
- SGScott Galloway
Go ahead
- KSKara Swisher
... that's not true. They are an important, of the many fixtures, and it's working. I do think it's more than that, and what Scott Pelley was asking, "Why are you firing competent people who, who are doing a great job?" And I do think they're important. I think that it's important to have a top, a top of the food chain and a lower part too, and it's sort of... So I don't, I do think fucking with The Washington Post is very damaging 'cause of the, some of the stuff they do, and, and fucking with 60 Minutes, same thing. So go ahead.
- SGScott Galloway
And, and I believe that those journalists and their, their outstanding work and their willingness to take truth to power will find a ton of different vessels if The Washington Post-
- KSKara Swisher
Maybe
- SGScott Galloway
... and 60, 60 Minutes as a construct go away.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay. All right.
- SGScott Galloway
I don't think it's a threat to journalism.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay.
- SGScott Galloway
As evidenced by what you're doing and hundreds of other interesting new companies are doing. Having said that, what's interesting here is just looking at it through a business lens.
- KSKara Swisher
Yes. Please do, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
It doesn't make any sense to go up to Derek Jeter and say, "We don't like you. We wanna bench you." Uh, or to g-- It's like benching Lionel Messi in the World Cup. It just doesn't make any industrial logic. And so if you go up the food chain, it's one of two things here. Either the Ellisons are so passionate about having a viewpoint that puts, puts forward a more conservative viewpoint that they're willing to take these risks and potentially... kill Messi, right? Before the World Cup or whatever. I don't, and I don't think that's it. I think that the math is pretty straightforward here. I think the Ellisons, the owners of Warner Media, the new owners, have decided there's more economic upside if they do Trump's bidding and potentially lose value at 60 Minutes. It's not economically an important business to CBS. It might have a halo effect on the whole thing.
- KSKara Swisher
Sure does, yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
But even CBS, the network itself, I think the Ellisons have done the math and decided that we would rather, there is more, and this is a problem with an autocracy, and this is a bigger indictment in our society. I think the Ellisons have done the math and say, "We would rather risk killing a healthy player that's a small business and currying favor with a guy who can give us TikTok on a platter at 80% off." I think they're-
- 32:21 – 40:46
SpaceX IPO Approaches
- KSKara Swisher
Scott, we're back. I thought you did a great job sort of analyzing the, the SpaceX IPO. It really helped me, and a lot of people were telling me that. But the company is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq this Friday in what could be the largest IPO in history. A lot of moving parts. A couple things we've learned in the last few days. SpaceX has set its share price at $135, giving the company a valuation of roughly one point seven seven trillion. You said it would be under two, $2 trillion. It won't be fast-tracked onto the S&P 500. This is a new development after the index decided not to change its rules for these mega cap IPOs. Thank you. They probably got a lot of pushback from people. And there's more. SpaceX also made a major deal with Google selling off its seed corn. Google will pay SpaceX nine hundred and twenty million dollars a month over the next three years for computing power. That includes access to at least a hundred and ten thousand NVIDIA chips. Elon was smart to grab those. This is similar to a deal that SpaceX recently made with Anthropic, so it's becoming an infrastructure provider, essentially. Google, which is already an investor in SpaceX, everybody is, by the way, is calling this a short-term timely agreement to ensure they can keep up with surging AI demand. They will go get their own stuff later, and they're not gonna rent it. Um, talk about what's happening now and what you see happening in the ne- 'cause it's ne- the next week and, and the deal, and we're gonna talk a lot about the IPO on Friday, obviously, but right now, going into it, how are you looking at it?
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, it's just so interesting, and, and my, my judgment is clouded because I've been so wrong about Elon Musk's adventures in, in, in the market, and the-- I haven't fully appreciated what a meme stock he is in everything he touches. So look, uh, Alphabet agreed to pay SpaceX almost a billion dollars a month for compute capacity from X AI-- from X AI data centers. What's interesting is that they overbuilt, and it ends up that's fine 'cause they can just rent the capacity out to someone else at probably a higher price than they'd originally anticipated. Like, SpaceX's current multiple, it's going out at ninety-four times revenues. The deal would value, um, uh, a, a deal that would total at least, you know, o- o- one trillion in additional market cap from if you just v- valued this, what it should, should trade at, trade at versus its competitors, even being generous. Uh, what does it matter for Alphabet? It owns a, it owns a six percent stake in SpaceX, which it purchased in twenty fifteen. So, uh, and they did this when the company was valued at just twelve billion dollars, so six percent of a one trillion in market cap is about sixty billion or more than five X.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Remember, remember when Yahoo had the Google stake? That was one of the big things they got out of it. An- anyway, they had a big stake in Google.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, the... By them agreeing to buy, purchase this compute, when you look at the multiple, for every dollar they spend on compute, they're technically getting five back in the increase in the value of their stake in SpaceX.
- KSKara Swisher
Right. Yeah. Yeah, smart.
- SGScott Galloway
So we talk about these circular deals, but this one looks like a no-brainer for Google.
- KSKara Swisher
Right. Right.
- SGScott Galloway
So I think SpaceX's multiple will deflate dramatically as revenues grow, but the point stands. You know, Alphabet has a vested interest in SpaceX's revenues going up. And then, and then look, I, I, I think in the last just seven days, l- maybe fourteen, there has been a dramatic vibe shift, and that is this study that came out at MIT that said ninety-five percent of CFOs are stating that they're not getting the return they'd initially anticipated. I was on-
- KSKara Swisher
In, in AI. In AI
- SGScott Galloway
... in AI.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep.
- SGScott Galloway
I was on, um, a webinar hosted by Section talking about AI, and the comments I would describe is whenever people come in and talk about the brave new world of AI, it's like a giant fucking eye roll. People are really, in the business world, are starting to sour on the brave new world of AI. And this will-- this won't be the same litmus test directly as, as Anthropic or OpenAI, and I'm curious if you sense this, but I sense a little bit of like, "You know what? This is beginning to f- feel like bullshit." The job apocalypse everyone's been predicting is not here. The, the, the, you know, notion that this is gonna change absolutely everything, the idea that we're gonna have one-person companies that could be billion-dollar unicorns.
- KSKara Swisher
Right. Remember that one?
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, you know, the... I had the CEO of, uh, of Lilly on. He said, "AI's ability to accelerate drug discovery is vastly overhyped." I just wonder if people are beginning to say, "Okay, this is beginning to feel a little ninety-nine." It feels like there's been a tangible vibe shift around AI in the last few weeks. Do you sense the same thing?
- KSKara Swisher
And then what, how does, how does it affect the SpaceX IP- IPO? Because there's star, there's other businesses in here. Is it just 'cause this is an AI IPO or...?
- SGScott Galloway
Well, the, the AI that's got attached to it, as I refer to affectionately as a money furnace-Is, I mean, there's no doubt he's, he's saddled, he's turned a great space business into a company hemorrhaging money because he's gonna try and fund and play catch-up in AI. What's interesting is he's, it looks like he's got a, a rip cord here in the form that he's now renting out his infrastructure, but nothing, nothing feels or says froth in a market like a ninety-four times revenue valuation.
- KSKara Swisher
Right. But is that Elon or AI? That's the que- Is it just the Elon-ness of it?
- SGScott Galloway
I think the answer is yes. I think Elon-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... I think the Elon plus AI plus rockets-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... um, in the rocket business or the, the Starlink business is a great business.
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
But my God, ninety-four times revenues?
- KSKara Swisher
Thirty-five. So what happens, give me like the day of, the week after, and the six months after. Everyone is predicting trough after, like pretty quickly after, relatively quickly after, not immediately.
- SGScott Galloway
You know, I've gotten this so wrong, Kara, but I, people have called me and asked me to participate in the IPOs they've got allocation. I said I wouldn't get near SpaceX, and if you do, I would sell on the first trade. I think SpaceX is about to hit a ten-year high on the minute it goes public, meaning it'll be all downhill from there. I just don't see how it just- even with s- even with, even with Elon and AI and rockets, I don't see how it justifies it.
- KSKara Swisher
And he's gonna put robots everywhere and cars that, you know, all the promises are still that, and they're tough ones. They're tough promises he's gotta keep.
- SGScott Galloway
Hundred percent. The, the one I'm most or least sanguine about or at least pessimistic on is Anthropic because the momentum is so dramatic there.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. So you'd buy into that?
- SGScott Galloway
Uh, I would buy into the IPO. I'm not sure it'd be a long-term hold based on the valuations going at on it.
- 40:46 – 48:36
Trump Floats AI Equity Deal
- KSKara Swisher
Donald Trump is looking into the government stake in AI companies. Oh, buy at the top. So American people can, quote, "benefit from the success of AI." He says leaders of all the big AI companies are coming to the White House as early this week to discuss the idea. I mean, it's such a socialist thing. OpenAI and the White House are in ongoing talks about government stake, according to CNBC. This is something that Sam Altman has been floating for a while. He needs the help, as you were just noting. Altman was in DC last week and met with Senator Bernie Sanders, who's been pitching a similar plan because he's, you know, a socialist. Uh, Sanders is proposing a sovereign wealth fund, creating a one-time fifty percent tax on all, on the stock of AI companies, giving the public a direct ownership stake. Talk to me about this, 'cause I don't, I don't love it. I feel like, what? Like I get, I get that, for example, the government gave a loan to Tesla when it was in trouble and didn't get anything back for it, and Elon got all the juicies, but that's what the government is there for, and they got, they got their loan paid back, but they didn't get a stake, and I think that was okay. But I don't know. What do you think?
- SGScott Galloway
It is very easy once you get elected and everyone thinks you're great and you have power to get, start thinking you can control industrial policy and start picking winners and losers. It is very tempting. That's socialism. You control the means of production. When you do that, and you start believing you're better than the private market and the full-body contact violence of capitalist private markets, you end up with warehouses in Ireland full of unsold DeLoreans and Air France. It does not work. If you want to support an industry, like the CHIPS Act, everyone gets the same opportunity and the same subsidies. If you want to support the EV market and you give tax credits-
- KSKara Swisher
Subsidies
- SGScott Galloway
... and subsidies, everyone's available to it. When you put a golden share into U.S. Steel or invest in Intel, you have decided you're smarter than the market. You are always, always wrong. This is socialism. This is, this is cronyism. It never works for the economy. At the same time, Bernie Sanders is equally wrong. Taxes that are industry specific don't work. They came up with the same nonsense idea around oil and gas when they were printing money in the '70s and '80s, because then what happens? Is Microsoft an AI company? If we start producing podcasts with AI, are we an AI company? Is Apple an AI company? We need a more progressive tax structure that taxes our most successful companies, whether it's Anthropic or whether it's Apple or whether it's Novo Nordisk or whether it's Eli Lilly. We need a more... Yeah, but when you go, industry specific taxation doesn't work because then capital starts picking industries based on taxes, not where the greatest return or innovation is.It, it is, it is bullshit populism going after a specific industry. It creates a ton of bureaucratic unnatural acts across capital allocation.
- KSKara Swisher
Right. Why AI? Why not, why don't we own, like, the hotdog franchise?
- SGScott Galloway
What about cigarette companies? Shouldn't, sh- I mean-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, I know. Like, what else can we have?
- SGScott Galloway
Bur- I, I love Senate-
- KSKara Swisher
McDonald's.
- SGScott Galloway
Let's have a-
- KSKara Swisher
Americans like McDonald's
- SGScott Galloway
... let's have a more progressive tax rate for McDonald's and Anthropic and OpenAI. And-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah, why not others?
- SGScott Galloway
Y- uh, that's it. Industry-specific taxation doesn't work, and if you want to invest in native industries or orphan industries or industries that have strategic importance, fine. But when Donald Trump, a failed businessperson, [laughs] gets into the business-
- KSKara Swisher
Like mRNA technology, which they took away stuff. Like, that's already getting a lot of private funding, but it needs government funding.
- SGScott Galloway
The CHIPS Act made sense.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
It makes sense, but everybody gets access to it, right?
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
Every company, you're not picking winners and losers.
- KSKara Swisher
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
And so just as, just as Trump is trying to pick winners, that is no better nor n- any worse than Sanders trying to pick losers and deciding what-
- KSKara Swisher
Why is Altman going to the White House to do? 'Cause he needs the support, right? It gives him support, gives him a little bit of-
- SGScott Galloway
The biggest bailout-
- KSKara Swisher
... s- stable support. Stable support, yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... the biggest bailout since the banking industry bailout will be the following, but it'll be s- positioned as growth. There will be some sort of government-backed debt offering or backstop for AI companies who can't afford the infrastructure spent they have committed to when it's clear these valuations are not gonna hold up, and also Trump realizes the entire economy he has bet on AI. The biggest bailout that'll be positioned as a, quote-unquote, "growth opportunity" for the U.S. government-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah, we'll get, we'll be holding the bag. The taxpayer will hold the bag
- SGScott Galloway
... right, Trump, Trump will, Trump will position it as, "I'm a smart businessman. We have an opportunity to invest in this."
- KSKara Swisher
No, he sucks.
- SGScott Galloway
It is going to be a bailout.
- 48:36 – 55:13
Siri Overhaul
- KSKara Swisher
Siri overhaul at its annual developers conference. Oh my God, you think? The new Siri features a chatbot s- uh, style app and uses Google Gemini technology and AI-powered web search. Siri will be able to understand personal data and analyze on-screen content, and users will be able to return to their prior conversations. The conference is the last of Tim Cook's tenure before he hands the reins to John Ternus. They've been t- there was a good story about how behind they were, uh, you know, Tim saying they were behind on AI and not doing enough. I think Siri has been, um, one of the worst things they've ever done. It's so useless. I was walking here from the subway. I was in Manhattan this morning meet, doing some meetings, and I gotta tell you, Scott, like, it couldn't call Amanda. Like, it can't do things. It sucks. Siri sucks, soYou know, and I'm not gonna be happy that it just is workable at this point. I'm just... I, I find it useless, and I think Apple has really missed a boat here for many years. For decades even. Your thoughts?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. We've talked about this. I mean, it's right up there with the Cybertruck, uh, for, like, the biggest product fails, and that's unusual for Apple. Um, it, it... The, the rebuilt Siri runs on a custom one point two trillion parameter Gemini model under a deal worth approximately a billion a year to Google, and it's a three-tier routing system that handles queries on device for simple tasks, Apple's private cloud for moderate requests, and Google's NVIDIA B200 GPUs are used for heavy reasoning, and they're claiming the new capabilities are multi-step commands, persistent conversation history synced via iCloud, and an on-screen awareness. It's being launched as a standalone app for the first time, and they've delayed the overall twice. The original AI boss left the company before it shipped, and critics warn that Apple is surrendering AI to Google the same way it surrendered search, and deepening the reliance on a competitor I would argue was a smart move 'cause of the licensing deal. Um, um, and John Turnus, you know, he might, he might switch direction and wanna put his, his mark on this thing. It's a big... It's a make or... I don't know if it's a make or break bet for Apple, but it's important because as of-
- KSKara Swisher
It is
- SGScott Galloway
... earlier this year, they were the only big tech company whose CapEx decreased from last year. I'm not sure that's, that's a bad thing, but if you think about a market... I mean, I, I, I accidentally turn on Siri by hitting the wrong button on my phone 10 times a day, which mean it... which means it is the most accessible AI in the world. If I'm constantly bringing up AI accidentally on my iPhone, that means it's the most acc- that it's the most accessible AI in history, and for them not to be figuring out a way to get some of that AI juju, i- you know, it feels like a missed opportunity. Even if it means outsourcing [chuckles] all of it to someone else, they should be the front end. And Siri is arguably... At this point, I wonder if Siri needs a rebrand because it's-
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... it's come to be, it's come to be emblematic of something that just doesn't work.
- KSKara Swisher
It doesn't work. And I do put a lot of trust in Apple in terms of privacy. I'm not worried about interacting with it as much, um, as I am... Like, you load up everything into AI, and I don't, and... but I feel I trust Apple, but it's incompetent. It's like having... It always... It's a bad assistant. I don't... can't believe it took this long for, for Tim to have this assessment. Um, but, uh, you know, one would imagine it's critical going forward, especially if they're going into glasses and things like that, you know, um, that you have this thing that just does what you s- ask it to do on a basic level, you know? There's AI in everything now, and so much of it is so bad, and it's a missed opportunity 'cause they're so good at everything else.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, the best experience I've had with Apple AI happened this morning. I was working out, and as always, I was listening to my mix of ELO and R.E.M. in excess.
- KSKara Swisher
I love ELO.
- SGScott Galloway
And CapCut... For some reason, I have the app CapCut on my phone.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And immediately it said, "Learn more about CapCut's editing features." And I'm like... And I just instinctively went, "Oh, God. Fuck off." And Siri responded, "I won't respond to that."
- KSKara Swisher
Oh, yeah. It does that. When you curse at it-
- SGScott Galloway
[laughs]
- KSKara Swisher
... it totally has a-
- SGScott Galloway
It, "I won't..." It was chastising me. [laughs]
- KSKara Swisher
I know.
- SGScott Galloway
It kind of made me laugh out loud.
- KSKara Swisher
It does that when you call them stupid. When I called s- Siri stupid-
- SGScott Galloway
"I won't respond to that"
- KSKara Swisher
... which I do on a daily basis-
- SGScott Galloway
Okay
- KSKara Swisher
... it was like, "I'm sorry you feel that way."
- SGScott Galloway
So I've been saying to everyone that I won't respond to that. Anyways, that's, that's the best experience with Apple I've had.
- KSKara Swisher
Anyway, good luck, Apple. Make it better. We d- we have very low expectations that you will. All right, Scott, one more quick break. We'll be back for wins and fails. [gentle music]
- SGScott Galloway
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- KSKara Swisher
Okay, Scott. Uh, some wins
- 55:13 – 1:08:44
Wins and Fails
- KSKara Swisher
and fails.
- SGScott Galloway
You go first.
- KSKara Swisher
Okay. The win, I was just struck by this. There's all these movies that people are going to the movies for, Obsessions and Backrooms, which just started on YouTube-y kind of things, but they're wonderful. I think people really like them. I don't think just because they start on YouTube they have to be bad. But domestic box office crossed a billion dollars last month, a number not seen since before COVID, which is interesting, and that's without a Marvel movie. Which I think is nice. There's a lot of really interesting things out there that are doing well, lots of different interesting movies. Um, the big winners right now are the Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, which I have not seen 'cause it doesn't include some other stuff about him that I think needs to be there, and The Devil Wears Prada 2, starring Kara Swisher, of course. Um, but there's... It's just nice. You're seeing a lot of that, and I do... I, I've noticed I've gone to the movies recently. I know you don't, but I, I hadn't, and now I am 'cause I wanna see them in the movie theaters, and there's a couple movies I do wanna see in the, in the movies thea- theaters, including the next Top Gun. David Ellison, I think you do a m- let me pay you a compliment because I never do. You'd make a marvelous Top Gun movie, and I like your Star Trek work, and Mission Impossible. My fail is the 60 Minutes thing 'cause it's so unnecessary and stupid, and, and I know reporters I agree with you can be, like, a little bit, you know, self-serious and, you know, pompous and stuff. Like, in this case, this... They really are right, and it's not s- They really are right. This is so dumb, and they c- if they can't answer the question, "Why did you fire competent people?" If you can't actually even answer it internally, there's something wrong with you. And at the same time, the, my two favorite phrases right now are, um, my one favorite phrase that I'm using a lot now, and, uh, poor Nick had... He, when he was leaving with that fraught meeting with Scott, uh, Pelley, um, he was, he said, as he was leaving, he sort of flounced out 'cause he was getting fried by Scott, and Scott is a tough guy. Um, he said, "Enjoy the bagels?" [chuckles] There, there, some people from 60 Minutes said they're gonna make secret T-shirts called "Enjoy the bagels!" Exclamation point. Um, and I just enjoy that, but I don't enjoy any of the rest of it. I don't. I think it's sad, and, uh, it's unnecessary and stupid. Um, so anyway, that's my fail.
- SGScott Galloway
I like it. Um-
- KSKara Swisher
Enjoy the bagels, Scott.
- SGScott Galloway
There you go. Enjoy the bagels. So look, my win is, uh, uh, the, the death of higher education has been greatly exaggerated. Applications are up, but that's not my win. My win is our great public universities. Uh, one of the most underreported stories in America right now, I think, is that the market is finally disciplining higher education, and that is families are waking up and realizing that paying a half a million dollars for a bachelor's degree-
- KSKara Swisher
Yes, indeed
- SGScott Galloway
... is a luxury good masquerading as an investment. And applications to our flagship public universities, which are a much better value, are exploding. The University of Texas at Austin received more than ninety thousand applications, up twenty-five percent year on year.
- KSKara Swisher
Amazing.
- SGScott Galloway
While applications at places like the University of Virginia, University of Michigan, have surged to record levels.
- KSKara Swisher
Go Blue. My son's there. Alex is there.
- SGScott Galloway
The university, uh, the, my alma mater, UCLA, gets a hundred and sixty thousand applications. [chuckles] They get the number of a small city. And why are they doing this? Because we're coming to an uncomfortable truth, and that is after your first job, you know, people g- people care that you got into a good school, but they don't care if it's a good school or, quote unquote, "an elite school." They just wanna know that you went to a good school, and they also care whether you can just do the work. And they-
- KSKara Swisher
They're also great schools. Let me just say, for Michigan, it's substantively less expensive than Lewis School.
- SGScott Galloway
UC San Diego.
- KSKara Swisher
Than NYU, I'm sorry to tell you substantively.
- SGScott Galloway
University of North Carolina.
- KSKara Swisher
Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
I mean, these are outstanding schools that, guess what, folks?
- KSKara Swisher
It wasn't cheap. Can we just point out, it wasn't cheap, but it was substantively more, less expensive.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, it was less expensive. It... I'm not saying, I'm not saying it's a good value. I'm saying it's a much better value.
- KSKara Swisher
It is. Yeah.
- SGScott Galloway
And the ROI gap that you're referring to is staggering. At many flagship state schools, an in-state student can graduate with tens or even hundreds of thousands less debt than access and access comparable employers, alumni networks, and graduate school opportunities. You know, the elite schools have spent thirty years turning themselves into luxury brands, and the public flagships spent thirty years building capacity, research, and outcomes. And-
- KSKara Swisher
Did you see what I sent you, the numbers for those elite schools? They've gone up, like, o- over a hundred thousand each for each year. It's crazy. I sent you-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, it is crazy
- KSKara Swisher
... a chart. I was like, "What?" Like, even I who have recently paid for it was sort of flummoxed and upset.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. So look, the, the, the new, uh, uh, the new American dream isn't getting into Harvard. It's getting rejected by Harvard, and then going to Michigan or Texas, landing the same job, and using the quarter of a million dollars you saved as a down payment on a house. And I shit post higher ed all the time because I think me and my colleagues have been drunk on scarcity and reflect this dangerous trend towards rejectionism, where we feel good when we turn away ninety percent of our applicants, similar to a head of a homeless shelter bragging that he or she turned away nine in ten people last night. We are public servants, not Hermès bags. But I do think our great public universities are doing their level be- You go to the University of, of Wisconsin at Madison, and you see exactly what you should see. It's not, it's not, i- it- it's not the Ritz Carltons, Carlton Madison. The buildings are a little tired and haggard, and there's thousands of students floating in and out of their classes, and it's a bunch of middle-class kids from Wisconsin and Minneapolis who are not freakishly fucking remarkable. Some of them were captain of their class team. Most were not. Mo- most are socially conscious. Most have not figured out a freshwater startup to bring potable water to Rwanda.
- KSKara Swisher
[chuckles]
- SGScott Galloway
They're just good kids looking for great futures. A lot of our public universities are doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing.
- KSKara Swisher
Yep. And they're great.
- SGScott Galloway
And folks, when you hear someone saying, "Oh, our daughter, we're thinking that she doesn't need education because of AI or higher ed," that means she just got a twenty-two on the ACTHigher ed has never been more important. Critical thinking, social responsibility, getting along with others, relationships, getting your heart broken, breaking other hearts. If you are one of the one in, one-third of American public that has access to higher education, trust me on this, it is a really solid plan B, especially if you can go to one of our great public universities who are, continue to follow their mission. Anyways.
Episode duration: 1:08:45
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