AI perspective and friends & family funding
The business news that matters
Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Off to Lunch…
TCLtv+ Studios has dropped a trailer for a new film that could change the future of cinema as we know it. The rom-com, titled Next Stop Paris, is voiced and written by living, breathing people but the visuals are all AI-generated. What can this teach you about running your business? Read on…
While comments have been turned off on YouTube, that hasn’t stopped people weighing in with their opinions – and they aren’t complimentary. “Embarrassingly bad”, said one review; “absolute disaster” was another.
It’s hard not to disagree. But there is more at stake here than whether this one film is bad, given how early we are in the development of AI technology. It’s about the potential for disruption.
Last year, Hollywood writers were on strike for five months and one of the reasons for that was to stop AI being used to take replace them. This is a conversation that is also being had in the business world, and with every new development, this bigger picture becomes a little more clear.
Remember this picture of the Pope that fooled the world last year?
This was a real insight into our ability to sniff out the real from the fake. With the release of artificial intelligence firm OpenAI’s Sora, the game was considerably raised on the video side.
Yup, not one real puppy in this video… all AI.
History is littered with examples of future developments being doubted. How about these selected quotes from history?
“Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.” - Sir William Preece, British Post Office chief engineer, 1878
“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to no one in particular?” - Associates of David Sarnoff when he asked for investment in the radio, 1921
“There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.“ - Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, 2007
Every day, the development of AI is coming along in leaps and bounds. And there are analogies in the business world AI is not the same as it was yesterday, and neither is your business. I completely accept that a whole industry with huge investment and an individual business are not completely analogous but think about it – how much has your business changed in the past 12 months? How much could it change in the next 12? And are you prepared for that?
Podcast…
The new episode of our Business Leader podcast looks at one of the biggest airlines in Europe. Having taken its first flight in May 2004, today Wizz Air carries more than 60 million passengers every year and is valued at well over £2 billion after floating on the stock market in London.
József Váradi founded the company and has served as its chief executive since day dot and discusses how he founded and built the airline, the challenges he has faced and his fascinating views on what it is like running a UK-listed business…
You can listen to the episode on Substack here, Spotify here and Apple here
Other stories that matter…
1. There is mounting concern over the future of the City of London as new data finds that almost 10 per cent of its junior stock exchange have delisted in the past 12 months. Some 70 companies delisted from the Alternative Investment Market in the 12 months to the end of March, considerably more than 25 that did so in the year prior. You can read The Guardian’s coverage here.
2. Unilever, which owns brands such as Axe, Magnum, Dove and Ben & Jerry’s, is facing criticism from environmental groups after confirming it will scale back its environmental and social aims. In an interview with Bloomberg, CEO Hein Schumacher said that changes will be made to a range of issues including plastic usage and pay. You can read the full interview here.
3. The Times has done a fascinating deep dive into the world of the elite athletes who took part in yesterday’s London Marathon. The piece looks into the science behind shoes, nutrition and energy drinks, along with the key role age is now playing in the outcome of these long-distance races. You can read more here.
4. The Olympics is just over three months away and a flood of Parisians hoping to skip town and rent out their properties during the two-week event has seen rental prices plummet. One of the Games’s official partners, Airbnb, claims Paris 2024 is set to be “the biggest hosting event in Airbnb history.“ You can read more from The FT here.
5. Slightly too late 4/20 coverage comes from London-listed CBD and vape company Chill Brands. The company announced today that its CEO Callum Sommerton has been suspended over insider trading allegations. You can read more here.
And finally…
Happy Earth Day everyone. While there’s no topic more important, we’re going to finish today with a look at a particular source of funding.
When Joseph Cullen had the idea to set up a mineral exploration company, he knew he was going to need money to get the business started. But rather than going to a bank or an investment firm, he opted to go closer to home, borrowing $75,000 from a friend.
This is not a new story for many entrepreneurs. Many companies have been built on a solid foundation of a friends and family funding round. While the success stories warm the cockles of your heart, the stories on the more negative side of the spectrum are the stuff of nightmares. Our senior reporter, Patricia Cullen, has looked at how to protect all parties in these situations and shares a few stories of companies that have already got the T-shirt.
You can read the article here.
Thanks for reading. If you enjoy Off to Lunch then please share it with others and spread the word. If this newsletter was shared with you then please sign-up below to get Off to Lunch sent directly to your inbox