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by alephnerd 189 days ago
These kinds of parternships also throw in free inference with MFN clauses, which make a mutual moat.

A moat doesn't have to be a feature, and equity stakes have been fairly successful moats (eg. Much of AWS's ML services being powered by Anthropic models due to their equity stake in Anthropic).
1 comments
herbturbo 189 days ago
A moat is a permanent feature protecting a castle against attack. That’s the metaphor. If it’s not their own device intrinsically protecting them then it’s not a moat in my book.
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alephnerd 189 days ago
That is not how we use the term "moat" in this context, because competitors eventually converge on offerings within 1-2 years.

I don't need some stuck up HNer telling me about stuff I deal with in my day-to-day job.

Edit: can't reply

> a business deal that can be transferred to a new partner the second it expires is much more temporary

Generally, these kinds of equity deals include an MFN clause.

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afavour 189 days ago
> That is not how we use the term "moat" in this context, because competitors eventually converge on offerings within 1-2 years.

Then I guess we need a new term because that's not how I interpret the term moat either. To me, ChatGPT chat history is a moat. It allows them to differentiate their product and competitors cannot copy it. If someone switches to a new AI service they will have to build their chat history from scratch.

By comparison a business deal that can be transferred to a new partner the second it expires is much more temporary.

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jklinger410 189 days ago
> To me, ChatGPT chat history is a moat.

Every service has a chat history. You are talking about stickiness, which is (roughly) the same for every product.

ChatGPT wins a bit with stickiness because their AI personalizes itself to you over time, in a way that others don't quite do.

A moat is something unique. It can't really be a moat if all services offer it.

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