An alternative strategy would be to stack insane amounts of cash while every other competitor is blowing theirs, putting you in an incredible position to deploy capital whenever this bubble pops. This seems so much more obvious, to me at least. I think AI is the future but it’s far more likely than not that the current phase of the market is a bubble and unsustainable. What even has Meta produced with all this AI spend? I’m not even sure what race they’re in. It just seems like a big AGI or nothing gamble. Personally I would be watching all my competitors make that bet and laughing all the way to the bank as my financial position constantly improved relatively. A lot of your competitors are basically practising self harm right in front of you and you’re joining in? Maybe I’m the idiot who is missing something, but I just don’t get it.
That's a big risk for any market with first mover advantage / network effects.
How'd Microsoft's mobile efforts go?
Sometimes the lead quickly becomes insurmountable, so if you're sitting on a cash flow machine it's not a terrible idea to at least keep pace with new markets.
What is the risk for Meta? They will continue to be a social media company that prints money regardless. I'm arguing that they NEVER need to join the AI market, not try and jump in late.
Turn a potential existential competition into (a) maybe I win or (b) I commoditize the market and you can't make money at it either.