Disruptors disrupted; Bookshop.org ebooks; Krugman’s lament: Newsletter 29 January 2025
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Disruptors disrupted; Bookshop.org ebooks; Krugman’s lament: Newsletter 29 January 2025

ByJosh Bernoff

Newsletter 79: American tech pirates want protection from Chinese tech pirates, patent examiner crisis, data infrastructure erosion, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Nobody whines louder than a disrupted disruptor Chinese AI model Deepseek has thundered onto the scene, competing effectively with existing players like OpenAI and Meta while using far…

Scarlett Johansson, OpenAI, and the muddy forensics of AI content theft

Scarlett Johansson, OpenAI, and the muddy forensics of AI content theft

ByJosh Bernoff

In its latest announcement of the recent update ChatGPT-4o, OpenAI demonstrated how it more naturally interacts in voice conversations. (You can see some of that in this clip.) The AI’s voice, known as Sky, sounds a lot like the popular actress Scarlett Johansson. The question I’m pondering today is, if the voice was actually built…

Every business leader should read Charlene Li’s “The Disruption Mindset”

Every business leader should read Charlene Li’s “The Disruption Mindset”

ByJosh Bernoff

I’ve known Charlene Li a very long time. And I’m convinced that her new book, The Disruption Mindset: Why Some Organizations Transform While Others Fail is her finest accomplishment: a fundamentally important and influential strategy book that’s perfectly suited to today’s biggest business challenge. Disruption is a buzzword. Since Clayton Christensen made it famous with…

The New York Times’ remarkable corporate self-criticism
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The New York Times’ remarkable corporate self-criticism

ByJosh Bernoff

While The New York Times may be the most successful news organization on the planet, it faces the existential threat of digital disruption. This, as Clayton Christensen would say, is a recipe for disaster. But maybe not. The Times’ 2020 Group has published a manifesto for change. The cogent self-criticism in this document is amazing. Learn from it. The Times’…

Which rules to break and when: a personal disruption guide

Which rules to break and when: a personal disruption guide

ByJosh Bernoff

Breaking rules is necessary, because if you follow all the rules to the letter, you’ll never accomplish anything new and original. Ironically, though, every piece of advice on the Internet — including my book and my blog — is setting up new rules  (“Avoid the passive voice! Build your personal brand! Floss!). So should you break the…