.@Airbnb is changing its cleaning rules. And @pitdesi has a pretty interesting history with CEO @bchesky.
He was the first person to book Chesky's own home on Airbnb.
@pitdesi tells @Kantrowitz how it all happened:
Google Cloud's revenue doubled, but Wall Street is worried about Search. Anthropic is eyeing a $2 trillion IPO. And @Airbnb is changing its cleaning rules.
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi on what else you missed in tech this week:
• Is AI finally threatening @Google's search business?
• Why is Anthropic going public with over $100 billion in cash?
• Can @Anthropic's push into drug discovery justify its massive spending?
• How did @pitdesi become the first person to book @bchesky's home on Airbnb?
• What's going on with X?
Ep. 8 of This Is The Point
Chapters:
00:00 Cold open
01:08 Is it over for Google? Search misses as cloud doubles
03:51 Is Wall Street overreacting to 12% search growth?
05:39 Why booming cloud can’t offset slowing search
07:02 Anthropic’s IPO filing: What the numbers reveal
09:13 $2.08 in revenue for every dollar of compute
11:03 Can Anthropic’s growth last after the token-maxing era?
15:46 Anthropic gets into drug discovery
17:25 Convenient timing before the IPO?
19:07 Why go public with $100 billion in cash?
25:08 “Pacing the frontier” meets the IPO, and an 85% margin
28:26 Why Sheel won’t buy Anthropic on IPO day
29:06 Alex’s Facebook IPO lesson
31:25 Why is Stripe still private?
32:55 Airbnb bans checkout chores
34:19 How Sheel’s tweets changed Airbnb’s pricing
36:46 Sheel booked Brian Chesky’s house before anyone else
42:30 X’s giant pointing hand, and who’s running X?
48:29 Twitter is dead (again)
Google Cloud's revenue doubled, but Wall Street is worried about Search. Anthropic is eyeing a $2 trillion IPO. And @Airbnb is changing its cleaning rules.
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi on what else you missed in tech this week:
• Is AI finally threatening @Google's search business?
• Why is Anthropic going public with over $100 billion in cash?
• Can @Anthropic's push into drug discovery justify its massive spending?
• How did @pitdesi become the first person to book @bchesky's home on Airbnb?
• What's going on with X?
Ep. 8 of This Is The Point
Chapters:
00:00 Cold open
01:08 Is it over for Google? Search misses as cloud doubles
03:51 Is Wall Street overreacting to 12% search growth?
05:39 Why booming cloud can’t offset slowing search
07:02 Anthropic’s IPO filing: What the numbers reveal
09:13 $2.08 in revenue for every dollar of compute
11:03 Can Anthropic’s growth last after the token-maxing era?
15:46 Anthropic gets into drug discovery
17:25 Convenient timing before the IPO?
19:07 Why go public with $100 billion in cash?
25:08 “Pacing the frontier” meets the IPO, and an 85% margin
28:26 Why Sheel won’t buy Anthropic on IPO day
29:06 Alex’s Facebook IPO lesson
31:25 Why is Stripe still private?
32:55 Airbnb bans checkout chores
34:19 How Sheel’s tweets changed Airbnb’s pricing
36:46 Sheel booked Brian Chesky’s house before anyone else
42:30 X’s giant pointing hand, and who’s running X?
48:29 Twitter is dead (again)
.@Anthropic reportedly has over $100 billion in cash and is preparing for an IPO that could value it at $2 trillion.
So why go public when you already have that much money?
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi debate the timing of Anthropic's IPO and whether its growth can justify the valuation:
.@OpenAI is coming to Google Cloud. @elonmusk is considering a Tesla–SpaceX merger. And Alex finally got to ask @sundarpichai why frontier AI is worth billions.
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi on what else happened in tech this week:
• Is superintelligence headed for a price war?
• Can Google Cloud's 82% growth put it ahead of Azure and AWS?
• Could a Tesla–SpaceX merger give Musk control of one of the world's largest companies?
• And why did Sheel buy an Onion future?
(00:00) Cold open
(01:20) Alex interviews Sundar Pichai: Why build at the frontier?
(06:24) Where frontier AI really pays off
(08:18) Can anyone hoard superintelligence?
(10:46) Are there any moats in the model business?
(13:02) If no one holds an edge, why spend trillions?
(16:40) Why doesn’t AI search work in Gmail?
(21:26) How will AI agents stand apart?
(25:08) Threads vs. X
(28:06) OpenAI’s models come to Google Cloud
(30:17) Google Cloud grows 82%. Can it pass Azure?
(33:19) SpaceX revenue soars 161% as Musk floats a Tesla merger
(37:42) Is the merger a good exit for Tesla shareholders?
(40:04) Elon Musk gives a SpaceX share to every kid in America
(43:21) Is giving kids stock really altruistic?
(47:59) Onion futures: Sheel’s (maybe) illegal onion
.@AnthropicAI says it plans to spend $500 billion on compute and infrastructure.
Now it's moving into drug discovery, acquiring a small company and working with research organizations.
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi on whether AI's success in coding can extend to science and medicine:
.@googlecloud revenue just doubled to $30 billion, putting it close to Microsoft's Azure.
But @Google's search business grew 12%, missing the expected 15%.
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi on why Wall Street is worried about AI disrupting Google Search:
Alex asked Google CEO @sundarpichai a question he's had for a while: Why doesn't AI search in Gmail work?
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi on Google's plans for a unified AI agent, and what that could mean for how we use Gmail, Drive, and Search:
.@OpenAI is coming to Google Cloud. @elonmusk is considering a Tesla–SpaceX merger. And Alex finally got to ask @sundarpichai why frontier AI is worth billions.
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi on what else happened in tech this week:
• Is superintelligence headed for a price war?
• Can Google Cloud's 82% growth put it ahead of Azure and AWS?
• Could a Tesla–SpaceX merger give Musk control of one of the world's largest companies?
• And why did Sheel buy an Onion future?
(00:00) Cold open
(01:20) Alex interviews Sundar Pichai: Why build at the frontier?
(06:24) Where frontier AI really pays off
(08:18) Can anyone hoard superintelligence?
(10:46) Are there any moats in the model business?
(13:02) If no one holds an edge, why spend trillions?
(16:40) Why doesn’t AI search work in Gmail?
(21:26) How will AI agents stand apart?
(25:08) Threads vs. X
(28:06) OpenAI’s models come to Google Cloud
(30:17) Google Cloud grows 82%. Can it pass Azure?
(33:19) SpaceX revenue soars 161% as Musk floats a Tesla merger
(37:42) Is the merger a good exit for Tesla shareholders?
(40:04) Elon Musk gives a SpaceX share to every kid in America
(43:21) Is giving kids stock really altruistic?
(47:59) Onion futures: Sheel’s (maybe) illegal onion
.@elonmusk is considering a Tesla–SpaceX merger that could bring rockets, AI, robotaxis, and humanoid robots under one company.
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi on why the merger makes sense and what it could mean for Musk's control over his companies:
OpenAI is bringing its AI models to Google Cloud, despite the two companies competing in AI.
Meanwhile, Google Cloud Platform is growing 82% year over year, with $24.8 billion in quarterly revenue.
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi on whether Google could overtake Microsoft Azure and eventually challenge AWS:
Alex asked Google CEO Sundar Pichai why companies need frontier AI models when standard models are already good enough to power personal assistants.
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi on whether the most advanced models can justify their enormous costs:
.@Google has Gmail, Drive, Sheets, and its own AI. Yet @pitdesi says it's easier to work with Google Sheets through ChatGPT or Claude than Gemini.
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi on whether Google needs a better AI model or better integrations:
.@elonmusk has reportedly put more than $276 million into Republican groups ahead of the midterms, making him the largest known donor in the elections.
But what happens to Silicon Valley's tech CEOs if Democrats take control of Congress?
@Kantrowitz and @pitdesi on tech's growing involvement in politics:
This Is The Point celebrated its official launch last month.
On The Air with HubSpot Media brought together journalists, media executives, tech leaders, and strategic partners at The Grand in Boston’s Seaport District, starting with a keynote from Jonathan Hunt, and ending with Alex and Sheel recording live.
Thank you to everyone who came out.

