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$1.35T Lost in Just One Week 😳

Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet collectively shed $1.35 trillion in market cap this week.

The reason? Investors finally looked at the bill.

The numbers are staggering. Amazon plans to spend $200 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026. Google: up to $185 billion. Meta: nearly double last year's $70 billion. Combined, Big Tech will spend $660 billion on AI this year, more than the GDP of the UAE, Singapore, and Israel combined.

The problem: spending will consume nearly 100% of their operating cash flow, versus a 10-year average of 40%. And the returns? Still mostly theoretical.

Amazon dropped 8% in one morning after revealing its capex plan. The sell-off spread across the sector. Investors aren't saying AI won't work. They're saying they can't tell yet, and the checks being written are enormous.

Ayesha’s take: AI is not hype. It will be transformative. But these companies need to pace themselves. Burning 100% of your cash flow on a technology still finding its product-market fit isn't bold, it's a gamble. The winners in AI won't be the ones who spent the most the fastest. They'll be the ones still standing when the real revenue arrived. For now, the market just voted with its feet: "show us the receipts."

Source: Axios · CNBC

Therapy, Flirting, and ChatGPT

That's the finding from The New York Times' Valentine's week investigation into how AI is becoming the uninvited third party in relationships.

The numbers are wild: OpenAI says users send ChatGPT over 700 million messages of "self-expression" per week. Casual chitchat, personal reflection, relationship processing. A dating app study found 43% of people feel uneasy about their partner's bond with an AI companion; 16% called it "emotional cheating."

AI developers say they feel stuck between protecting users and growing revenue. The features that make chatbots irresistible (endless patience, perfect memory, zero judgment) are the same ones that create dependency. One developer said outright abstention is "the only sure way to stay safe."

Meanwhile in India, ThePrint reported men using ChatGPT to draft flirtatious texts for their girlfriends, and women uploading entire situationship threads for analysis. One man confessed: "My ex-wife thinks I've become nicer since we divorced. The truth is I use ChatGPT to talk to her. The AI is nice. I'm still an idiot."

Ayesha's Take: Seven hundred million emotional messages a week. Let that land. We're not just using AI for work anymore: we're using it to process our feelings, rehearse conversations, and decode our partners. Whether that's healthy or terrifying depends on who you ask. But the "throuple" framing nails it: AI isn't replacing human relationships. It's joining them. Uninvited.

Source: NYT · ThePrint