Oh oh, it's happening again. ChatGippity is creating a developer ecosystem that can install things for all Gippity users.

This is core Silicon Valley: build something, figure out how to make it an ecosystem, and next thing you know everything has to be done in your product. The not-so-hidden benefits are that your product gets better through all the developer add-ins you don't have to write, you still control everything, and you even get to take a hefty tithe from the ones that made your product better. Customers just need to look for what they want in the Gippity Store (soon to be regulated in the EU...).

The code name for this Gippity project is Hermes. I suspect that the Gippity folk named it that for the Greek messenger, but remember, he was the messenger to the afterlife, so just what is being implied here? Are we humans about to be conducted somewhere else while AI takes over the planet?

I suppose this new ecosystem could instead be named for the Paris-based luxury brand of accessories. Hermès "long-term strategy [is] aimed at enhancing the know-how and creativity of its craftsmen, while maintaining a high degree of innovation." That sounds like it fits this Gippity project. That would sure be better than being escorted to the afterlife.

All I know is that customer lock-in is a goto tactic in the Valley. First come the APIs, then the evangelists seeking developers, then the store, followed by world domination (and developer complaints about not being treated well). Ironically, the company that once was dominating said world, Microsoft, took decades before realizing they needed that lock-in control, and are still trying to figure out how to do that right. Of course, they're not a Silicon Valley company, are they? Guess there's something in the water up there in Redmond, WA that kept them from seeing the obvious.

Thing is, we've got a pretty large group of AI products from quite a few providers all trying to find the thing that works and establishes them as the monopolist for a rapid growth segment. Or maybe duopolist. Dozens of AI players aren't going to all win. Indeed, the Silicon Valley way is that most of them will fail, because at some point they need to pay out 20x what was invested in them.

Stanford HAI has been tracking that investment, and it totaled $252.3 billion in 2024, which when added to what came before puts us well over a trillion dollars in AI investment. Let's see, let's get out the VisiCalc and...1 x 20 = 20 trillion divided by 8 billion people = $2500 per person on the planet. Or to put it in human terms, five months of Ozempic at GoodRX prices. Hopefully the benefits of AI will last longer than that.