Today’s signal: AI is reshaping browsers, software economics, and startup formation simultaneously. OpenAI and Perplexity challenge Google’s 63% browser share. Software margins expand from 6% to 19% as AI eats headcount. Solo founders rise to 36% of startups. And Bank of America asks: is this rally running long or just getting started?
OpenAI, Perplexity, and Microsoft are launching AI-native browsers, framing the browser as “the operating system of your mind.” The play: control the agent-to-web interface where AI books tickets, schedules appointments, and makes purchases. Google’s defensive moats (63% share, Gemini 3, Search integration) create high barriers, but prompt injection vulnerabilities remain unsolved—Gartner recommends blocking AI browsers entirely.
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AI Eating Software From the Inside: Margins 6% → 19%
Source: Industry Analysis
Margin expansion from 6% to 19% while growth halved—the early signature of AI eating software from inside. Companies maintain output with fewer engineers, less support staff, and compressed development cycles. If correct, this pattern will accelerate as companies reinvest AI productivity gains into further automation.
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Solo Founders Rise to 36.3% of Startups
Source: Carta
Carta data shows solo-founded startups jumped from 23.7% (2019) to 36.3% (H1 2025)—a 53% share increase. The 2024-2025 acceleration coincides precisely with AI coding assistants and agentic tools, suggesting the minimum viable team has shrunk to one. More startups, less dilution, faster pivots.
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AI Hardware Fragments: Plaud’s 1.5M Units
Source: CES 2026 / Plaud
Plaud’s CES 2026 NotePin S ($179) shows always-on AI hardware has a market—1.5 million units sold in a category most assumed software would dominate. Four accessories in the box acknowledges optimal wearable position remains unsolved. AI hardware fragments into specialized form factors rather than consolidating.
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🌍 Macro & Markets
AI Rally vs Historical Bubbles: 131% vs 244% Average
Source: Bank of America
Bank of America’s bubble comparison: AI rally already exceeds average duration (3.0 years vs 2.55) while delivering half typical gains (131% vs 244%). Either room to run or a more moderate cycle. Unlike dotcom, NVIDIA’s $60B FCF provides real economic foundation—the comparison has limits.
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Tech Narratives vs Macro Reality
Source: Bloomberg / Macro Analysis
“AI bubble” narrative spikes attach to visible tech events (Nvidia earnings, DeepSeek selloff) while actual drivers are exogenous macro forces. The DeepSeek selloff coincided with Treasury yield spikes and carry trade unwinding. Hindsight assembles tech explanations for macro triggers.
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🔮 Frameworks & Analysis
US Drops to 6th in Wealth When Adjusted for Hours
Source: The Economist
The Economist’s slope chart: US drops from near-top to 6th when GDP per capita is adjusted for prices and hours worked. Norway rises to first. America’s high output is partly achieved through longer hours—when normalized, efficiency advantage shrinks.
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The Chief Question Officer: Judgment Over Execution
Source: AI Work Analysis
The CQO thesis: as AI commoditizes doing, humans become valuable for knowing what to ask. But good questions require execution experience. Evaluation demands tacit knowledge. Removing humans from execution may atrophy the judgment that makes CQOs valuable—the paradox remains unresolved.
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The Throughline
Today’s stories converge on a single theme: AI is compressing roles, companies, and economic models. Browsers become AI operating systems. Software companies achieve more with less. Solo founders replace teams. Hardware fragments into specialized form factors.
The Bank of America bubble comparison asks whether this compression has been priced correctly. The answer depends on whether AI’s productivity gains translate to sustained value creation or whether, as with previous cycles, the gains concentrate in a few winners while the rest compete away their advantages.
The CQO framework suggests human value shifts from doing to judging—but judgment develops through doing. The second-order effects of removing humans from execution remain uncertain.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
