Monologue: AI Hits A Wall

Monologue: AI Hits A Wall

August 21, 2026 · 10 min

About this episode

Ed Zitron discusses the deceleration of revenue growth for Anthropic and OpenAI, the implications of OpenAI's pause on model development, and the potential for collapse in the AI sector.

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs through how Anthropic and OpenAI’s revenue growth is decelerating, and how OpenAI’s pause on model development and collapsing economics create the very real possibility it could collapse. EDITOR’s NOTE: I incorrectly say at the beginning of this that NVIDIA’s earnings were this week. They’re next week. Sorry! Newsletter: What If OpenAI Dies? https://www.wheresyoured.at/what-happens-if-openai-dies/ Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1  - I’d be so grateful!  YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to  https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code  FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more. --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/   Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at Ed's Socials: https://twitter.com/edzitron https://www.instagram.com/edzitron https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com https://www.threads.net/@edzitron Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com See…

More episodes of Better Offline

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Better Offline podcast page.