The new HSMs and the role of machines

What happens when AI isn’t just faster or cheaper, but actually better? The latest breakthroughs suggest we’ve already crossed that line.

Author

Malcolm Frank, CEO
September 08, 2025

The new HSMs and the role of machines

We’ve all had those HSMs (holy s**t moments) when a new technology makes you stop, stare, and think: everything just changed.  I remember exactly where I was the first time I saw a laptop on Wi-Fi (no cords!), held an iPhone, or streamed a football game in HD.  Each initially filled me with awe…and then soon became the norm.

The latest HSM? Sitting in the back of a Waymo. At first it’s disconcerting, then mesmerizing, then wonderful. And the kicker: it’s safer. Ten times safer than a human at the wheel.

Which raises the question: what if AI doesn’t just make things faster and cheaper, but better? What if it rewrites the performance bar entirely?

Consider the shock survey last week: a majority of American workers said they’d rather have an AI boss than a human one. Think about that. People trust an algorithm over their manager. Now, maybe that’s less about the brilliance of AI and more about how bad the current state of management is.  But workers believe, at least, the AI boss will be more fair, consistent, and task-oriented.  That’s all it takes for AI to win this popularity contest.

And so here we are: driverless taxis are safer than us, and employees are ready to trade their boss for a bot. The future isn’t creeping in. It’s already outperforming.

“Waymos are 10x safer than humans”

The sooner we replace human drivers, the better.

Most workers say AI managers would be better in key ways

A majority of American workers believe that algorithmic leadership would make workplaces fairer and more efficient.  Are machines that good, or people that bad?

Peak doomerism: University of Louisville professor predicts “AI to eliminate 99% of jobs by 2030”

Roman Yampolskiy provides a chilling warning: "We're looking at a world where we have levels of unemployment we've never seen before. Not talking about 10 per cent unemployment, which is scary, but 99 per cent,” adding that human-like intelligence or artificial general intelligence (AGI) will likely arrive by 2027.

Counterpoint: OpenAI on “expanding economic opportunity with AI”

“At OpenAI, we can’t eliminate (the jobs) disruption…but…it’s all about being intentional about the kind of future we want to build. If we want to put more power into the hands of more people, not just a fortunate few, we need to help everyone, at every level, take advantage of the opportunities that come with AI.”

Anthropic agrees to pay authors $1.5bn to settle piracy lawsuit

The largest publicly-reported copyright recovery in history.  “The company holds more than seven million pirated books in a central library, according to the judge’s decision, and faces up to $150,000 in damages per copyrighted work.”

Behind the AI talent war: Why tech giants are paying millions to top hires

Building a model is very capital intensive. “And as a result, those companies, the way they approach this is: ‘If I’m going to spend a billion dollars to build a model, $10 million for an engineer is a relatively low investment.”

Goldman Sachs issues a warning to AI stock investors

"In this market out there, where you have companies trading at 100 times revenue, you have companies trading at half-trillion-dollar valuations that lose $10 billion a year, I mean, a lot of these valuations are crazy.”

BCG study: Insurance leads in AI adoption - now it’s time to scale

Data-rich processes make the sector ripe for AI transformation. Some key lessons learned. 

Rethinking the IT organization for the agentic AI era

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AI shakes up the call center industry, but some tasks are still better left to the humans

Actual job losses likely won't match the more dire predictions as it's become evident that the industry will still need humans in the loop as many customer service issues become increasingly harder to solve.

Right idea, wrong implementation

C3 AI reports declining revenue, announces new CEO to replace Tom Siebel.

Agent of the week: AgentAuth

Simplifies AI agent authentication with 250+ tools via OAuth, API keys, and more.

Indian global capability centers (GCCs) becoming innovation hubs…or soon to be eaten by AI?

GCCs are evolving from support hubs to innovation centers, but are they sitting ducks for AI automation?

AI is eroding the “bottom rungs” of career ladders, Harvard researchers warn

The findings align closely with recent Stanford research.

Just how bad would an AI bubble be?

The entire U.S. economy is being propped up by the promise of productivity gains that seem very far from materializing.

And one more thing…

Need an ear worm? These are the catchiest songs of all time, according to AI

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