A Note From Jeff Brown

Because you’re one of my valued readers, I want to share a project with you that’s still in its early stages. It’s a new publication called The Bleeding Edge. In these pages, I’ll show you the top technology trends on my radar. I’ll reveal what the mainstream media get wrong about the technologies of tomorrow, and I’ll show you which investing opportunities you need to pay attention to.

You’re receiving this publication in addition to your current monthly subscription, free of charge. In the pages of The Near Future Report and Exponential Tech Investor, I do a deeper dive into the world of tech. And of course, I show you how to make money from the best technology stocks out there. But I can’t share every tech development in my monthly issues. That’s where The Bleeding Edge comes in. I’ll be able to write to you regularly, and you’ll stay up on the biggest tech stories every week.

I’ll eventually publish The Bleeding Edge daily. But I’m sending you these issues before the wider release because I want to hear from you. Let me know what you think. If you like it, if you don’t like it, send me a note here.

IBM fumbles on AI…

As you likely know, Watson is IBM’s famous artificial intelligence (AI) that won the game show Jeopardy! back in 2011. That was a bright spot for IBM, which was one of the first and most aggressive companies to pursue AI development.

After Watson’s Jeopardy! win, it looked like IBM was well-positioned for this new AI-driven world we are entering… And the company started looking for commercial applications for Watson.

That led to the launch of IBM’s drug discovery business in 2014. Basically, it sold Watson’s services to pharmaceutical companies. Those companies then used Watson to analyze drug compounds, hoping to find new drugs faster.

But Watson’s success was limited… And IBM wasn’t making enough money to support the business. IBM pulled the plug on the business last week.

Those of us paying attention saw this coming. To be frank, the way IBM fumbled away its early progress with AI was just pathetic.

The reason it has not been able to capitalize is because the company’s approach to AI has remained too general… Build a super brain and then apply that brain to all sorts of problems.

It was too much like an academic effort, rather than a business effort. It thought Watson was the final solution instead of the starting point.

As a contrast to IBM, the companies that are having commercial success with AI are creating very specific AI technologies designed to do one thing extremely well. It’s targeted, not general purpose.

Just to give you a few examples… Nvidia (NVDA) produced AI technology to help cars drive themselves. And mobile payment company, Square (SQ), uses AI to analyze small and mid-sized companies for its lending business. That’s it.

That’s why if you look at the five-year charts… NVDA is up 899% and SQ is up 484%.

Meanwhile, IBM is a train wreck. The stock is down 29% since 2014, despite a raging bull market. Plus, it’s got $50 billion in debt and only $12 billion of cash flow a year.

Bottom line is that this is not a company to invest in. Steer clear of IBM and focus on companies that are using AI to solve very specific industry problems. 

Google Duplex can now make reservations for you over the phone…

Duplex is Google’s bleeding edge AI that can carry phone conversations just like a human. And the technology is incredible. The AI sounds just like a person… Including quirky mannerisms like “um” and “mm-hmm.”

You can watch Google Duplex schedule two different appointments by clicking here.

The first appointment is for a haircut at a local salon. The second is for a restaurant reservation and the AI had to communicate with somebody who had a heavy accent.

In both cases, Duplex handled the call flawlessly.

Now anyone can use this technology to schedule appointments in 43 states. And Google expects to roll out support in all 50 states soon. It’s just a matter of complying with local laws and regulations.

I know we’re just talking about phone calls… But think of all the calls we make over the course of a year that take 15 to 30 minutes, or more.

Restaurant reservations… doctor and dentist appointments… ordering flowers for a spouse or gifts for the children and grandchildren… dealing with insurance companies… scheduling oil changes… You name it.

If you add them all up, we could save a ton of time by using an AI to make those phone calls and appointments for us. Then we could use that extra time to be more productive at work… spend more time with children and grandchildren… Or maybe get a few extra rounds of golf in.

Our lives are about to get a lot easier, thanks to AI assistants.

Scientists at Yale just brought a pig’s head “back to life”…

Okay, the story we are going to conclude with today borders on controversial science fiction. But it’s too incredible for me not to tell you about it.

Scientists at Yale took a pig’s head from a local slaughterhouse and brought it back to the lab roughly four hours after the pig was slaughtered.

Then, they pumped an artificial blood mixture back into the brain… And it restored cellular functionality. The brain cells were able to produce energy and remove waste – helping to maintain the brain’s internal structures.

To be clear, this did not restore consciousness to the pig… Only mechanical function. But obviously, this is an incredible feat that has never been done before.

Now, I know this is a weird thing to do… But the potential applications for humans are simply amazing.

Think about what happens when someone has a stroke. A stroke can cause forms of brain damage – which causes loss of muscle control – leading to all kinds of problems. That’s why stroke victims sometimes have trouble with the left or right side of their body.

Well guess what?

The techniques those Yale scientists are working on could restore brain function to stroke victims…

Or imagine if this technology progressed further… What if we could restore consciousness to a recently deceased brain? What if you could bring a human brain “back to life” long enough for that person to settle their affairs and say goodbye?

The implications are staggering and might make us a little uncomfortable.

But make no mistake, there is a niche group of scientists devoted to eliminating death in human beings… essentially immortality.

I’m not suggesting that’s a good thing, only that there are many technologists looking at extending life far beyond anything we can imagine. And the early results from this experiment show that it might not be as impossible as it sounds.

We’ll keep you updated as this trend progresses.

Regards,

Jeff Brown
Editor, The Bleeding Edge

P.S. And be sure you keep up on all the technology stories on my radar. Follow me on Twitter at @JBTechResearch. And remember, I want to hear from you. Do you like these early issues of The Bleeding Edge? Send your thoughts, good or bad, right here.