Speaker

Ed Zitron

Ed Zitron

Technology critic and public-relations executive, author of the Where’s Your Ed At newsletter and host of the Better Offline podcast, known for sceptical, numbers-driven reporting on the economics of the AI industry.

Zitron writes against what he sees as inflated claims about generative AI, arguing that the leading model companies are structurally unprofitable and propped up by narrative rather than sound unit economics. On Prof G Markets he presented OpenAI’s leaked 2025 financials — which he obtained and which the Financial Times independently verified — showing the company spent roughly $34bn to earn $13bn in revenue.

Core positions

  • The headline ‘AI revolution’ rests on companies burning capital with no clear path to profit; adjusted-loss figures that strip out large one-off charges are spin meant to reassure investors.
  • Profitability may be impossible for any frontier AI lab at current cost structures — a claim he extends to Anthropic, not just OpenAI.
  • Rising R&D spend is marketed as temporary, but every cost line keeps climbing; the real tell is sales-and-marketing spend rising far faster than revenue.

In the wiki