Episode 309: The Decline of SpaceXAI, Tesla, Plus collapse of Google Search Ecosystem amidst rise of the Surveillance State

Summer break's over and the ModState Podcast is back in session!Your hosts initially discuss Rhode Island and several others among the northeastern United States (Connecticut & Massachusetts, namely), the wealthiest areas of America in terms of per capita income.From there, they discuss Elon Musk and SpaceXAI's post-IPO struggles; of note, however, is while most of the corporations competing in the AI space seem to be expanding their total compute capacity (via datacenter creation/expansion, usually), Musk's AI entity has been selling datacenter capacity, including to rivals Anthropic and OpenAI.Of significance (but receiving far less airtime) is Google's stranglehold on Internet search and how their Search becoming an "AI Summary" is choking off critical traffic to all but the biggest of (already established) names on the open web. Contrary to their corporate statements and attempts at face-saving PR, Google search traffic has plummeted for most members of the media (to include ModState), reaching critical mass of late. Proof of this exists in The Economist, POLITICO & the Wall Street Journal alike (among other big names) threatening to pull out of Google's ad/search ecosystem entirely. Google's AI was built using the Internet, ironically, and now appears to be choking off the remaining life of many media firms dependent upon traffic from Google search that (as a result of AI "Summaries") they don't get unless a user goes to the 2nd (and sometimes 3rd) page on the summary to follow the link to an external page. Most web users aren't going to do that, hence the nigh-Apocalyptic drop in traffic for much of the Internet (especially within the Media [Mainstream or New]).Google's pronouncement that they've got hallucinations down to 9% is hardly comforting, as this means users are having to sift through eight-figures worth of erroneous information every day.Lastly, is the surveillance state (Flock, e.g.); in addition to resisting the founding and/or expansion of existing data centers, America and Her People are pushing back on the use of private enterprise (Flock, namely) to institute a panopticon of surveillance of the populace.Post-topical discussion centers around EFFECT CO. and its founder, Mariel Campbell; in addition to her upcoming 3rd appearance on the podcast, we're pleased to announce she and her Firm are preparing numerous, additional Press Releases this week as much of her vision starts to come into view. It's thrilling to see "the Good Guys" win again once in awhile. More details pending said PR this week (and early next month)!