Masters

Benedict Evans has spent 25 years studying how technology platforms shift, from the PC to the internet to mobile. In the first episode of Masters, he sits down with Hemant Mohapatra of Lightspeed to work out what those earlier shifts can tell us about AI, and where the comparison breaks.

In 1998, Jeff Bezos was selling books and Mark Zuckerberg was in junior high. Everyone knew people would shop online. Nobody had any conception of Facebook. Benedict thinks AI is at that same point now, with one difference: this is the first platform shift where we don't know the physical limits.

Chapters
00:00 Preview
01:50 What repeats in every tech cycle
05:14 Token bill shock is 2010's mobile data bill shock
06:06 Nobody in 1998 imagined Facebook
07:47 Using ChatGPT every few days isn't the AI revolution
11:51 The first platform shift with no known limits
14:30 Scale problems vs. scope problems
15:37 Why a chatbot is a terrible interface
18:36 Will one AI lab eat the whole stack? Benedict isn't buying it
20:50 Writing the software was never the hard part
22:10 Why "McKinsey is toast" is wrong
31:15 "This isn't a database. Well done."
35:41 Is AI in its 1997? Bubbles and "this time is different"
40:02 "Can't you feel the AGI?" and why P(doom) numbers are made up
41:17 $200 billion or $2 trillion: where the model companies end up

Recorded on June 11, 2026.

Masters, by Lightspeed.

Disclaimer
The video has been produced by Lightspeed India Partners Advisors LLP (Lightspeed India). Lightspeed India is an investment advisory firm, distinct and operating independently from Lightspeed Management Company, L.L.C. (Lightspeed Venture Partners). From time to time, Lightspeed Venture Partners may draw on its business relationship with Lightspeed India, and vice versa, but only to the extent consistent with their respective status as separate investment advisors.

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