The Gambler, a Netflix documentary about Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, is fantastic. I grew up hating these guys. Jerry. Troy. Emmitt. #88. I hated Jimmie Johnson when he was at Miami (PSU wins the natty!) and I hated Barry Switzer when he was at Oklahoma (PSU loses the natty!). A Hollywood writer couldn’t have created a team that I hated more.
But in the documentary, they were all just so…likeable. In particular, I can’t believe how much I liked Jerry Jones. I have loved him as a GM for the last 30 years, but always just hated him as…him. Don’t worry, I still hate the Cowboys, but Jerry the Person isn’t nearly as bad. I guess I need to find a new meddling owner to hate (“Come in Kettle, this is Pot” - my employees).
What’s that got to do with AI? Well, last year I went on a three week west coast road trip. I probably had 40 meetings.
When I asked how they were considering AI, every one of them said they weren’t using it in any meaningful way. Most said it was a fad. When I suggested firms would start advertising that some portion, or all, of an investment pool would be dictated by AI I got some chuckles. I’ve been dismissed a lot in my life, so I am very familiar with how it looks, even when it’s dressed up in politeness.
On my recent west coast trip, every single company…every single one…wanted to talk about AI. How they are using it. Wondering how others are using it.
One said they had recently spoken with a firm that had an AI on its investment committee.
Where are all the haters now?!
Some of the use cases I heard:
OK, that last one is me. It has been the Holy Grail of my career. I am obsessed with squeezing every last inefficiency out of interest rate decisions.
It feels like we are entering a phase where AI turbocharges an existing skillset. Our Head of Engineering, an AI skeptic two years ago, told me Claude Code had saved him three weeks of work. “It’s the single biggest advancement in software development in my lifetime.”
That’s the ROI justification today. Take someone who is already great at something and cut them loose. All the steroids in the world couldn’t help me hit a baseball. But they helped a great hitter, Barry Bonds, become superhuman. Turbocharge the best.
But I think in the next few years, AI will evolve to a point where they can turbocharge a novice. What if I can code just as expertly as a software engineer with 25 years of experience? What if you don’t need a quant team for complex data analytics? What if it writes better newsletters than me? What if Jerry Jones can make smart GM decisions?
jk, AI has a better shot at helping Jerry hit homers.
But then again, if I can stop hating Jerry Jones I guess anything is possible…