At Moatt Capital we believe that as AI and LLMs grow in capability and strength; brand, culture and discernment of taste become the most important plays, and are increasingly the only differentiating factor.
There’s another side to this. The brands, institutions and individuals that already own culture and taste have an incredible upside as we rapidly proceed into our new world. Whether that’s sports or the arts from the LA Lakers, to MoMA and The Broad.
Scarcity is the word that matters here. A franchise, institution or brand that has already earned a place in culture becomes more valuable precisely because the cost of producing new content is collapsing.
In Q2 this year Josh Kushner’s firm Thrive agreed by launching a new entity straight at culture called Thrive Eternal.
[There are] assets with qualities that cannot be replicated by technology. Iconic franchises and cultural institutions rooted in tradition, identity, and shared experience. In a world shaped by abundant intelligence where creation scales and distribution fragments, we believe they will matter even more.
With Bob Iger, Disney’s long time CEO joining Thrive Eternal as an advisor the culture and entertainment investment arm will have legendary shepherding as they spin up the model.
For balance, Axios takes a counter stance on Kushner’s thoughts stating “This feels like an asset-gathering gambit by Thrive… [It] doesn't really move the ROI needle for a firm with big stakes in companies like OpenAI and Stripe”
Axios might be missing the point. As AI becomes better than humans at tasks, even creative ones, the last defining factor is discernment of taste. It’s something that humans will always maintain and the organisations that are currently doing it, or can do it will be scarce in a world of abundance.
It’s that scarcity that Kushner—and we—believe will matter.
