OpenAI Can't Make Money, X Won't Die, and Google Search Got Worse On Purpose

OpenAI Can't Make Money, X Won't Die, and Google Search Got Worse On Purpose

Author: Sascha Funk August 6, 2026 Duration: 24:00

I started teaching a new semester this week. Digital Strategy, week one, the same three theories I open with every year. Ten minutes in I realised I wasn't teaching theory anymore. I was reading the news out loud with citations attached.

Three frameworks, three stories happening right now:

Platform economics. OpenAI built the most talked-about product of the decade, has hundreds of millions of users, and is reportedly losing billions a year. Microsoft has the distribution. Every startup on earth is building margin on top of infrastructure OpenAI runs at a loss. Creating value and capturing value turn out to be completely different jobs, and OpenAI has so far only done one of them.

Network effects. Everyone announced they were leaving X. Repeatedly. With screenshots. It's August 2026 and X is still where news breaks. Bluesky is growing genuinely well and has changed nothing about X's position. Because leaving a platform was never a decision about the platform. It was a decision about everyone who hadn't left yet.

Enshittification. Cory Doctorow's four-stage model, currently being performed by the entire AI industry in synchronised formation. ChatGPT went from free and unlimited in 2022 to usage caps and tiered pricing in 2026 and nobody was surprised. Meanwhile Google Search hit stage three so slowly that we all just adjusted our expectations downward without noticing: AI Overviews answer your question using publisher content so you never visit the publisher.

None of this tells you what to do. That's not what theory is for. It tells you what you're looking at, which turns out to be the harder part.


In a world saturated with constant notifications and algorithmic feeds, FUNK !T | Mindful Media & Communication offers a necessary pause. Hosted by Sascha Funk, who leads the media studies department at Thammasat University, this podcast is a deep and practical exploration of our daily interactions with technology and information. Each episode moves beyond surface-level tips to examine the underlying structures of our media environment, asking how we can engage with it more consciously. You’ll find conversations that dissect digital trends not just for their novelty, but for their real psychological and social impact. The discussions here are about building resilience and intention-whether that means refining how you communicate professionally, understanding the design of the platforms you use, or simply finding more agency in your personal scrolling habits. This isn't about rejecting technology, but about developing a sustainable and critical relationship with it. Sascha brings academic insight into accessible, actionable territory, making the complex dynamics of media feel relevant to your everyday life. For anyone feeling adrift in the digital noise or curious about the forces shaping our modern conversations, this podcast provides both a compass and a toolkit. It’s a space for learning how to be present and purposeful in a mediated world, one thoughtful discussion at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

FUNK !T | Mindful Media & Communication
Podcast Episodes
Why We Can't Legislate the Algorithm (A Media Theory Analysis) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:26
You cannot build a 19th-century border wall around a 21st-century cloud.Body:This week, the German government (CDU) pushed a motion to strictly ban social media for youth under 14, requiring digital ID verification to lo…
The Bangkok Simulation: Why Global Cities Are Becoming "Non-Places" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:18
Recording from the streets of Bangkok, Sascha Funk analyzes the city not as a tourist destination, but as a living motherboard. Using the framework of "Splintering Urbanism" and Marc Augé’s concept of the "Non-Place," we…
The Gamification of Reality: Betting on the Apocalypse [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:27
Prediction markets like Polymarket have turned the news cycle into a casino. But this isn't just about gambling; it's about the Gamification of Reality. We have moved from being "Citizens" (who try to influence outcomes)…
Surveillance Sport: The Death of the "Human" Element [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:26
In the final week of Milano Cortina, we are witnessing the collision of "Sport" and "Surveillance Capitalism." When a curling match is decided by a capacitive touch sensor rather than a human eye, we have entered what Ba…
Spectacle Season: Super Bowl, Olympics & AI Watching Itself [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:25
Every February, the world pretends it’s watching sports.But what we’re really watching is spectacle.From Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show, to the Winter Olympics’ performance of neutrality, to Moltbook — a platform w…
The Epstein Files and the Art of Distraction [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:07
This weekend, the U.S. Department of Justice released millions of pages of Epstein-related documents under a legal transparency mandate.No leak. No whistleblower. No cinematic reveal.And yet, the story barely landed.In t…
Davos 2026: Where Power Talks and Nothing Decides [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:36
Every January, global power gathers in a Swiss village to talk about fixing the world. Panels, speeches, statements. And yet, the crises remain. In this episode of FUNK !T, we break down what the World Economic Forum rea…
Psychopolitics & the Art of the Feint [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:08
This week feels overwhelming on purpose.Venezuela. Iran. Greenland. ICE. Everything at once, no time to think.That’s not chaos. That’s a media feint.In this episode of FUNK !T, I break down how power today works through…
2026: The Year We Stopped Trusting the Glitch [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:16
If you use AI to write an email, and I use AI to summarize it... did communication actually happen?Or did two piles of code just perform a handshake while we both stared at a screen, hallucinating productivity?In this ep…