113: Anyone with an API key can copy your AI strategy, with Ritavan

Well, you know I love strategy and I love the detail that all goes around it, and, and this is very specific, but just before we get into all of that detail, I think it's probably worth just pulling apart the name.

I think most of us in the CTO level, most of us in engineering, we know what a system is.

A gambit, I mean, just as a word, this is probably a word that most of us have only come across, uh, in popular culture in terms of the Queen's Gambit, a, a, a series of, of TV that was about chess and a particular chess move.

So just unpack the word gambit for us.

Put us in the context.

What is a gambit?

So gambit comes originally from chess, as you pointed out, and in chess, the idea is the, the broad idea is the following: You sacrifice some material now, so you take a short-term hit.

So for example, you know, you lose a pawn or whatever, right? But you do that to unlock a structural advantage on the board, right? So you, it moves you into a stronger position, which then allows you to dominate the game go, uh, you know, from that point on.

And so that was the idea of the gambit, and so, you know, why strategic leverage in part, like, you know, what's the link? And, and I think what stood out to me was, you know, there's a lot of, uh, peddling of this idea that, you know, you can, like, strategy's all about, you know, you're here and then you go up and you go somewhere else and, you know, there's no hit.

But anyone who's operated, uh, or invested knows that that's, you know, if, if it w- it would be basically, you know, a free lunch, and there is no free lunch in markets or in any competitive setting.

And so I felt the gambit was an excellent metaphor because what it says is there has to be a hit, a sacrifice, and very often it's not financial.

I think that's also important to mention.

It's not-

Right

... about you don't have to lose money or something.

Uh, but there is a sacrifice of some form in the system, and the goal is to build a structural advantage that compounds, except unlike chess, it's not in the same system, right? So in chess, you continue playing chess, and here, you know, the idea is through your sacrifice, change the system so that now you're in a different system where you have a structural advantage that compounds.

So it's like chess but with multiple boards, and you're gonna make a sacrifice of one entire game in order to be in a better place in a, in a different game elsewhere.

So, yeah.

Hence system gambit.

Let's think in, yeah, let's think in terms of, of system crossing.

So let's say we're playing chess with a ch- you know, with a board in front of us, and a system crossing would be if someone else were playing checkers or some other game nearby, and I feel that, uh, happening or event, I have a structural advantage on that board in that game, and I find a way to go there and win that game, uh, et cetera.

So like, you know, it's, it's not, you're not limited to just chess or, or one game, but the idea is much more can you change the system in a way that to your, that's to your advantage with that compounding loop right in the background.

Got it.

Okay.

So most of us then are thinking, "Well, we're gonna be making sacrifices all the time.

Well, you know I love strategy and I love the detail that all goes around it, and, and this is very specific, but just before we get into all of that detail, I think it's probably worth just pulling apart the name.

I think most of us in the CTO level, most of us in engineering, we know what a system is.

A gambit, I mean, just as a word, this is probably a word that most of us have only come across, uh, in popular culture in terms of the Queen's Gambit, a, a, a series of, of TV that was about chess and a particular chess move.

So just unpack the word gambit for us.

Put us in the context.

What is a gambit?

So gambit comes originally from chess, as you pointed out, and in chess, the idea is the, the broad idea is the following: You sacrifice some material now, so you take a short-term hit.

So for example, you know, you lose a pawn or whatever, right? But you do that to unlock a structural advantage on the board, right? So you, it moves you into a stronger position, which then allows you to dominate the game go, uh, you know, from that point on.

And so that was the idea of the gambit, and so, you know, why strategic leverage in part, like, you know, what's the link? And, and I think what stood out to me was, you know, there's a lot of, uh, peddling of this idea that, you know, you can, like, strategy's all about, you know, you're here and then you go up and you go somewhere else and, you know, there's no hit.

But anyone who's operated, uh, or invested knows that that's, you know, if, if it w- it would be basically, you know, a free lunch, and there is no free lunch in markets or in any competitive setting.

And so I felt the gambit was an excellent metaphor because what it says is there has to be a hit, a sacrifice, and very often it's not financial.

I think that's also important to mention.

It's not-

Right

... about you don't have to lose money or something.

Uh, but there is a sacrifice of some form in the system, and the goal is to build a structural advantage that compounds, except unlike chess, it's not in the same system, right? So in chess, you continue playing chess, and here, you know, the idea is through your sacrifice, change the system so that now you're in a different system where you have a structural advantage that compounds.

So it's like chess but with multiple boards, and you're gonna make a sacrifice of one entire game in order to be in a better place in a, in a different game elsewhere.

So, yeah.

Hence system gambit.

Let's think in, yeah, let's think in terms of, of system crossing.

So let's say we're playing chess with a ch- you know, with a board in front of us, and a system crossing would be if someone else were playing checkers or some other game nearby, and I feel that, uh, happening or event, I have a structural advantage on that board in that game, and I find a way to go there and win that game, uh, et cetera.

So like, you know, it's, it's not, you're not limited to just chess or, or one game, but the idea is much more can you change the system in a way that to your, that's to your advantage with that compounding loop right in the background.

Got it.

Okay.

So most of us then are thinking, "Well, we're gonna be making sacrifices all the time.