Listen: 01:03–05:34. Qu recalls successive swings: uncertainty about model–application relationships in 2023, cooling and recovery in 2024, reasoning and agents sustaining expectations in 2025, and stronger models alongside colder application funding in his circles during 2026. He says this is the first time he has heard firms declare the category dead.
The title sounds certain, but the argument contains many conditions. Applications might grow differently if models cross a usability threshold, if agents can deliver results and if organizations adapt to a new business model. An agent here is a model system that uses tools and advances tasks, rather than a name for every chat window.
Listen: 01:08–03:16. Qu first rejects equating the event with the failure of conversational companionship. In his description, model researchers and people continuing the product receive different arrangements. A technical team's decision to enter a large company does not establish that users no longer want character conversations.
Roles reverse in this episode: Mo asks and Qu mainly answers. Qu favors participating early while warning against sprinting just after the start. These positions are compatible. Time, attention and learning can receive serious commitment while money, staffing and scale require staged evidence.
The title identifies 2024 and 2025 as crucial years, while much of the episode addresses immature technology. Its central question is how to believe in a long-term opportunity while obtaining customers, revenue and learning time through work deliverable now.