“Amazon and Google are doing equally poorly, which is why nobody wants to talk about their actual AI revenues.”
Our reading, the sentence that was checked:
Amazon and Google are doing as poorly on AI revenue as Microsoft, which is why nobody wants to talk about their actual AI revenues.
Assessment: Unresolved Evidence as of
Where and when Ed Zitron wrote it
Where's Your Ed At, Don't Look Up, paragraph 57.
- Said
- Source observed
- live page, full text, public
- Evidence as of
- the cutoff for this assessment
- Assessment recorded
- assessment wyea-dont-look-up-56e7ca-a1
We recorded 34 claims from this post. See every claim from this post.
The wording above is the version this site observed on 2026-10-28. The source may have been edited after 2026-08-11. This page does not claim the wording was captured then.
What the claim commits to
- Kind
- Causal claim
- Deadline, as the speaker wrote it
- None stated. This site does not add one.
- Deadline state when assessed
- No horizon
- Deadline state on 2026-10-29
- No horizon (the release’s reference date)
From the speaker
- Amazon and Google
- doing equally poorly
- which is why
- nobody wants to talk about their actual AI revenues
Our interpretation
- In context, equally poorly means AI revenue outside OpenAI and Anthropic is similarly inadequate relative to investment at Amazon and Google as at Microsoft.
- Treat nobody wants to talk as a claim about reluctance to disclose meaningful revenue detail, rather than a literal assertion that no person discusses AI revenue.
- The causal claim requires evidence that weak performance explains that reluctance.
- Use April–June 2026, the latest completed reporting quarter before publication. Full-year analyst forecasts are context, not realized results for this period.
Counts as supported if: Comparable estimates show similarly weak AI revenue excluding the two labs, relative to investment, at both companies; direct or well-supported evidence links that weakness to disclosure decisions.
Counts as contradicted if: Comparable evidence shows materially stronger performance at either company, or reliable evidence contradicts the asserted explanation for withholding revenue detail.
Retrospective: these criteria were written after the outcome was public.
Current assessment
Does the evidence support the cause?
Outcome: Unresolved
The record was checked, and the evidence available by the cutoff does not settle it.
Scored on a plain reading. The speaker named no measure for this claim, so it was judged on the reading an informed reader would take, stated below under our interpretation. Both reviews had to find that reading fair.
- Evidence as of
- Deadline state when assessed
- No horizon
- Assessment recorded
- Policy version
- 2026-10-28.7
Rationale
The retrieved disclosures do not provide the comparable AI revenue measures needed to establish equally poor performance. They also do not establish why particular revenue details were withheld. Disclosure gaps cannot themselves prove weak performance or the motive attributed to management. Strong aggregate results likewise do not refute the narrower customer-excluded comparison.
Limitations
- Both the performance comparison and the causal explanation remain unverified.
- The required original analyst estimates were not independently retrieved.
Evidence (2 items)
Context only: Amazon,
AWS segment sales
Why it matters here: AWS sales cover more than AI and do not exclude the two labs. The release also discusses an AI annual revenue run rate, which cannot substitute for the realized, customer-excluded revenue comparison.
- Publisher
- Amazon
- Kind of source
- Company disclosure: the company describing itself, not an independent finding
- Measures
- Amazon, AWS segment sales, USD billions, company reported, 2026-04-01 to 2026-06-30
- Describes events of
- Public from
Context only: Alphabet,
operating margin
Why it matters here: Overall operating performance does not measure AI revenue excluding the two labs. It cannot establish either the comparison with Microsoft or management's reasons for its disclosure choices.
- Publisher
- Alphabet
- Kind of source
- Company disclosure: the company describing itself, not an independent finding, unaudited
- Measures
- Alphabet, Consolidated operating margin percent, company reported, 2026-04-01 to 2026-06-30
- Describes events of
- Public from
What would settle it
Comparable period-specific AI revenue and investment estimates excluding the two labs, together with documentary or attributable evidence explaining the relevant disclosure decisions.
Where it was said (1)
Said once in the sources this register covers.
: Where's Your Ed At, Don't Look Up
Amazon and Google are doing equally poorly, which is why nobody wants to talk about their actual AI revenues.
- Where
- paragraph 57
- Published
- 2026-08-11
- Source observed
- , live page
- Access
- full text, public
History
Assessment versions
- Assessment wyea-dont-look-up-56e7ca-a1: Current. Outcome: Unresolved. Evidence as of 2026-10-28. Public date not recorded.
Recorded events
Assessment publishedBy this site
First assessment published after both reviews and the final-text check passed.