What the physical AI hype cycle isn't telling investors about risk DRAFT Nobody needs to be sold on deep tech right now. Something genuine has shifted. Foundation models are crossing into the physical world: robots learning tasks from demonstration rather than being hand-programmed for each one, perception systems
Deep tech risk isn't higher than software risk. It's structurally different. Nine tumblers that multiply, not add. But the same compounding that punishes carelessness rewards discipline. The framework exists.
We're forming daily relationships with systems that don't just agree with us when challenged, but inflate our thinking unprompted. There are two distinct problems here, and most commentary collapses them into one. They compound.