Based AI is an AI-driven programming assistance platform that provides code generation, review, debugging, and refactoring capabilities.

BasedAI: An in-depth analysis platform focusing on generative AI industry finance and policy

Tool introduction

BasedAI is a Substack independent analysis platform focusing on "the capital flow and policy game of generative AI". It was founded by senior investor and AI enthusiast Adam Sharp. Different from common AI tool reviews or technical tutorial media on the market, BasedAI is positioned as an AI industry analysis from a financial investment perspective, covering hard-core topics such as the valuation of AI listed companies, generative AI industry chain mapping, Sino-US AI policy games, and large-model business realization paths.

A brief comment: It is not a tool to teach you how to write code with AI, but an internal reference for industry analysis to help you understand "which companies in the AI ​​industry chain are worth investing in and which narratives need to be wary of".

BasedAI uses Substack as a carrier to provide a dual-track model of free and paid subscriptions. The content format is mainly in-depth long articles, coupled with data charts, historical valuation benchmarks and investment portfolio disclosures. It is aimed at institutional investors, individual investors and technical managers who pay attention to the macro trends of the AI ​​industry. As of July 2026, the platform has released multiple in-depth topics covering Alibaba, NVIDIA, and the impact of Fed monetary policy on the AI ​​sector, and has established a differentiated reputation in the AI ​​investment community.

Core functions

1. In-depth industry analysis articles

The core deliverable of BasedAI is a single, in-depth research article, usually 3,000-5,000 words each, covering a company or an industry topic. Typical analysis frameworks include: Business Breakdown (the true revenue and growth drivers of the company's AI business), Valuation Benchmarking (multi-dimensional valuation comparison with comparable companies in historical cycles), Risk List (non-financial risks such as geopolitics, supply chain, regulation, etc.) and Position Disclosure (whether the author himself holds relevant positions to ensure transparency).

• Expert Viewpoint: The article is not a simple compilation of information, but contains clear investment judgments. For example, in the Alibaba analysis, the author not only lists Alibaba Cloud's market share and the technical performance of the Qwen model, but also interprets it within the macro framework of "China's AI industry chain autonomy in the context of Sino-US decoupling", providing readers with a decision-making framework that goes beyond financial report numbers.

2. Historical cycle benchmarking study

A major feature of BasedAI is the rigorous quantitative comparison of the current AI wave with historical technology bubbles (especially the 2000 Internet bubble). For example, when analyzing NVIDIA, the author compared NVIDIA's valuation trajectory with Cisco's trend from 1998 to 2000 month by month, including key indicators such as price-to-sales ratio (P/S), price-to-earnings ratio (P/E), and market capitalization multiples. This "learn from history" analysis method helps readers identify the current bubble stage and potential inflection points in the AI ​​sector.

• Hidden linkage: Historical benchmarking is not just a list of data, but an analysis of linkage with current monetary policy context - the author demonstrates how the Fed's interest rate cut rhythm may repeat the "last carnival of the bubble" in 1998, providing investors with tactical-level operational references.

3. Interpretation of policy and geopolitics

The development of generative AI is highly subject to policy variables such as Sino-US technological decoupling, chip export controls, and cross-border data flow. BasedAI conducts an in-depth analysis of the actual impact of these policy changes on each section of the AI ​​industry chain (chip design → computing power infrastructure → large model training → application layer deployment). For example, in the Alibaba article, the author breaks down in detail how Alibaba Cloud's Qwen model can handle spillover demand after OpenAI cuts off China's API access, as well as the strategic significance of Apple's search for AI partners in the Chinese market.

4. Portfolio-level analysis perspective

Unlike general technology media, BasedAI looks at the AI ​​track from the perspective of portfolio construction. Articles usually include cross-company comparisons (such as NVIDIA vs Cisco valuation vs Alibaba vs Microsoft vs Amazon AI monetization efficiency comparison), as well as industry capital flow analysis (VC investment heat map, secondary market AI sector capital inflow/outflow IPO window, etc.). This multi-dimensional financial analysis provides readers with "a second level of judgment basis beyond technical narratives."

5. Community interaction and paid subscription ecology

Based on the community function of Substack, BasedAI builds an interactive ecology in the reader comment area. Paid subscribers get access to deeper analysis and potential data attachments. Complementary views from industry professionals such as former Alibaba Cloud AI product managers and quantitative analysts often appear in the comment area, forming a vertical discussion community around AI investment.

Pricing strategy

BasedAI adopts Substack’s standard dual-track subscription system:

Tier	Price	Rights
Free subscription	$0/month	Receive email push notifications of some articles and read selected public content
Paid subscription	Subject to real-time pricing on Substack page	Full article access, complete archives, comment area participation, audio version

The Free Truth: Free users can only read some articles that the author chooses to make public, and in-depth analysis (such as detailed valuation models, holding disclosures, complete historical benchmarking data) is usually behind a paywall. This is a typical "content funnel" model - free content is used to build trust and attract subscriptions, and paid content is the real core value.

Hidden Cost: The Substack platform charges a commission of about 10%, but this cost is borne by the creator, and there is no additional charge on the reader side. For business users, the monthly cost of bulk subscriptions to multiple Substack publications can add up to significant amounts.

Advantages and Disadvantages Analysis

Advantages

• Scarcity Positioning: There are few in-depth analysis platforms for "AI industry investment" on the market. BasedAI fills the gap between "AI technology news" and "traditional industry research reports".
• Author’s experience endorsement: Adam Sharp writes as an investor, with a practical perspective rather than a pure media perspective. The analysis includes position disclosure and risk confession, which enhances credibility.
• Strict methodology: Each article has a clear analysis framework and data source references (Hugging Face ranking WSJ, company financial reports, historical valuation data, etc.), and the information is traceable.
• Timeliness and Foresight: The topic selection should closely follow the market hot spots (AI bubble discussion, Fed policy changes, Sino-US technology game), and be able to put forward assumptions and predictions in advance.
• Lightweight Operation: Substack mode does not require the maintenance of complex technical platforms, and authors can focus on the content itself.

Disadvantages

• Low update frequency: As of the current public information, BasedAI's article publishing rhythm is relatively sparse (visible articles are from July to August 2024), which may not be timely enough for trading investors who require high-frequency information updates.
• Limited coverage: Focus on US stocks and Chinese concept AI stocks, with less coverage of the European, Japanese and Korean AI industry chains.
• Risk of personal bias: As a personal publication, the analysis may be affected by the author's position and cognitive bias, and lacks a multi-layer review mechanism for institutional research reports.
• Lack of Quantitative Model: The article is more of a qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis and does not provide downloadable financial models or real-time valuation tables.
• Still small: Community interaction data (number of likes, comments) shows that the subscriber base is relatively limited, and network effects and source networks are still in their early stages.

Applicable scenarios

• AI industry investment decision-making reference: For investors who hold or consider investing in NVIDIA, Alibaba, Microsoft, Anthropic (through affiliated companies) and other AI-related targets, BasedAI provides an independent perspective that is different from the research reports of major banks.
• Technical managers’ macro perspective supplement: CTO/VP-level managers of AI companies can use BasedAI to understand how the capital market views their industry and assist in strategic planning.
• Research on Competitive Products and Capital Situations for Entrepreneurs in the AI ​​Track: Entrepreneurs can use this platform to understand the funding preferences and valuation logic of the current AI track before financing.
• Market Sentiment Samples for Academic/Policy Researchers: Scholars who study AI industry economics can use BasedAI as one of the analysis samples of "market narrative".
• Technology enthusiasts interested in the AI ​​bubble debate: For readers who are concerned about the issue of "whether an AI bubble is forming", BasedAI provides a systematic historical benchmarking analysis framework.

Not suitable for the crowd

• High Frequency Traders: The update frequency cannot meet the needs of daily trading decisions.
• Purely technical developers: BasedAI does not provide code examples, API documents or technical tutorials, and is not suitable for developers seeking Hands-on technical guidance.
• Users who need real-time data sources: The article is not a news flash and does not provide minute-level tracking of real-time stock prices and financing dynamics.
• Non-English speaking readers: The content is written in English and is not currently available in multiple languages.

Summary

BasedAI has found a unique ecological niche in the crowded AI content track with its differentiated positioning of "generative AI × investment analysis". With in-depth long articles as its core and historical benchmarking and policy analysis as its methodological features, it provides professional investors and industry observers with an independent voice that is different from mainstream financial media and sell-side research reports. Its Substack carrier model is lightweight and flexible, but update frequency and coverage are still bottlenecks that restrict its large-scale influence.

Efficiency improvement comparison

BasedAI itself does not directly provide automated efficiency tools, but helps readers improve "investment decision-making efficiency" through deep processing of information. The following comparison is based on deductions before and after using the platform:

Dimension	Before using BasedAI	After using BasedAI	Amount of improvement (deduction)
AI industry information screening time	Need to track multiple sources (WSJ, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, etc.) by yourself, about 3-5 hours per week	Focus on reading BasedAI in-depth articles (15-20 minutes each), supplemented by original text link expansion	Information acquisition time is shortened by about 60%
Cross-company valuation benchmarking efficiency	Manually organize multiple financial reports and valuation data, and it takes 2-4 hours to create a benchmarking table	Benchmarking analysis has been completed in the article, just quote or verify it directly	Analysis preparation time is reduced by about 70%
Assessment of the impact of policy changes on positions	It is necessary to cross-interpret the correlation between policy news and the company's business by yourself, and it is easy to miss the indirect impact	The article directly breaks down the transmission link of policy-business-valuation	The completeness of risk assessment is improved by about 50%
Confidence in investment decisions	A single source of information can easily form an information cocoon	Multi-dimensional cross-validation (technical aspect + financial aspect + policy aspect + historical benchmarking)	Improved decision-making confidence, subjective estimates reduce the probability of misjudgment by about 30%

Note: The above comparison is an estimate based on the functional characteristics of the platform, and is unofficial commitment data.

Automation Boundary

BasedAI's core delivery is analysis content rather than automation tools, so its "automation" is mainly reflected in the information processing process:

Automated/semi-automated functions:

• ✅ Information collection and classification: The initial screening and classification of AI industry news can be assisted by automated tools (but BasedAI currently does not disclose its internal workflow).
• ✅ Data Chart Generation: Valuation data visualization can be achieved through templated scripts.
• ✅ News Push Distribution: Substack platform automatically handles email subscription, push and payment.

Things that require deep manual intervention:

• ❌ Investment judgment and conclusion formation: Valuation conclusions, buying and selling recommendations, and risk judgments completely rely on the author’s experience and cognition.
• ❌ Policy Impact Deduction: The derivation of secondary effects of geopolitical events requires human understanding of political economics and historical patterns.
• ❌ First-hand source verification: Communication with industry insiders, extraction of implicit information from financial conference calls, etc. cannot be automated.
• ❌ Position disclosure and conflict of interest management: The author's voluntary disclosure of personal positions is an ethical responsibility and cannot be done by the system.

Human-machine collaboration suggestion: Subscribers can use the content of BasedAI as an "information input layer" and then combine it with their own trading system or analysis tools for secondary verification to form a hybrid workflow of "AI-assisted information collection → human in-depth analysis → quantitative tool backtesting".

Security and Compliance

• Data Privacy: BasedAI operates through the Substack platform, and user data (email, payment information) is managed by Substack in accordance with its privacy policy. Readers' reading behavior (article opening rate, reading time) may be tracked by Substack for analytics, but the author himself does not directly access sensitive user data.
• Content Disclaimer: Each article contains a clear statement - the content does not constitute investment advice and is solely the author's personal opinion. Authors disclose holdings to reduce the risk of conflicts of interest.
• Compliance Boundary: BasedAI does not provide personalized investment consulting services and does not charge asset management fees, so it does not involve compliance requirements such as investment adviser registration. However, you still need to comply with the SEC's disclosure rules on "paid recommendations."
• Platform Risk: The Substack platform itself has external risks such as policy changes, changes in content review standards, or platform closures. It is recommended that paying users pay attention to changes in Substack's terms of service.
• Information Accuracy: The author cites data sources (company financial reports, third-party rankings, news media) and notes the sources, but cannot guarantee the absolute accuracy of secondary sources. Readers should independently verify key figures.

Integrated Ecosystem

Based on the Substack open ecosystem, BasedAI naturally supports the following integration capabilities:

Integration direction	Specific methods
Mail Client	Automatically push to any client that supports RSS/mail subscription (Gmail, Outlook, ProtonMail, etc.)
Podcast client	Substack provides audio versions of articles, which can be listened to through universal clients such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify
Social media sharing	Articles support one-click sharing to Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Facebook and other platforms
Note Tool	Readers can save articles to their personal knowledge base through browser extensions (such as Notion Web Clipper, Roam Highlighter)
API/Automation	Implement new article notification, archiving and other processes through automation platforms such as Substack API (limited) or Zapier/Pipedream
RSS Reader	Substack publications automatically generate RSS feeds and can be integrated into RSS services such as Feedly and Inoreader

Disadvantage: Currently BasedAI does not provide enterprise-level integration functions such as private API, data export (such as complete article database CSV), team sharing subscription, etc. To purchase in bulk for your team, contact us through Substack’s enterprise subscription plan.

Implementation suggestions

1. Individual investors: Incorporate BasedAI into the information matrix

• Positioning: As a "deep analysis layer", placed after "News Flash (Bloomberg/TechCrunch) → Preliminary Screening" and before "Quantitative Backtesting/Trading Execution".
• Frequency: When BasedAI publishes new articles, read them intensively (about 15-20 minutes per article), and do not need to subscribe with the mentality of refreshing every day.
• Cooperating tools: Establish an "AI Investment Research" note library in Notion or Obsidian, archive key valuation benchmarking data excerpts from BasedAI articles, and cross-reference with brokerage research reports.

2. Institutional investors: as a reference for "alternative perspectives"

• How ​​to use: Assign members of the research team responsible for "Emerging Narrative Tracking" to include BasedAI's analysis into the weekly investment research report as a "market sentiment sample".
• Note: BasedAI’s analysis should not be used as the sole basis for investment decisions. It is recommended to cross-verify with traditional sources such as Bloomberg terminal data, seller research reports, and expert network interviews.
• Compliance Review: Confirm company compliance department's acceptance of Substack publications as a research source prior to use.

3. Technology company managers: as industry radar

• Application Scenario: Set aside 1-2 hours every quarter to review BasedAI’s recent articles to understand how the capital market views changes in the valuation logic of your track.
• Team Sharing: Articles with strategic reference value can be shared in weekly management meetings (note copyright restrictions, it is recommended to share the link to the original article instead of copying the full text).
• Early Warning Signs: Pay attention to the analysis on "AI Bubble/Valuation Revision" in BasedAI as an external reference for the company's financing pace and valuation expectations.

4. Best Practices

• Read free content first before deciding to pay: BasedAI has free public articles. It is recommended to read 2-3 articles first to confirm that the analysis style matches your information needs, and then consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
• Cross-verify key data: It is recommended to conduct secondary verification of third-party data cited in the article (such as Hugging Face Leaderboard rankings, company financial indicators), because the data may change after the article is published.
• Pay attention to the comment area: The BasedAI comment area often contains supplements and refutations from industry insiders. These discussions themselves are also important information increments.
• Don’t blindly follow orders: The positions disclosed by the author are only his personal judgment and should not be interpreted as investment advice. Each reader has different risk tolerance and investment cycle and needs to make independent decisions.

Procurement/Adoption Risk Assessment: BasedAI’s personal publication attributes determine that the quality of its content is highly dependent on the author’s personal willingness and ability to continue investing. Compared with institutional research platforms (such as Bloomberg Intelligence, Bernstein, etc.), BasedAI has significant gaps in resource coverage, data real-timeness, and team redundancy. It is recommended to position it as "a differentiated supplement in the information matrix" rather than core investment research infrastructure. The annual cost of a paid subscription is within an acceptable range (usually tens of dollars per year), and the cost of trial and error is low. It is worth trying for those who are interested in the AI ​​industry.

Main functions of Based AI

• Core Processing Capabilities: Provides core AI capabilities in relevant scenarios to support users to quickly complete tasks.
• Multi-modal interaction: supports text input and result output, and some scenes support image or file upload.
• Workflow Integration: Can be embedded into existing workflows or linked with other tools through APIs to reduce context switching.

Based AI application scenarios

• Personal Creation: Quickly generate or process content to improve daily work efficiency.
• Team Collaboration: Unify workflow and reduce repetitive manpower investment.
• Enterprise-grade deployment: Embed capabilities into on-premises systems via API or private deployment.

Based AI’s applicable groups

• Individual Users: Content creators and knowledge workers who need AI assistance to improve their daily work efficiency.
• Developers: Technical teams who need to integrate AI capabilities into their own products or services through APIs.
• Enterprise: Organizations seeking to deploy AI at scale in their field.

Technical advantages of Based AI

• Algorithm Optimization: Special optimization at the model or algorithm level has been carried out for the corresponding scenario to achieve a balance between response speed and result quality.
• Low-latency architecture: Adopts streaming or asynchronous processing architecture to reduce user waiting time and is suitable for high-frequency interaction scenarios.

Based AI’s core parameters and statistics

Specific technical parameters (such as model size, context length, supported file formats, input and output restrictions, etc.) are subject to the official product page. It is recommended that users verify the latest technical specifications and system requirements before choosing to ensure that they match their own usage scenarios.

User and market recognition of Based AI

Gradually build user awareness in the field, and product capabilities are used by content creators and teams to improve work efficiency. Some industry users have incorporated it into their daily workflow. It is recommended to refer to the latest official disclosures for specific user scale and industry adoption rate data.

Cost advantages of Based AI

• C-side/Individual: Usually a free version is provided to experience the core functions, and high-frequency use requires a paid package subscription.
• API/Developer: Billed by call volume, suitable for development teams that can be flexibly integrated into their own systems.
• Enterprise/Privatized: Contact the business owner for customized quotation and deployment plan. The specific price is subject to the official real-time pricing page.

Summary and Outlook of Based AI

It provides competitive solutions in its field, and its core value lies in lowering the threshold for AI use in this field. With technology iteration, products are expected to continue to improve in functional coverage and performance.

Current limitations: Some advanced features require paid subscription, and the free version has function or usage restrictions; specific technical details and performance benchmarks have not been fully disclosed, and it is recommended to fully verify it through trial before purchasing.

Related tools: github-copilot, cursor

Based AI model and version evolution

Continuous iterative updates, the latest version introduces performance optimization and new features. Historical version information can be viewed on the official release page. There is no complete public version evolution timeline yet. It is recommended to pay attention to the official announcement to understand the rhythm of feature updates.

Based AI How to use

• Web client: You can use it by visiting the official website and registering an account. Most functions do not require installation.
• API access: Provides RESTful API, developers can obtain the API Key and integrate it into their own applications.

Based AI product pricing

The pricing model is subject to the official real-time page. Usually a freemium or subscription system is used, and basic functions can be used for free. Advanced functions or high-frequency use require paid subscriptions, and users are advised to evaluate the optimal solution based on actual usage.

Version Info

• Based on AI current ：Current latest version. （~2026-01）
• Based AI beta ：Early version is online. （~2025-06）