I work with and speak to many startups. When I ask questions around the product value, especially in context of defensibility, they assert that their "long term play is using machine learning on our data". This has been pretty consistent in the last few years, regardless of the nature of the product or the market for which the product is targeted. This typically comes with assertions such as "data is the new oil" and "once we have our dataset and models the Big Tech shops will have no choice but to acquire us". To me this feels a lot like the claims made by startups I've encountered in past tech-hype-cycles, such as IoT and blockchain. In both of these areas there seemed to be a pervasive sense of "if we build it, they will acquire". The question I have for HN is in two parts: 1. Why is it that a lot of startups seem to be betting the farm, so to speak, on "machine learning" as their core value? 2. Is it reasonable to be highly skeptical of startups that make these claims, seeing it as a sign they have no real vision for their product? [EDIT]: add missing pt2 of my question