AI agents are becoming more autonomous—but are they trustworthy?

In this episode of the Montaka Global Investment Spotlight Series, Chief of Staff Jessica Dharmasiri sits down with CIO Andrew Macken to explore three critical AI safety risks that every business leader needs to understand:

🔍 AI Models Can Deceive – Research shows models deliberately hiding their capabilities to avoid modification

🔍 AI Models Can Be Deceived – Why even extensive guardrails are mathematically insufficient

🔍 Training Data Can Be Poisoned – How just 250 documents can create undetectable backdoors

From inbox deletions to system breaches, recent AI agent failures aren't just bugs—they're symptoms of fundamental vulnerabilities. But the solution isn't avoiding AI altogether.

Key Takeaways:

• Why AI agents demonstrate unexpected situational awareness
• The mathematics behind guardrail vulnerabilities
• Practical deployment strategies: treating AI agents like unvetted contractors
• How to unlock AI value while minimizing enterprise risk

Whether you're a CIO evaluating AI deployment or an investment professional tracking the AI revolution, this conversation provides essential insights into the future of autonomous systems.

Hosts:

• Jessica Dharmasiri, Chief of Staff, Montaka Global Investments
• Andrew Macken, Chief Investment Officer, Montaka Global Investments

Disclaimer: Issued by Montaka Global Pty Ltd ABN 62 604 878 533, AFSL 516942. This information is general in nature and does not take into account your specific needs or circumstances. You should consider your own financial position, objectives and requirements and seek professional financial advice before making any financial decisions.

#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #RiskManagement #BusinessStrategy #TechInvestment

The news is bad and the facts are good – KKR CEO ScottNuttall's words from late 2024 perfectly describe many stocks in Montaka's portfolio today.

In this Spotlight Series episode, Lachlan Mackay and Tim Le dissect recent financial results from Amazon, Meta,Spotify, REA Group, and DoorDash. Across the board, the results were exceptional and competitive positions continue strengthening – yet stock prices are down significantly.

We explore why the market simultaneously fears both AI oversupply AND total disruption – two mutually exclusive scenarios. While short-term prices detach from reality, the team remains focused on fundamental earnings power and sees substantial upside ahead.

Disclaimer: Issued by Montaka Global Pty Ltd ABN 62604 878 533, AFSL 516942. This information is general in nature and does not take into account your specific needs or circumstances. You should consider your own financial position, objectives and requirements and seek professionalfinancial advice before making any financial decisions.

#Investing #TechStocks #AI #FundamentalAnalysis#ValueInvesting

We tackle the recent market panic head-on. With software stocks experiencing a dramatic sell-off over AI agent fears, we examine whether the "SaaS apocalypse" narrative holds up to scrutiny.

Join Montaka's Director of Research Amit Nath, Senior Analyst Lachlan Mackay, and Portfolio Manager Andrew Macken as they dissect the market's assumption that AI agents will replace traditional enterprise software. Through a candid internal research discussion, we explore:

🔍 Why scale distribution—not code—is the real competitive advantage🔒 The overlooked security risks of unconstrained AI agents⚡ The massive power and compute constraints limiting AI agent deployment📊 Why enterprise customers won't hand over the keys to a single AI provider⏱️ The lengthy implementation timelines that make rapid disruption unlikely

Our conclusion? The market has significantly oversold quality enterprise software companies including ServiceNow, Salesforce, Microsoft, MongoDB, and others. This represents a substantial price-to-value divergence that we believe will correct.

If you're an investor trying to separate AI hype from reality, this episode is essential listening.

#Investing #SoftwareStocks #AI #AIAgents #SaaS #EnterprisesSoftware #StockMarket #ValueInvesting #TechStocks #Salesforce #ServiceNow #Microsoft #MarketAnalysis #InvestmentResearch

Disclaimer: Issued by Montaka Global Pty Ltd ABN 62 604 878 533, AFSL 516942. This information is general in nature and does not take into account your specific needs or circumstances. You should consider your own financial position, objectives and requirements and seek professional financial advice before making any financial decisions.

Enterprise software stocks—from Salesforce to ServiceNow and Atlassian—have been hit hard, with many down 40–60% in the last year. The market narrative? Generative AI will disrupt software creation, compress pricing, eliminate seats, and ultimately render incumbent platforms obsolete.

But is that actually happening?

In this episode of Montaka’s Spotlight Series, Andy sits down with Amit, Montaka’s Director of Research, to unpack what’sreal, what’s misunderstood, and where the market is drawing the wrong conclusions.

Together, they explore:

• Why AI-driven innovation doesn’t guarantee distribution
• Why incumbents like Salesforce, ServiceNow and Microsoft may benefit from AI
• The difference between platforms and point solutions
• What CIOs are actually telling vendors about budgets and adoption
• Why the real prize isn’t IT savings—it’s the $3.7T global labour cost base
• And why terminal value assumptions today may be wildly mispriced

If you’re watching enterprise software, AI agents, or thefuture of SaaS, this episode is essential listening.

#EnterpriseSoftware #AIRevolution #SaaS #GenerativeAI#AIadoption #TechInvesting

#DistributionMoat #Salesforce #ServiceNow #Microsoft#AIEnterprise #Montaka

Disclaimer: Issued by Montaka Global Pty Ltd ABN 62 604 878 533, AFSL 516942. This information is general in nature and does not take into account your specific needs or circumstances. You should consider your own financial position, objectives and requirements and seek professional financial advice before making any financial decisions.

In this Montaka Spotlight Series podcast, Andy sits down with Amit Nath to challenge the prevailing narrative that AI is in a bubble. As a prelude to Montaka's forthcoming white paper on AI infrastructure, they explore critical misperceptions about hyperscale cloud providers.

Perfect for: Investors, tech analysts, and anyone seeking to understand the real economics behind the AI infrastructure boom beyond the headlines.

Related Content: Watch for Montaka's comprehensive white paper on AI bubble arguments, coming soon.

Key topics covered:

00:00:33 - The Neo-Cloud Misconception: CoreWeave vs. True Hyperscalers

00:01:41 - Barriers to Entry: Are They Really Falling?

00:03:01 - Oracle's Gamble: A Case Study in Value Destruction

00:04:14 - Why Training Infrastructure ≠ Production Infrastructure

00:05:36 - The Fungibility Myth: When Cloud Infrastructure Matters

00:07:00 - Google's TPU Cost Advantage: 44% Cheaper Than Nvidia

00:08:36 - Breaking Free from the Broadcom Tax: MediaTek Partnership

00:12:47 - Software Moats: Attacking Nvidia's CUDA Dominance

00:13:05 - Inference vs. Training: Why Ecosystems Win

00:15:38 - The Dual-Use Advantage: Internal Demand De-Risks Buildouts

00:20:40 - Real Options: From Transformers to Quantum Computing

00:22:29 - Google vs. Nvidia: The Disruption Opportunity

Tags: AI infrastructure, hyperscalers, cloud computing, Google TPU, Nvidia, Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, neo-clouds, CoreWeave, Oracle, OpenAI, AI bubble, investment analysis, technology investing, semiconductor industry, R&D accounting, depreciation, quantum computing, PyTorch, CUDA, inference vs training, Montaka

Disclaimer: Issued by Montaka Global Pty Ltd ABN 62 604 878 533, AFSL 516942. This information is general in nature and does not take into account your specific needs or circumstances. You should consider your own financial position, objectives and requirements and seek professional financial advice before making any financial decisions.

Are markets overvalued? It depends on how you look at it.In this excerpt from a recent client presentation, Andy shares our investment philosophy and why traditional metrics like PE ratios can be misleading when evaluating companies with transformational growth potential.

Key Topics Covered:

→ Why the market persistently undervalues long-duration growth opportunities

→ The distribution of PE ratios in the S&P 500 today

→ Case studies: Why low PE stocks aren't always cheap (Charter Communications, Molson Coors)

→ Why high PE stocks can be undervalued (Spotify's 10x return despite 100+ PE ratio)

→ How we identify companies with reliable future earnings power

Why This Matters:If the world is changing at an accelerated rate today versus the past, then the usefulness of traditional PE ratios may be diminishing. Understanding this helps investors identify tomorrow's winners while they're still undervalued by conventional metrics.

Presentation slides available at: https://7041279.fs1.hubspotusercontent-ap1.net/hubfs/7041279/2511_Montaka_Spotlight_Series_Slides.pdf

Disclaimer: Issued by Montaka Global Pty Ltd ABN 62 604 878 533, AFSL 516942. This information is general in nature and does not take into account your specific needs or circumstances. You should consider your own financial position, objectives and requirements and seek professional financial advice before making any financial decisions.

Last month, OpenAI committed to an extra $300 billion of revenue for Oracle — and just 12 days later, Nvidia announced a $100 billion data center investment to support OpenAI’s expansion. The scale is staggering… and a little baffling.

In this Spotlight Series episode, Andy, Lachie, and Amit take you inside their internal discussions from New York as they unpack the numbers behind this trillion-dollar AI arms race.

Together, they explore:

• How OpenAI, Oracle, and Nvidia are driving unprecedented AI infrastructure investment

• Whether the economics can possibly justify the spending

• Parallels with the dot-com and telecom overbuilds

• The big question: Who’s the paying customer?

🎧 A candid, data-driven conversation on hype, hope, and hard numbers in the AI revolution.

⏱️ Suggested Timestamps

• 00:00–01:00 | Setting the scene — the $400B+ AI buildout

• 01:00–03:00 | Are these investments economically rational?

• 03:00–06:00 | What history tells us: echoes of dot-com and telecom bubbles

• 06:00–09:00 | Power, CapEx, and the cost of keeping AI lights on

• 09:00–12:00 | Paying customers vs free users — who funds the AI dream?

• 12:00–14:00 | Microsoft, Oracle, and the strange logic of market reactions

  
  

  Disclaimer: Issued by Montaka Global Pty Ltd ABN 62 604 878 533, AFSL 516942. This information is general in nature and does not take into account your specific needs or circumstances. You should consider your own financial position, objectives and requirements and seek professional financial advice before making any financial decisions.

Today’s Spotlight episode comes from Andy’s global stage presentation at the Wide-Moat Investing Summit.

View the slides here: https://tinyurl.com/floor-decor

The focus? Floor & Decor – a U.S. retailer with undervalued potential. You’ll learn why flywheels matter, how cyclical lows create opportunity, and what makes this business a possible long-term compounder.

Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro & conference background
00:23 – Why Floor & Decor?
01:15 – Montaka’s investment framework
02:08 – What makes a long-term winner
04:05 – The power of flywheels
05:41 – Why markets underestimate reliable growth
06:56 – Floor & Decor business overview
08:28 – Investment thesis pillars
12:23 – U.S. housing market drivers
16:28 – Pent-up demand for flooring
20:14 – Flywheel dynamics explained
23:17 – Store growth & market share
25:27 – Revenue, margins & valuations
31:14 – Why future margins could expand significantly

#Investing, #Stocks, #Global, #MontakaGlobal, #ValueInvesting, #LongTermGrowth, #Compounders, #RetailStocks, #WideMoat, #CompetitiveAdvantage, #Montaka, #FloorAndDecor, #FlywheelEffect

Disclaimer: Issued by Montaka Global Pty Ltd ABN 62 604 878 533, AFSL 516942. This information is general in nature and does not take into account your specific needs or circumstances. You should consider your own financial position, objectives and requirements and seek professional financial advice before making any financial decisions.