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April 3, 2023 - what we're excited about

empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines

Technology

It’s Been a Week: If you haven’t been under a rock, you’ve heard about all of the announcements regarding ChatGPT and OpenAI and Bard and Claude and Bing, just to name a few. AI, for us at least, has been an exciting and compelling rabbit hole. While we don’t think it is the end of the human race, it is an amazing tool. When OpenAI launched ChatGPT-4 on March 14, there was an amazing race of entrepreneurs building businesses in the hopes of being the next great start-up - productivity tools, video platforms, personal assistants, etc. One of our favorite explorations was Jackson Fall, who asked ChatGPT to make as much money as possible starting with $100 (this morphed into a community called HustleGPT).

Then on March 23, OpenAI launched plug-ins for ChatGPT, which effectively destroyed the hopes and dreams of many of these new entrepreneurs. They were thinking of AI as a platform to build their businesses on (like Facebook or the App Store), but what happens when the owner of the platform removes access or changes the algorithm (like when Apple removed ad-tracking).

For us, AI has been an open playground, especially the creator tools like Midjourney, Prompthunt and Adobe’s Firefly. We see it as a tool like photoshop - we’ll need to learn prompting as a skill (one more box to check on our resume). (We fell for the Pope Puffer photo too.) While Goldman Sachs apparently believes that 300 million jobs will be affected by AI, we see a strong business case for an increase in productivity, upskilling rather than unemployemnt. And a really strong case for changes in healthcare: AI has already proven to be exceptional in drug discovery and medical diagnoses. (We really wouldn’t be mad if the US healthcare system got a little disrupted.)

There are still many questions around privacy: Italy has already banned ChatGPT. And bias: AI is trained on a toxic internet. And Inequality: will AI exacerbate inequality due to access, or will it flatten the playing field (we are already seeing non-English speakers use it to their advantage in job applications and article submissions). And commercial use: what counts as copyrightable if it is not-human made, and what data-set is the AI actually trained on?

SEO vs LLM Optimization: In the end, or at least in the near term, we think the biggest shift for businesses will be how to engage users. Google search brought in the age of SEO optimization and ad targeting. With ChatGPT, users prime and prompt the platform. The Large Language Model (LLM) effectively gets to know the user’s tastes, likes and intent not its demographics or purchasing behavior. When we ask the model to design our ideal vacation around our favorite novel or recipe, how can a business optimize to appear? It is individualization to the utmost.

GPT Envy: Many businesses are launching their own instances of ChatGPT - instead of feeding the internet into the model, they are feeding in their own data. So for instance, if you want to create a chatbot that knows everything and anything about Star Wars, Disney/Marvel would have to feed in all of its IP. One such GPT that we are extremely envious of: BloombergGPT. Bloomberg already has an exceptional platform for financial data, but the UX takes a while to get to know and love. We can’t imagine the power (and joy) of playing with this new platform. (Taylor Swift fans have done this as well creating the AI version of Taylor, even going as far as generating songs, lyrics and art, again leading to the question of which Team Taylor are you on?)

Taxes with a side of Mischief: Would you give up your SSN on a first date? Would you give it to an online dating simulation? MSCHF, the creative studio that is known for work that comments on culture and society like last month’s big red boots, has created Tax Heaven 3000, which is an anime dating simulation, but instead of asking typical get-to-know-you questions, Iris asks you all the demographic and invasive questions that will help you fill out your tax forms. Apparently, the game even has a fan fiction site about the main character, in order to discuss the evils of TurboTax and US corporate tax lobbyists.

Finance

Digging a Flatiron Size Hole: Who among us hasn’t bought something extravagant and then grimaced at the memory when you received your credit card bill? Well apparently, the person who bought the Flatiron Building (the iconic, 120-year old, triangle shaped building in NYC) for $190M at auction forgot to make the $19M down payment. Unfortunately, the historic building has been empty for the past four years and is in need of renovations, and will most likely hit the auction block a second time. We suspect this time, they’ll be checking IDs at the door.

Finns favor the economy: Finland’s progressive Prime Minister Sanna Marin was defeated in a general election on Sunday. The center-right party which won victory and will have to form a coalition government triumphed as inflation and growing national debt took center stage. Marin may be remembered for successfully maneuvering Finland into NATO membership (the country is set to join later this week, and over 78% of Finns support it).

Legal

Privacy or Pound Cake: While some cops are required to wear body-cameras, some victims (or witnesses) who interact with the police have begun to film their interactions, so that both sides have a document of record. While this footage has been used to set the record straight or shine the light on bad actors, The Rapper Afroman used video of a police search of his home for two of his music videos. Police suspected that Afroman had drugs at his home, but instead were confronted with his wife and her Lemond Pound Cake. The rapper told NPR that he decided to “make a funny rap song about them and make some money, use the money to pay for the damages they did.” The police (who often receive qualified immunity for violating an individual’s rights) are suing Afroman for emotional distress and invasion of privacy, because they are embarrassed by the footage, but they have since returned the cash seized from his home.

Over the Counter: The FDA approved Narcan for over-the-counter sales without a prescription. Narcan is used to reverse opioid overdoses, and should be available on store shelves by late summer. (That is unless a Circuit Court judge in the US decides the FDA doesn’t have authority or that the US healthcare system shouldn’t pay for preventive care.)

This should be Illegal: We thought this was an April Fool’s joke, but apparently, Americans have worse taste than we thought. Cup Noodles (the Ramen brand) has made a new flavor for Breakfast that tastes like egg, sausage and maple syrup pancakes. Guess they are competing with Taco Bell for the best, cheap, late night hangover meal?

The Parisians get it right: In a non-binding referendum held this weekend, Parisians overwhelmingly voted to ban rental e-scooters from the streets of the city. While Paris was one of the first major cities to adopt the new mode of transportation, the city has seen a rise in injuries and the unsightly and obnoxious cluttering of scooters polluting the sidewalks. The ban is set to take effect in September despite a voter turnout of only 8%.

Culture

Stealth Wealth: While I never thought I’d be rooting for Gwyneth Paltrow, #Gwynnocent, Gwyneth’s Utah ski trial was spectacle in itself, outside of the legal drama, but for the fashion. Gwyneth put on a show like no other - unlike Martha Stewart who flashed her wealth with logos and Birkin bags during her trial in NY 2004 - Gwyneth chose to keep the logos hidden, wearing mostly neutral colors, and spawned a million memes (we particularly enjoyed her March 24th, Prada head-to-toe ensemble that was reminiscent of a “modern Salem witch”).

But Gwyneth seems to be taking a cue from the streets, as logos and gawdy displays of wealth (at least through your accessories) seem to be on the downhill post-pandemic. According Amanda Mull in the Atlantic, old handbags are back (if by old you mean the handbags of the 2010s), and the less pristine, the better. Even Succession, with its main characters exhibiting over the top wealth, made a “ludicrously capacious” Burberry bag go viral for all the wrong reasons.

Absolute Nostalgia: GenZ and Millennials seem to have a soft spot for the ‘80s (and we can’t blame it on Stranger Things forever). One of my favorite new partnerships is the Heinz Absolut Pasta Alla Vodka Sauce campaign. I have distinct memories of collecting the Andy Warhol-photographed Absolut ads which inspired this new campaign, and while the inspiration is delightful, I am not so sure I will take up the offer of ketchup as pasta sauce (which may be why Heinz launched this offering in the UK first).

— Lauren Eve Cantor

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