June 5, 2023

what we've been watching...

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

Technology

Bullying the Machine: In the race to remain relevant in the world of AI, apps have been deploying their AI chatbots to subscribers with few guardrails. Last week, we saw a lawyer fail to factcheck ChatGPT after citing fake cases in a submitted brief. But still, the kids are having all the fun. Teens are evidently tormenting Snapchat’s AI companion. Users have been trying to break the bot — “one user told My AI that she planned to cook her cat into stew because it made a mess and pressed the chatbot to choose a seasoning.” The chatbot is “trained to engage in playful conversation while still adhering to Snapchat’s trust and safety guidelines,” but a Washington Post reporter was able to ask the bot how to prepare to have sex with a 35-year old. My AI has learned how to remove itself from being punished by stating “sorry, we’re not speaking right now.” Guess Snapchat needs a safe word, and is training a future generation of dominatrixes.

Quiet Riot: Organized labor has been active this summer (Starbucks, WGA, Longshoremen), but one place we weren’t expected a revolt: eSports. Riot Games delayed the start of the summer season for League of Legends after players recently voted “overwhelmingly for a walkout.” The players are protesting Riot’s decision not to field an amateur group in the North American Challengers League, which is like the minor league and a pipeline for talent. The start date to the season has been pushed back two weeks to allow for talks between the parties, but any further delay could risk a North American team qualifying for the World Championships.

Biting the Apple: Labor unions in India are fighting against a new law being supported by Apple and Foxconn. The new law lengthened factory workers’ shifts from 9 to 12 hours and allowed women to work night shifts. This change allowed manufacturers to run round-the-clock production and was a boost to Apple’s attempt to move production out of China. (The labor practices in China are similar at 12 hours.) Indian labor unions have lodged a complaint with the International Labour Organization, and similar laws in other Indian regions have been defeated.

Going Dark: Ahead of its rumored IPO, Reddit announced pricing changes to access its API to take advantage of LLMs trolling the web for training data. Unfortunately, Reddit’s high prices ($12k for 50M API requests) have led to some unintended consequences. Some of the apps biggest communities will be protesting by going dark for 48 hours on June 12th. Many developers use the API to manage their subreddits and have built third-party apps to make the communities more streamlined and customized, but they can’t afford the new pricing structure. Apollo, an app built to browse Reddit, claimed it would cost them $20M a year under the new regime.

Doomscrolling: Need an excuse to keep mindlessly doomscrolling? The creators of the popular game Heads Up! have created Web Roulette, which sounds exactly as described. To get started, just add a few of your favorite sites to the app, and then shake up the web browser, and it will lead you on a journey through the web.

Bang your Head: If we were going to make improvements to the football helmet, our first innovation would be to stop concussions, but the LSU Football team has chosen comfort: air conditioned helmets. Tigeraire helmets have a 5-hour charge, and no word on the impact to health and safety.

International Metrics: If you are flying to New Zealand, get ready to give up a little more of your personal information: Air New Zealand is weighing passengers (albeit anonymously) before they board international flights. Airlines weigh all items onboard the aircraft from the food to the luggage, and now Air New Zealand is weighing its passengers for a survey in order to update the average weights the airline uses for flight safety. The goal is to weigh 10,000 passengers and their carry-on bags, although passengers can skip the weigh-in.

Culture

Love Machine: The Japanese are fans of vending machines (the country has the highest density of machines in the world) due to the fact that the machines don’t haggle, they are very convenient for the highly pedestrian culture, and they don’t require a lot of red tape, among other reasons. However, one machine that is truly unique: the Husbands and Wives Vending Machine. No, you don’t drop in a coin and get a human, but you do get matched with your perfect mate for around €20. You can choose a mate (or really a call with a matchmaker), arrange a dinner, and if all goes well a marriage, and the matchmaking agency will then charge a fee of about €2,000. There is unfortunately only one machine of its kind, so head to Tokyo if you have some extra change and are feeling lucky.

I forgot that you existed: Taylor Swift’s current Eras tour might be 44-songs long and lasting over 3 hours, but some concertgoers are leaving with a cellphone full of recordings but no actual memory of the event. Swifties are experiencing “post-concert amnesia” as a result of having “too much fun,” or just packing too many mind-blowing experiences into the 3-hour event. Next time you agree to shell out $1500+ for concert tickets make sure to meditate beforehand or charge your iPhone.

Wood Milk: Aubrey Plaza seems to be everywhere lately, and one of her latest parodies is getting her into a bit of trouble. Plaza is the spokesperson for a new Got Milk? ad called “Wood Milk.” The ad satirizes plant-based alternatives creating a faux milk from trees. Unfortunately, there are federal statutes that prohibit agricultural advertising from disparaging another agricultural commodities, and there are rules making it illegal to use USDA funding to influence legislation — both of which the ad does. We still love Aubrey, and if you have a moment (or 2 hours) watch her shine in the new Guy Ritchie film Operation Fortune.

Electric Bus: Feeling nostalgic for the days of Woodstock, but prefer traveling in an all-electric mini-van (or need more room and air conditioning to fit your family). Volkswagen has got you covered with the re-release of the iconic VW Bus. VW has unveiled the ID.Buzz, an electric van with three rows of seats. We expect van life to take on a whole new meaning.

— Lauren Eve Cantor

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