November 14, 2023

what we've been watching...

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

life is a little heavy, so we’ll be even lighter than usual in our stories

Business

Drill baby Drill: Exxon isn’t going down without a fight. Exxon Mobil has announced plans to produce lithium for electric vehicles as soon as 2027. The oil giant will begin drilling operations in Arkansas, and hopes to supply enough lithium for the manufacture of 1 million electric vehicles annually by 2030. (Lithium is a key component in the rechargeable batteries for EVs, smartphones, laptops, and other technology.) Currently, most lithium for EV batteries is sourced outside of the US, from Australia, Argentina, Chile, and China, so bringing the production local could be a boon for EV makers.

Unlikely Pair: Google and Apple have been connected at the hip as Google has been paying Apple to be the default search engine on Safari for quite some time. However, the pair has attempted to keep the value of the relationship on the down low. Unfortunately, the number finally leaked during the antitrust trial this week. Apparently, “Google gives Apple a 36 percent cut of all search ad revenue that comes from Safari, according to University of Chicago professor Kevin Murphy.” Google also paid $18BN to be the default search engine on Safari in 2021 alone. Feels like we are headed for a painful breakup.

Delight for the Senses: Walmart is making its stores more inclusive by turning the 8am-10am hours into sensory-friendly shopping times: “the stores will turn off the radio, lower the lights where possible and change the TV walls to a static image during those hours.” Originally, started as a pilot during back-to-school season, Walmart started the changes to support shoppers with sensory disabilities, but has decided to keep the tradition indefinitely.

Technology

AI Hype or Ouch: You may have heard about Humane’s AI pin which launched this week at $699 with a $24 monthly subscription. The AI wearable is powered by OpenAI, is controlled by hand gestures, and appears to be an AI-powered assistant without a smartphone (think Siri without the iPhone). We were struck by two things upon the announcement of the device: first up, the launch video. The founders were so proud to show off their device, that when they asked it questions, they neglected to fact check it, and edit the video, as the device gave several wrong answers. Second, when the founders were creating the device, they actually had two ideas: a women’s health device and the pin. They shared the ideas with Marc Benioff of Salesforce, and of course, Benioff, pointed to the Ai Pin, and said “This one. It’s going to be a massive company.” We still aren’t sure we need an AI wearable when we all think of our phones as an extra appendage, and we would have really like to see someone put some money behind a women’s health startup (50% of the population isn’t that huge).

Self-Driving AI: AI is coming for your cars, or at least the autonomous, self-driving software. OpenAI recently invested in Ghost Autonomy, in an effort to boost the software maker with the help of LLMs. Ghost is hoping to use the LLM’s ability to understand complex scenes and imagery to better train and speed up the development of its autonomous software. Following the recent issues with GM’s Cruise driverless vehicles (the company pulled its vehicles after a pedestrian was killed in an unlikely collision), we’d be excited to see improvements in the reasoning of these cars. However, with significant errors and hallucinations still in the models, we are not so sure we want them behind the wheel.

The Bounties have Begun: We’ve heard about Deepfakes, and we suspected that AI would be off to the races for uses on the dark web or for dark means. We’ve seen Scarlett Johansson suing an online advertiser for using her likeness in an AI-generated ad. But now, there is a website where you can pay someone to generate a deepfake of anyone in a compromising position even if they aren’t a celebrity. Civitai is an “online marketplace for sharing AI models that enables the creation of nonconsensual sexual images of real people”, and you can post bounties - requests for specific scenarios for real money. So set your social media to private, or better yet, go to Clearview AI and delete your data, and hope your AI brethren have some scruples.

Culture

Release the Film: We understand that the Actor and Writer’s strikes have led to some unintended consequences for Hollywood, but we were shocked to learn that i) Warner Bros. made a film based on the 1990 New Yorker piece Coyote vs Acme, and ii) they summarily shelved the completed film for a $30M tax write-off. The film starred John Cena as Wile E. Coyote, “the most persistent, passionate, and resilient character of all time,” according to the film’s director Dave Green. The premise of the article (and we hope the film) was that Coyote sues Acme for a faulty, non-existent braking system on his Rocket Sled, which resulted in a “collision with the side of a mesa.” This film seems to have it all — nostalgia, humor, beloved characters, and an endearing story. If we can’t have it on the big screen, we hope to see it on Max some time in the future. Hold your horses: As we were writing this the outrage boiled over, and Warner Bros. caved and is allowing the Director to shop the move to other buyers for distribution. We might get to see Wile yet!

Release the Song: We’ll have to wait until 2046, but Dolly Parton has placed her final song in a box in Dollywood which won’t be opened until her 100th birthday. The song is entitled “My Place in History” and it is locked on a CD in a chestnut box (and luckily she locked a CD player in with it just in case). The song is part of a special exhibition which holds Dolly’s wishes for the future.

Flip the Script: Just a few months ago, a Gen Z oracle (on TikTok) was spreading the new mantra: Delulu is not the Solulu (or Delusion is not the Solution), which could be translated as lowering your expectations or he’s just not that into you. (eg don’t expect to grow up to be a billionaire or a basketball player). Unfortunately, Gen Z decided that through the power of positive thinking, they can manifest their dreams. So now Delulu IS the Solulu. Delusional has been redefined as self-confident, self-aware, and a great way to combat peer pressure. Who knew?

Catching the Blue: Video games have invaded all areas of our lives from our phones to our makeup, and now Pokémon is going for true luxury with a collaboration with Tiffany. The collection features “six iconic Pokémon – Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle, Jigglypuff, Cubone and Mew” in pendants and a big Blue Poké Ball, which range in price from $1200 to $29k. The capsule collection will be offered for a limited time, but you also have to enroll for a chance to purchase. Roll the dice on November 29.

Making the Climb: Jared Leto became the first person to legally climb the 102 storey Empire State building this week. The actor took to great heights as a promotion for the world tour of his band Thirty Seconds to Mars, and as he made it to the top, he saw his mother in the window.

— Lauren Eve Cantor

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