Wait So AI Might Be Bad?
and other news you need to know about...
GM everyone, hope you’re having a lovely Tuesday morning. My friend Tyler sent me these great photos of me so I’m just gonna get a quick self obsessed fitcheck out of the way first—
Okay let’s get into the news you need to know today—
Wait so AI might actually be kind of scary? A growing number of AI experts and founders are sounding the alarm on the transformational effects the rapidly emerging technology will have on our society. Axios interviewed Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, who said there’s a 25% chance AI may destroy humanity as we know it. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI said, "Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war." Since the proliferation of nuclear weapons we have never seen more leaders sound the alarm on the potentially catastrophic effects of a new technology, while still actively spending billions of dollars to develop it. While the technology is largely being used by consumers to write papers and generate lifelike images in Midjourney, there is a whole category of enterprise-scale AI companies using the technology to become more efficient. Scott Galloway of the Prof G Media podcast has echoed the sentiment that AI is akin to corporate Ozempic. For example, Facebook cut 20% of its staff, integrated AI into their ads business, and saw a 20% increase in revenue, sending the stock soaring. Goldman Sachs said Nvidia is the most important stock in the world ahead of their blockbuster earnings call last week. Between AI guided missiles, cinematic deepfakes, and myriad other AI advancements just on the horizon, it seems as if we are sleepwalking into something profound and scary.
The NYT says stealth wealth is OVER! Judging by some of the runway shows coming out of global fashion weeks, we are seeing a return to extravagance across the industry. While Sabata De Sarno’s Gucci is evidently still riding the stealth wealth train that became intensely popular in past seasons, many other brands are shifting away. The NYT noted that Margiela’s theatrical collection and a plethora of others (all owned by the Only the Brace, Rezno Rosso’s conglomerate) are going back to extreme designs, intricate patterns, and maximalist tailoring.
Dune 2 is getting rave reviews. The follow up to 2021’s Dune, which was largely relegated to steaming service viewing during the height of the pandemic, is garnering critical acclaim. Many are calling it this century’s greatest sci-fi movie and predicting it could be the biggest film of the year. I am a huge Denis Vilenueve fan so I am hype to see this. I’m just glad Zendaya is getting more than 3 minutes of screen time this outing.
Gen Z is more likely to call off sick than any other generation. As the ‘mental health crisis’ booms (20% of U.S. adults report struggling with mental health, and the monthly antidepressant dispensing rate for females ages 12-17 surged 129.6% post-2020) Gen Z is getting a bad reputation for being unreliable at the workplace. Let me just say that mental health is certainly a real issue, but I’d argue this surge post-2020 is now a bit of a self induced curse. Humans are social beings at our core, and post-COVID we have seen an increasing amount of adults report being intensely lonely (12% of adults say they have no close friends) I’d argue socializing and exercise are a salve for mental health issues, and the more we isolate the worse our mental health conditions will be. Good news on this is that if you’re a locked in Gen Z individual, showing up (the bare minimum) makes you stand out and will help your career.
How Long Gone’s Chris Black had a great quote in Byline on this,
The importance placed on “work-life balance” is a recent phenomenon that many people seem to abuse. Not answering an email, text, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Discord message isn’t an option when you work for yourself. The price you pay to come and go as you please is availability. Respond immediately all the time. Make yourself an invaluable resource and sounding board.
I do not believe in work-life balance. Work is not everything but it is pivotal to happiness. We all must burden ourselves with some goal to feel happy. That’s why the whole FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) crowd makes no sense to me. What are you going to do when you retire at 40?
Okay this newsletter has had enough of my personal ramblings today. I am f*cking fired up on life this week. Let’s keep getting bread. L8R.
About the Writer
Jake Bell is a content marketing and creative strategist based in NYC. He specializes in content creation, branding, art direction, creative strategy, and making things cool.
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