🙀 AI PLOT TWIST

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🔼 American mortgage applications. They’re up, as interest rates tick down »»

🔽 Global oil output. OPEC+ announced a surprise cut in production »»

💬 “Bros risking his job for us, respect." Meet the TikTok-famous weather presenters sneaking song lyrics and absurd phrases into live broadcasts »»

🛩️ What you need to know about Singapore Airlines incredible private suites »»

👗 Cucinelli launched a fragrance »»

💎 4 stand-out luxe villas to book for your next getaway, from Greece to New Zealand »»

What everyone’s getting wrong about America’s potential TikTok ban »»

Apple’s watchOS 10 is going to bring ‘notable changes’ to the watch’s interface »» The newsletter's writer owns shares of Apple

Also: 40+ macOS keyboard shortcuts you should know »»

Last month’s 5 best beauty drops »»

Ibiza's first hotel got a bohemian refresh. Pro tip: I stayed there last Summer. Request a front-facing room if you book »»

Madrid’s urban forest isn’t taking root »»

Ever wonder which music artists have the most valuable song catalogs? Check out this entertaining and informative “mock draft” of music catalogs, chosen by industry experts eyeing which artist’s songs are set to make the most money over the next decade »»

Beware: there’s a new (and crazy) credit card and phone number theft x luxury reselling scam going around »»

9 easy ways to make your life a little better »»

The Antinoris are famous for Italian wines, so their new London restaurant will probably have a decent list. Cantinetta Antinori opens in Knightsbridge this month »»

The AI community is divided over that “open letter” that urged a 6 month pause on further AI work »»

The secrets to longevity that help residents of America’s only blue zone city live healthier and longer lives »»

If you use these 13 phrases every day, you have higher emotional intelligence ‘than most people’ say psychology experts »»

Prime, the new-ish energy drink created by two popular social media personalities, is now the official sports drink of the LA Dodgers. It’s already the UFC’s official drink »» 

ChatGPT has been (temporarily) banned in Italy, at the request of Italian regulators »»

Paris has spent years de-prioritizing cars —closing roads in front of schools and planting trees in parking spots, for example. This has reduced emergency response times and pollution levels, and generally transformed the city. The efforts, however, remain controversial. To whom does Paris belong? »» 

Meanwhile, peek inside Paris’s 5 most expensive hotel rooms »»

Lufthansa’s planning to buy ITA Airways (formerly Alitalia) »»

Your Summer holiday, sorted: 10 trending travel destinations to explore in 2023 »»

Weather presenters are becoming TikTok famous for putting song lyrics into their live broadcasts. They’re also showing us the future of entertainment

“THE WEATHER IS fairly quiet” most of the time.

— That’s a quote from Nick Kosir, a 39 year old television weather presenter on the local news in New York City.

— Fortunately, something’s been spicing up his broadcasts lately.

— Nick’s one of several American weather presenters who’ve rocketed to TikTok fame for answering fan requests to insert song lyrics or absurd phrases into his live TV weather reports.

— Today, he has over 6m followers on the app.

THIS IS AN example of social media at its best.

— Let’s take a sec to unpack why.

— Here’s Nick: "A lot of people say my videos helped them through a hard time or a bad day, but it's also the reverse. It kind of gave me something to look forward to every day."

— These broadcasts make both the viewers, and the star, feel good with a bit of harmless, creative, nostalgia-fueled fun.

— But zoom out: isn’t it also amazing that it’s basically become completely normal to engage with make requests of television personalities on social media, and have them comply?

— Despite the juvenile nature of some of the suggested phrases, the fact that this weather report thing is even happening actually suggests that social media has reached a certain kind of maturity.

— Hear me out.

IN CASE YOU haven’t noticed, the world is changing— rapidly.

— Several months ago, I wrote about how online standards and mores are crossing over into the irl world.

— Among several high profile, unusual manifestations of this phenomenon: Harry Styles getting hit in the eye with a Skittle during a live performance. The candy was thrown by someone filming the entire interaction for their social media.

— The absurd situation reached further heights when the official Skittles Twitter account was forced to comment.

— The ubiquity of social media has melded the online and offline worlds, as evidenced by people throwing things at performers in order to create a memorable Story, or DM-ing weather presenters to get a song lyric inserted into that night’s broadcast.

— Hold that thought.

YOU MAY HAVE heard of this tech called ChatGPT.

— Though generative AI has been around for years, ChatGPT’s minimal design/simple text interface, not to mention its high fidelity conversational answers, have been a step change.

— And people like it. ChatGPT is thought to be, by far, the quickest-embraced tech of all time.

— What a time to be alive, amirite?

IT’S ONLY A matter of time before most of our content will be created by amateurs or AI (or amateurs using AI).

— I don’t think that’s a good thing, I think it’s a great thing.

— Don’t get me wrong: I love professional, high quality shows, films, music, long form journalism, and more.

— BUT. I also really love the idea that AI and social media will combine to free (some) people from the need to work jobs they’re not fulfilled by, by (a) making it way easier for them to express their creative impulses, and (b) by making it easier for a critical mass of people to discover that output, so that creators can monetize their output.

PART (B) IS key.

— This revolution needs both AI and social media.

— Creating your own AI-generated comic book, musical, novel, animated film, or whatever, doesn’t go anywhere without discovery engines like TikTok.

GENERATIVE AI AND social media have been slowly maturing for over a decade.

— The fact that these two technologies are reaching their prime at the same time is a massive stroke of good fortune for all of us, despite the bubbling panic everywhere.

— It’s obvious that AI will end some jobs, and fundamentally change others.

BUT. THERE’S A plot twist coming. 

— It’s a twist that I’ve been writing about for months now, and every new AI innovation that gets released just makes it more and more clear (to me, at least):

— Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and the like are going to create more income streams than they cut off.

— Adding generative AI’s creation capability to social media’s attention and discovery abilities is going to open up infinite potential revenue opportunities for any human being with an interest in something —anything— and the creative impulse to share it.

— Once more for those in the back: when coupled with the amazing discovery and attention power of social media, generative AI tools are going to create more income streams than they cut off.

— People just need to make the first move.

Written by Jon Kallus. Any feedback? Simply reply.