Business

ChatGPT was 2023s fastest growing brand

Many might not attribute the world's fastest growing brand to an AI chatbot, but here we are. AI has dominated 2023 as not only a talking point among your friends, business leaders, and politicians, but as a worries over job loss, security issues, and singularity have ensued. So, it’s not a huge surprise that the chatbot has dominated all other brands.

Morning Consult found ChatGPT to be 2023’s fastest growing brand of the year, as OpenAI, the leading player in the artificial intelligence space, has continued to develop the insanely popular product.

How was the list determined?

Basically, Morning Consult finds the difference between the share of consumers who were thinking about buying from a brand in January 2023 and the same share in October 2023. So it’s not necessarily the brand consumers are purchasing the most, but the brand that sees the biggest spike in interest.

• ChatGPT saw 5.9% consideration in January versus 16.4% in October across all US adults.

Morning Consult credits ChatGPT’s win to its late 2022 release and constant media coverage, leading to peak interest in June.

What about other brands on the list?

Starry (Pepsi’s Sierra Mist rebrand) ranked second thanks to an NBA partnership and TikTok attention. Major League Soccer garnered some attention, especially among millennials, most likely due to Lionel Messi’s US debut.

Among Gen Z, Kraft actually ranked first. The Harris Poll found Kraft’s favorability among young consumers shot up because of sustainability initiatives in packaging, plus, boxed mac and cheese is such a cheap, nostalgic comfort food (which many of us can attest to).

Otherwise, Facebook saw a rise from 34.7% to 41.4%, which got them listed at number eight. Zelle and Shien are listed at three and four, respectively, but would’ve ranked higher if not for controversies from each of them.

Spotify fired nearly 20% of its workforce

Not too long after everyone got their coveted Spotify Wrapped, the company let go a sixth of its employees. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced the company would fire 1,500 employees last week, cutting 17% of its workforce to help meet financial targets.

What happened?

Ek stated the need to “rightsize” costs during an economic slouch and high interest rates. The company had been burning cash after nearly doubling its workforce during the pandemic to help with lofty expansion goals.

• While Spotify turned a higher-than-expected profit in Q3 following a hike in subscription prices, the company still lost around $500 million through the first nine months of the year.

• It posted strong user growth last quarter, but it’s bringing in less paying subscribers in North America, which could pose an issue.

The latest slash adds to the over 800 employees Spotify had cut this year from two rounds of layoffs. These were partly due to investors disappointment with its gamble on podcasting (Joe Rogan is expensive) and its declining profit margins.

Spotify isn’t alone… The tech industry has seen over 240,000 layoffs this year, with global tech companies like Meta and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) cutting employees in face of economic hardships.

This sports contract just made history

While massive sports contracts are fairly typical these days, we’ve never seen one quite like this. Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese baseball superstar and two-time MVP, will receive $700 million over the next 10 years from the Los Angeles Dodgers. This is the largest contract in the history of North American and global sports, at least for the time being.

• The contract’s value is nearly $275 million higher (or 64%) than baseball’s previous record contract and more than the 2023 Opening Day payroll of two teams. Talk about getting paid.

Why is Ohtani so pricey?

On the field, Ohtani is widely recognized for his ability to pitch and hit at an elite level, so much so, that he has drawn comparisons to Babe Ruth. But off the field, his huge level of fame in Japan (his home country) also makes the Dodgers investment even more interesting.

What does Ohtani’s presence bring to the table?

• Ohtani’s move to the Dodgers will have an approximate $444 million economic impact next year, according to a report from professor Katsuhiro Miyamoto at Kansai University.

• According to the same report, Japanese visitors coming to watch Ohtani in the US spent around $8 million last year, while Japanese firms spent about the same amount to advertise at Angel Stadium, Ohtani’s home for the last six seasons.

This contract is a win for all teams: Revenue from international broadcast deals are split evenly between all 30 MLB owners. The 2023 average ratings during the regular season on NHK, the league’s primary rightsholder in Japan, were the highest since Ohtani joined the league; four of the Angel’s games drew more viewers than this year’s Super Bowl. It’s safe to say Ohtani will be a good investment for the team going forward.

Miscellaneous

College presidents are facing backlash for dodging anti-semitic questions

College presidents went under oath in a congressional hearing last week with many refusing to answer whether they would punish genocidal statements or not. Prominent alumni, business leaders, and politicians spoke out against the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and Penn for not giving straight answers in response to questions at a congressional hearing Tuesday concerning whether they would discipline students that called for the genocide of Jews.

• The presidents declined to answer “yes” or “no” when asked if calling for the genocide of Jewish people would violate their schools code of conduct concerning bullying and harassment.

What happened in response?

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who has donated millions to Harvard, said all three presidents should “resign in disgrace.” He continued in a letter to Harvard, saying, “[the president] quelched speech she disfavors while defending and thereby amplifying vile and threatening hate speech.”

Harvard since put out a statement, which claims that genocidal and violent hate speech is “vile” and has “no place at Harvard,” but only after facing immense backlash from major donors and their own student body.

What’s going on now?

The hearing has exaggerated public outcry over how US universities are handling campus protests and anti-semitic hate speech after Hamas’ Oct. 7th attack against Israel, while Palestinian groups have urged colleges to move from neutral or indifferent stances.

• On Friday, 74 members of Congress, in a letter to the boards of all three schools, called for leadership changes.

As a result… Liz Magill, the president of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned following criticism of her failure to unequivocally state that calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s code of conduct at the hearing.

• Scott Bok, the chairman of the university’s board of trustees and the CEO of investment firm Greenhill & Co., also stepped down from his role at Penn.

• Penn has faced a revolt from donors who accused it of letting anti-semitism spread unchecked on campus, with one financier threatening to withdraw a $100 million donation.

The other two university presidents who were also criticized for their testimony, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Sally Kornbluth of MIT, still remain as the head of their schools.

A mysterious high-speed “goddess particle” hit Earth

The worst thing about this is it’s probably not the weirdest thing that has happened this week. The second-highest-energy cosmic ray ever detected crashed into our planet, and scientists have no idea how it even happened.

Time for a science lesson. Cosmic rays are highly energetic particles, mainly consisting of protons or helium nuclei, that are constantly raining through every square inch of the universe (including our bodies).

A small subsection of cosmic rays, which hit Earth roughly once every year, are accelerated to even greater energy levels by some of the universe's most intense phenomena.

• The one that rammed into our planet is an “ultra-high-energy cosmic ray”, which have 1 quintillion electron volts of energy.

So, just what is this thing?

The particle, named Amaterasu, is millions of times more powerful than anything the Large Hadron Collider can produce, suggesting that it came from a cosmic event even stronger than a star explosion. Researchers traced the particle’s path back to a barren part of space near the Milky Way that’s known as the Local Void. Sounds like a nice place to get some reading done.

Researchers are suggesting the particle came from an “unknown astronomical phenomena and novel physical origins beyond the Standard Model [of physics],” which is far beyond my understanding of 11th grade astronomy, so your guess is as good as mine on that one.

Scientists still have no idea how it’s possible the thing even came to Earth, it’s also unclear what could have produced such a powerful cosmic ray. The researchers have suggested several possible sources, including supernova explosions, black hole mergers and pulsars. None of which sound very good.

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Grab Bag

Propaganda is being spread through Cameo using celebrities

Cameo is known for letting the average person pay B-list celebrities for a birthday wish, but now that might change. Cameo, the app that lets you pay celebrities to make videos, is now being used for more alarming purposes. I’ll spoil it for you… it’s Russian propaganda. Of course.

Since early this summer, an unknown Russian group has been buying and editing Cameos from celebrities including Mike Tyson, Elijah Wood, and at least five others, said Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center.

Without the celebrities permission (obviously), their customized messages were manipulated to seemingly support a false claim propagated by the Russian government that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky suffers from drug and alcohol abuse.

How’d this happen? 

The tricked celebs were paid to encourage someone named Vladimir (which is how the Ukrainian president’s name is typically spelled in Russia) to seek treatment.

Some of the videos were edited to look like they had posted them on their Instagram feeds, and have spread throughout Russian media, from massive state news organizations to social platforms. Not the greatest look for Russia. Not that they’re looking great right now anyway.

Malls are doing everything they can to get you back shopping

Most of us were under the impression that shopping malls were dead in the water, but that’s not the case. It seemed like malls were a trend of the late 2000s and early 2010s, but it’s 2023 and they’re still here… so what have they been doing to stay afloat?

Providing new experiences and having more extravagant options has played an important part, per Axios. This means attractions like the Mall of America’s Sea World and American Dream Mall’s water park have already become a staple.

With mall vacancy at the highest level it’s been in over 15 years, evolving offerings might be the only way to survive.

So, how are they doing this?

Malls are using entertainment and lifestyle experiences to attract foot traffic.

• Georgia’s Macon Mall is home to a pickleball facility and a 10k-seat outdoor amphitheater, and will soon house government office space.

• South Park Mall in San Antonio plans to add a bowling alley, arcade, bumper cars, and a luxury movie theater.

Plus, some local governments are placing hefty bets on the power of these new attractions. City officials in Grand Island, Nebraska, are putting $250 million into revamping the Conestoga Mall, with their options ranging from hotels and bike trails to entertainment complexes.

But it doesn’t end there: While the shopping industry might be flailing like a fish out of water, the global health care services market has risen to around $8 billion… and guess who wants in on some of the money? You guessed it. Malls.

Empty shops are increasingly being filled with doctors and dentists offices or even health care facilities, bringing patients as well as medical staff to the malls. In an effort to make the mall a place where everyone can use the facilities, eat in the food courts, and shop, they hope to revert us back to our old ways. Still not sure I’d go to the mall to get a herniated disc checked, but why ruin the fun?

Snippets

Peach Perfection: The color mavens at Pantone have announced Peach Fuzz, otherwise known as PANTONE 13-1023, as 2024’s Color of the Year.

Cookie Craze: Here’s the 100 best holiday cookie recipes of all time. Hopefully this will have something for everyone, even the picky eaters.

Traveling Turtles: 52 sea turtles were flown via private jet from New England to Florida due to many of them suffering from “cold stun”.

Views on Views: Check out TikTok’s top content of the year, because we know you didn’t spend enough time on it already.

Albino Alligator: A rare white alligator was born at a Florida park, click here for a video.

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