Weekly news and stories covering everything from the Fashion System, Investment, and AI to WEB3 and Crypto that truly matter in Metaverse Fashion.
REDEFINING AUTHENTICITY IN THE AGE OF AI | [SINGULARITY]
The Interline
🤖 Influencers emerged as more relatable and authentic alternatives to traditional celebrities. But as the influencer marketing landscape evolved, it became more competitive and curated, and true authenticity started to diminish along the way. Fast forward to now, with the addition of virtual influencers and AI-generated content, we face even greater challenges regarding authenticity and trust in what we see on the internet. The lines between humans and robots/ virtual influencers continue to blur, and the challenge of distinguishing genuine human experiences from carefully crafted digital content has become harder than ever before.
👾 Before diving into the challenges of authenticity in the age of AI and virtual influencers, let’s take a step back and look at who virtual influencers are. Virtual influencers are computer/AI-generated fictional characters that engage in a wide range of marketing activities, such as promoting products and brands, just like human influencers. A few notable examples include Lil Miquela, a 21-year-old robot living in LA with 2.5 million followers on Instagram; Noonoouri, a virtual influencer signed with IMG Models and Warner Music Germany; and Imma, a Japanese virtual influencer and model. They attend the same real-life events we do, such as Coachella, and interact with real people. For instance, Lil Miquela shared a photo with 50 Cent at an NBA game, and Noonoouri with Kim Kardashian. These interactions are created by digitally inserting the virtual influencers into photos and videos of real-life events with real people, making it appear as though they were physically present.
💭 But what are the benefits of working with virtual influencers over human influencers, you may ask. Beside the fact that they do not require any fittings and that their digital clothes will always fit, virtual influencers are immune to the unpredictabilities of human life. For example they will never get ill, or arrive late at a photoshoot. They are entirely controlled by their creators; this includes their personal values and opinions, allowing them to have a relatively scandal-free presence on social media. Moreover, their creators can leverage big data and AI to analyse audience preferences and behaviours to develop specific narratives that effectively target particular demographics, ensuring return on investment on their campaigns.
MICHAEL SAYLOR SAYS US GOVERNMENT SHOULD OWN 'MAJORITY' OF ALL BITCOIN |[METAPHYSICS]
Decrypt
👾 MicroStrategy is the largest corporate owner of Bitcoin—but its co-founder and executive chairman, Michael Saylor, says another party should be the undisputed king of whales.
🗣 “The U.S. government should own the majority of the Bitcoin in the world,” Saylor said on the Bitcoin 2024 commentary desk on Thursday.
📈 An unabashed Bitcoin bull, he declared the next day that the BTC market cap will hit $280 trillion—or grow more than 200 times—by 2024. Saylor has previously predicted that Bitcoin’s market cap could surpass $100 trillion, implying that the currency could reach $5 million per coin.
📊 Owning the majority of all the Bitcoin that will ever be mined implies that the U.S. government should hold over 10.5 million BTC, worth $711 billion at current prices. According to on-chain data, the government currently owns 208,898 BTC seized from criminals, worth $14 billion in total.
👛 His wish mirrors that of independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said this week that he’d like the U.S. government to have equal exposure to Bitcoin as it does to gold. The federal government boasts the world’s largest gold reserves at 8,134 metric tons, worth $615 billion.
📢 “The future of the country is in cyberspace, and Bitcoin is, in essence, ‘cyber Manhattan,’” he continued. “The way you back the dollar is you buy Manhattan for a piece of paper and trinkets, and you buy it before it's worth hundreds of trillions of dollars.”
💥 Like Kennedy, Donald Trump has recently positioned himself as a crypto ally, and has said he wants to protect Bitcoin miners in the United States. Both candidates are appearing and speaking at Bitcoin 2024 this week in Nashville.
💣 For any candidate to potentially back dollars with Bitcoin, they’d first need to establish a formal federal U.S. Bitcoin reserve—a move that could symbolize newfound legitimacy of digital assets in the eyes of the state. It would also likely mean pivoting on plans to sell any of the $14 billion of BTC that the government has already amassed.
AR TO AI: HOW FASHION'S INDIE DESIGNERS ARE ADOPTING EMERGING TECH | [FASHION SYSTEM]
Jing Daily
👾 Off the back of Web3’s hot streak last week, which saw Coach enter the gaming realm, Balenciaga embrace the Vision Pro, and Brunello Cucinelli tap artificial intelligence, things are looking up for digital fashion. This week, however, it’s the indie players that are back in the spotlight, with LA-based lifestyle label and influencer favorite Cult Gaia launching a new Web3 community membership for its followers.
📺 Syky is also next in line to join the Vision Pro bandwagon with an experience poised to bring fledgling and independent designers into the homes of tech-savvy fashion fans. With the headset gaining traction during a period of recalibration for Web3, can the gadget help Syky scale up its audience?
🏇 Ralph Lauren’s popular subsidiary brand Polo Ralph Lauren, has teamed up with AR-leader Snap and creative digital studio Beyond.Studio on a new interactive filter based on the label’s patches. An accessory that harks back to Ralph Lauren’s early days, the new AR filter brings to life the Americana-themed emblems.
👗 Digital fashion house and incubator Syky has released a new app for the Apple Vision Pro headset. Via the experience, users will be able explore new garments and collections from Syky’s growing roster of designers. The first creative to debut on the app is Japanese brand Anrealage, the brainchild of designer Kunihiko Morinaga. Drawing inspiration from the label’s SS21 “Home” collection and a gown worn by Beyoncé on her Renaissance tour, the experience includes a bespoke digital version of its Pyramid dress, which can be explored up-close in 3D view. Audiences can also watch a number of short films featuring the designer and his work by clicking on surrounding floating orbs.
APPLE INTELLIGENCE AI FEATURES WILL WAIT FOR IOS 18.1 | [SINGULARITY]
The Verge
⏱ Apple’s new AI features for the iPhone may not arrive with the initial rollout of iOS 18 and the expected launch of the iPhone 16 in September, according to a report from Bloomberg. Instead, the company reportedly plans on launching Apple Intelligence with iOS 18.1 in October as it works to get the rollout right.
🦄 Apple took the wraps off its first AI features during its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, showing off a new and improved Siri, AI-powered image generation, and an integration with ChatGPT. These features may not be available with a new iPhone 16 purchased at launch, but Apple could roll out the update later to new devices in store with its in-the-box updating machine called Presto.
📱 While Apple doesn’t usually launch the betas for its follow-up software updates ahead of the public release of the initial version, Bloomberg reports that some of these AI features will still arrive with the launch of the iOS 18.1 and iPad 18.1 developer betas as soon as this week.
ℹ The early rollout could allow developers to test Apple’s AI features and spot bugs before they arrive for everyone and stretch across other platforms like the Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.However, not all of the AI features Apple previewed during WWDC will be available within 18.1. We may have to wait until the spring of 2025 to see a Siri that can perform actions within apps and gain onscreen awareness.
WHY RETAILERS SHOULD STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE GEN-Z VERSUS MILLENNIAL DIVIDE | [FASHION SYSTEM]
The Business of Fashion
🦄 According to the memes, Millennials cannot resist stubbornly defending their no-show socks against an onslaught of mockery from Gen-Z, who prefer longer socks. But at the fashion-forward retailer, employees of both generations agreed that socks that hit the ankle or higher are indeed superior.
🕶 As Gen-Zers hit their mid-20s, the style gap between that generation and their slightly older peers is rapidly widening. The battle over skinny jeans — a Millennial mainstay — is largely over, with baggy fits now the norm. But fighting still rages over high-waisted bottoms versus low waist, a Y2K trend embraced mostly by those too young to have watched Paris Hilton on TV. Plenty of Millennials are still holding onto floral prints, ankle boots and contouring makeup, eliciting gentle ridicule from their younger siblings and colleagues.
📈 Given the undeniable spending prowess of Millennials today, Millennial preferences define the most popular styles on the market right now. But Gen-Z is well on its way to shaping the future. For instance, while Millennial-approved high-waist jeans continue to be the most popular rise among retailers, accounting for 29 percent of all styles, the selection of low-rise jeans is increasing 30 percent year-on-year while the number of new high-rise options hitting the market has actually dipped 1 percent in the same period, according to market analysis data from EDITED, a retail intelligence firm.
💥 The matter of age and correlating behaviour may be more relevant to how a consumer shops rather than what they buy. For instance, beauty brand Glossier found its first set of customers a decade ago in coming-of-age Millennials who embraced the direct-to-consumer model that was disrupting the retail landscape at that time. Today, its younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha shoppers are discovering the brand through TikTok and Sephora, which began stocking Glossier last year.
SILICON VALLEY’S TRILLION-DOLLAR LEAP OF FAITH | [SINGULARITY]
The Atlantic
🦄 Tech companies like to make two grand pronouncements about the future of artificial intelligence. First, the technology is going to usher in a revolution akin to the advent of fire, nuclear weapons, and the internet. And second, it is going to cost almost unfathomable sums of money.
💰 Silicon Valley has already triggered tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars of spending on AI, and companies only want to spend more. Their reasoning is straightforward: These companies have decided that the best way to make generative AI better is to build bigger AI models. And that is really, really expensive, requiring resources on the scale of moon missions and the interstate-highway system to fund the data centers and related infrastructure that generative AI depends on. For a product as important as fire, they say, any spending is worth it. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has described his firm as “the most capital-intensive startup in Silicon Valley history.” Dario Amodei the CEO of the rival start-up Anthropic, has predicted that a single AI model (such as, say, GPT-6) could cost $100 billion to train by 2027. The global data-center buildup over the next few years could require trillions of dollars from tech companies, utilities, and other industries, according to a July report from Moody’s Ratings.
📉 Now a number of voices in the finance world are beginning to ask whether all of this investment can pay off. OpenAI, for its part, may lose up to $5 billion this year, almost 10 times more than what the company lost in 2022, according to The Information. Over the past few weeks, analysts and investors at some of the world’s most influential financial institutions—including Goldman Sachs, Sequoia Capital, Moody’s, and Barclays—have issued reports that raise doubts about whether the enormous investments in generative AI will be profitable.
📢 Amid the hype, it’s important to remember that this future is not guaranteed. Many of the productivity gains expected from AI could be both greatly overestimated and very premature, Daron Acemoglu, an economist at MIT, has found. AI products’ key flaws, such as a tendency to invent false information, could make them unusable, or deployable only under strict human oversight, in certain settings—courts, hospitals, government agencies, schools. A lot of human labor is manual, which software isn’t close to replacing. Whether scaling up AI models will continue to yield significantly better results is highly contested.
NIKE APPOINTS A NEW CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER | [FASHION SYSTEM]
Metaverse Fashion MAGAZINE
ℹ Nike has appointed Cheryan Jacob as its new Chief Information Officer (CIO), a position recently created to support the company's global engineering team, Bloomberg reports.
💎 According to his Linkedin profile, Jacob is trained in both technology and business, beginning his career in India as a computer architecture and hardware engineer. In 2004, he joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a research assistant in biostatistics and data modeling.
👨💻 Jacob brings over eight years of experience from the American technology giant Microsoft, where he played a key role in supporting the company's global network. Prior to that, he served as Chief Technology Officer at a 'stealth' private investment company in Dallas.
📈 In his new role as CIO, Jacob will focus on "simplifying, standardizing, and modernizing Nike's platforms, developer experience, cloud, information security, and technology operations," according to his LinkedIn page.
MEET THE 26-YEAR-OLD BUILDING A BILLION DOLLAR PREDICTION MARKETPLACE | [METAPHYSICS]
Forbes
💱 Welcome to the future of betting markets, where nearly anything can be wagered on, from bitcoin’s peak price in 2024 to the speed at which Trump and Biden climb stairs, to the sex of Hailey and Justin Bieber’s new baby. On Polymarket, some $446 million is currently being wagered on the outcome of the presidential election in November. Never mind that in the United States betting on the outcome of elections is prohibited, according to the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission, which deems it against the public interest. Polymarket, whose headquarters is in New York City, is a prediction market phenom, thanks largely to the world’s current obsession with American politics.
🚀 Though blockchain technology isn’t necessary for this type of application, Polychain uses a network called Polygon, which operates 24/7 and sits atop Ethereum, where transactions cost fractions of the chain’s normal fees. However, instead of US dollars, customers who want to make trades on Polymarket use the dollar-based stablecoin USDC. But even that is changing. Last Wednesday, Polymarket announced it is enabling users to pay for their bets using bank transfers and credit cards through a partnership with Miami-based MoonPay.
☘ The prediction marketplace’s soaring popularity has convinced top-tier investors, including Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin, to back the startup with funding totaling $74 million. Currently, markets tied to U.S. elections, of which there are more than 100, are driving most of trading volume on Polymarket. These are supposedly off-limits to U.S. residents, though 25% of his website’s traffic comes from the U.S., according to web analytics platform Similarweb. Polymarket’s 26-year old founder, Shayne Coplan, won’t say much about his teams efforts to prevent U.S.-based users from betting on elections. He prefers to emphasize his new platform’s strengths.
REDDIT ACQUIRES GENERATIVE AI STARTUP MEMORABLE AI | [SINGULARITY]
Bloomberg
💰 Reddit Inc. is acquiring Memorable AI, a startup that uses generative artificial intelligence to help marketers create better ads, in its first acquisition since going public in March.
💥 Memorable AI has built technology to help advertisers find the most effective text, images and videos to use in their sponsored messages, and Reddit hopes the acquisition will improve the quality of ads on its service.
🗣 “This acquisition allows Reddit to accelerate our work in optimizing, generating, and selecting ad creative to deliver even better results for advertisers,” Reddit Chief Operating Officer Jen L. Wong said in a statement.
📽 New York-based Memorable AI was founded in 2021, and uses AI to help marketers predict how often an ad will lead to a direct action, such as downloading an app or visiting a website. The Memorable AI employees will join Reddit’s advertising team. Reddit did not disclose financial terms of the deal.
🤝 Reddit has also been striking deals with artificial intelligence companies. It signed data licensing deals worth $203 million with companies including OpenAI and Alphabet Inc.s’ Google, to help train their AI models. In May, Reddit announced a pact with OpenAI that would bring its content to ChatGPT, while also helping the social media company add new AI features to its forums.
TELEGRAM BRINGS WEB3 TO 1 BILLION USERS | [METAPHYSICS]
Metaverse Fashion MAGAZINE
Telegram has launched a powerful in-app browser supporting Web3, giving nearly a billion users access to decentralized websites. The update also introduces a Mini App Store featuring popular mini apps with video demos and screenshots. Users can now share mini app content directly to Telegram Stories and send digital Stars as gifts. Additional enhancements include a front flash for video messages, a weather widget for Stories, and customizable story covers.
Telegram browser
Telegram's in-app browser now allows users to collapse and reopen pages from the bottom bar, making it easy to switch between messages, websites, instant view articles, and mini apps. Supporting decentralized websites hosted on TON, this feature is available across all mobile and native desktop apps, bringing Web3 to almost one billion monthly users. Users can now check notifications without losing their place in an article, web page, or game and can add bookmarks for easy return to pages later.
Mini App Store
Telegram reports that over 500 million of its 950 million users engage with mini apps each month. The platform has introduced a new 'Apps' tab in Search, listing both frequently used and popular mini apps for easy access to games and services. Developers can now enhance their mini app previews with video demos and screenshots, providing users with a clear idea of what to expect. This update aims to streamline the user experience and boost interaction with mini apps.
Sharing from Mini Apps to stories
Mini apps on Telegram can now create custom story content, such as AI-generated videos, achievements, and leaderboard snapshots, which users can share directly as Telegram Stories. This feature allows for innovative app experiences and helps existing apps reach a broader audience through users' contacts.
Gifting Stars to friends
The new update allows users to buy digital goods in mini apps or access paid content in channels using Telegram Stars. Users can now purchase Stars as gifts for their contacts, with those celebrating birthdays featured at the top of the gifting list. Gifted Stars appear in chats as beautifully animated gift boxes, enhancing the celebratory experience.
Weekly news and stories covering everything from the Fashion System, Investment, and AI to WEB3 and Crypto that truly matter in Metaverse Fashion.
REDEFINING AUTHENTICITY IN THE AGE OF AI | [SINGULARITY]
The Interline
🤖 Influencers emerged as more relatable and authentic alternatives to traditional celebrities. But as the influencer marketing landscape evolved, it became more competitive and curated, and true authenticity started to diminish along the way. Fast forward to now, with the addition of virtual influencers and AI-generated content, we face even greater challenges regarding authenticity and trust in what we see on the internet. The lines between humans and robots/ virtual influencers continue to blur, and the challenge of distinguishing genuine human experiences from carefully crafted digital content has become harder than ever before.
👾 Before diving into the challenges of authenticity in the age of AI and virtual influencers, let’s take a step back and look at who virtual influencers are. Virtual influencers are computer/AI-generated fictional characters that engage in a wide range of marketing activities, such as promoting products and brands, just like human influencers. A few notable examples include Lil Miquela, a 21-year-old robot living in LA with 2.5 million followers on Instagram; Noonoouri, a virtual influencer signed with IMG Models and Warner Music Germany; and Imma, a Japanese virtual influencer and model. They attend the same real-life events we do, such as Coachella, and interact with real people. For instance, Lil Miquela shared a photo with 50 Cent at an NBA game, and Noonoouri with Kim Kardashian. These interactions are created by digitally inserting the virtual influencers into photos and videos of real-life events with real people, making it appear as though they were physically present.
💭 But what are the benefits of working with virtual influencers over human influencers, you may ask. Beside the fact that they do not require any fittings and that their digital clothes will always fit, virtual influencers are immune to the unpredictabilities of human life. For example they will never get ill, or arrive late at a photoshoot. They are entirely controlled by their creators; this includes their personal values and opinions, allowing them to have a relatively scandal-free presence on social media. Moreover, their creators can leverage big data and AI to analyse audience preferences and behaviours to develop specific narratives that effectively target particular demographics, ensuring return on investment on their campaigns.
MICHAEL SAYLOR SAYS US GOVERNMENT SHOULD OWN 'MAJORITY' OF ALL BITCOIN |[METAPHYSICS]
Decrypt
👾 MicroStrategy is the largest corporate owner of Bitcoin—but its co-founder and executive chairman, Michael Saylor, says another party should be the undisputed king of whales.
🗣 “The U.S. government should own the majority of the Bitcoin in the world,” Saylor said on the Bitcoin 2024 commentary desk on Thursday.
📈 An unabashed Bitcoin bull, he declared the next day that the BTC market cap will hit $280 trillion—or grow more than 200 times—by 2024. Saylor has previously predicted that Bitcoin’s market cap could surpass $100 trillion, implying that the currency could reach $5 million per coin.
📊 Owning the majority of all the Bitcoin that will ever be mined implies that the U.S. government should hold over 10.5 million BTC, worth $711 billion at current prices. According to on-chain data, the government currently owns 208,898 BTC seized from criminals, worth $14 billion in total.
👛 His wish mirrors that of independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said this week that he’d like the U.S. government to have equal exposure to Bitcoin as it does to gold. The federal government boasts the world’s largest gold reserves at 8,134 metric tons, worth $615 billion.
📢 “The future of the country is in cyberspace, and Bitcoin is, in essence, ‘cyber Manhattan,’” he continued. “The way you back the dollar is you buy Manhattan for a piece of paper and trinkets, and you buy it before it's worth hundreds of trillions of dollars.”
💥 Like Kennedy, Donald Trump has recently positioned himself as a crypto ally, and has said he wants to protect Bitcoin miners in the United States. Both candidates are appearing and speaking at Bitcoin 2024 this week in Nashville.
💣 For any candidate to potentially back dollars with Bitcoin, they’d first need to establish a formal federal U.S. Bitcoin reserve—a move that could symbolize newfound legitimacy of digital assets in the eyes of the state. It would also likely mean pivoting on plans to sell any of the $14 billion of BTC that the government has already amassed.
AR TO AI: HOW FASHION'S INDIE DESIGNERS ARE ADOPTING EMERGING TECH | [FASHION SYSTEM]
Jing Daily
👾 Off the back of Web3’s hot streak last week, which saw Coach enter the gaming realm, Balenciaga embrace the Vision Pro, and Brunello Cucinelli tap artificial intelligence, things are looking up for digital fashion. This week, however, it’s the indie players that are back in the spotlight, with LA-based lifestyle label and influencer favorite Cult Gaia launching a new Web3 community membership for its followers.
📺 Syky is also next in line to join the Vision Pro bandwagon with an experience poised to bring fledgling and independent designers into the homes of tech-savvy fashion fans. With the headset gaining traction during a period of recalibration for Web3, can the gadget help Syky scale up its audience?
🏇 Ralph Lauren’s popular subsidiary brand Polo Ralph Lauren, has teamed up with AR-leader Snap and creative digital studio Beyond.Studio on a new interactive filter based on the label’s patches. An accessory that harks back to Ralph Lauren’s early days, the new AR filter brings to life the Americana-themed emblems.
👗 Digital fashion house and incubator Syky has released a new app for the Apple Vision Pro headset. Via the experience, users will be able explore new garments and collections from Syky’s growing roster of designers. The first creative to debut on the app is Japanese brand Anrealage, the brainchild of designer Kunihiko Morinaga. Drawing inspiration from the label’s SS21 “Home” collection and a gown worn by Beyoncé on her Renaissance tour, the experience includes a bespoke digital version of its Pyramid dress, which can be explored up-close in 3D view. Audiences can also watch a number of short films featuring the designer and his work by clicking on surrounding floating orbs.
APPLE INTELLIGENCE AI FEATURES WILL WAIT FOR IOS 18.1 | [SINGULARITY]
The Verge
⏱ Apple’s new AI features for the iPhone may not arrive with the initial rollout of iOS 18 and the expected launch of the iPhone 16 in September, according to a report from Bloomberg. Instead, the company reportedly plans on launching Apple Intelligence with iOS 18.1 in October as it works to get the rollout right.
🦄 Apple took the wraps off its first AI features during its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, showing off a new and improved Siri, AI-powered image generation, and an integration with ChatGPT. These features may not be available with a new iPhone 16 purchased at launch, but Apple could roll out the update later to new devices in store with its in-the-box updating machine called Presto.
📱 While Apple doesn’t usually launch the betas for its follow-up software updates ahead of the public release of the initial version, Bloomberg reports that some of these AI features will still arrive with the launch of the iOS 18.1 and iPad 18.1 developer betas as soon as this week.
ℹ The early rollout could allow developers to test Apple’s AI features and spot bugs before they arrive for everyone and stretch across other platforms like the Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.However, not all of the AI features Apple previewed during WWDC will be available within 18.1. We may have to wait until the spring of 2025 to see a Siri that can perform actions within apps and gain onscreen awareness.
WHY RETAILERS SHOULD STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE GEN-Z VERSUS MILLENNIAL DIVIDE | [FASHION SYSTEM]
The Business of Fashion
🦄 According to the memes, Millennials cannot resist stubbornly defending their no-show socks against an onslaught of mockery from Gen-Z, who prefer longer socks. But at the fashion-forward retailer, employees of both generations agreed that socks that hit the ankle or higher are indeed superior.
🕶 As Gen-Zers hit their mid-20s, the style gap between that generation and their slightly older peers is rapidly widening. The battle over skinny jeans — a Millennial mainstay — is largely over, with baggy fits now the norm. But fighting still rages over high-waisted bottoms versus low waist, a Y2K trend embraced mostly by those too young to have watched Paris Hilton on TV. Plenty of Millennials are still holding onto floral prints, ankle boots and contouring makeup, eliciting gentle ridicule from their younger siblings and colleagues.
📈 Given the undeniable spending prowess of Millennials today, Millennial preferences define the most popular styles on the market right now. But Gen-Z is well on its way to shaping the future. For instance, while Millennial-approved high-waist jeans continue to be the most popular rise among retailers, accounting for 29 percent of all styles, the selection of low-rise jeans is increasing 30 percent year-on-year while the number of new high-rise options hitting the market has actually dipped 1 percent in the same period, according to market analysis data from EDITED, a retail intelligence firm.
💥 The matter of age and correlating behaviour may be more relevant to how a consumer shops rather than what they buy. For instance, beauty brand Glossier found its first set of customers a decade ago in coming-of-age Millennials who embraced the direct-to-consumer model that was disrupting the retail landscape at that time. Today, its younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha shoppers are discovering the brand through TikTok and Sephora, which began stocking Glossier last year.
SILICON VALLEY’S TRILLION-DOLLAR LEAP OF FAITH | [SINGULARITY]
The Atlantic
🦄 Tech companies like to make two grand pronouncements about the future of artificial intelligence. First, the technology is going to usher in a revolution akin to the advent of fire, nuclear weapons, and the internet. And second, it is going to cost almost unfathomable sums of money.
💰 Silicon Valley has already triggered tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars of spending on AI, and companies only want to spend more. Their reasoning is straightforward: These companies have decided that the best way to make generative AI better is to build bigger AI models. And that is really, really expensive, requiring resources on the scale of moon missions and the interstate-highway system to fund the data centers and related infrastructure that generative AI depends on. For a product as important as fire, they say, any spending is worth it. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has described his firm as “the most capital-intensive startup in Silicon Valley history.” Dario Amodei the CEO of the rival start-up Anthropic, has predicted that a single AI model (such as, say, GPT-6) could cost $100 billion to train by 2027. The global data-center buildup over the next few years could require trillions of dollars from tech companies, utilities, and other industries, according to a July report from Moody’s Ratings.
📉 Now a number of voices in the finance world are beginning to ask whether all of this investment can pay off. OpenAI, for its part, may lose up to $5 billion this year, almost 10 times more than what the company lost in 2022, according to The Information. Over the past few weeks, analysts and investors at some of the world’s most influential financial institutions—including Goldman Sachs, Sequoia Capital, Moody’s, and Barclays—have issued reports that raise doubts about whether the enormous investments in generative AI will be profitable.
📢 Amid the hype, it’s important to remember that this future is not guaranteed. Many of the productivity gains expected from AI could be both greatly overestimated and very premature, Daron Acemoglu, an economist at MIT, has found. AI products’ key flaws, such as a tendency to invent false information, could make them unusable, or deployable only under strict human oversight, in certain settings—courts, hospitals, government agencies, schools. A lot of human labor is manual, which software isn’t close to replacing. Whether scaling up AI models will continue to yield significantly better results is highly contested.
NIKE APPOINTS A NEW CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER | [FASHION SYSTEM]
Metaverse Fashion MAGAZINE
ℹ Nike has appointed Cheryan Jacob as its new Chief Information Officer (CIO), a position recently created to support the company's global engineering team, Bloomberg reports.
💎 According to his Linkedin profile, Jacob is trained in both technology and business, beginning his career in India as a computer architecture and hardware engineer. In 2004, he joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a research assistant in biostatistics and data modeling.
👨💻 Jacob brings over eight years of experience from the American technology giant Microsoft, where he played a key role in supporting the company's global network. Prior to that, he served as Chief Technology Officer at a 'stealth' private investment company in Dallas.
📈 In his new role as CIO, Jacob will focus on "simplifying, standardizing, and modernizing Nike's platforms, developer experience, cloud, information security, and technology operations," according to his LinkedIn page.
MEET THE 26-YEAR-OLD BUILDING A BILLION DOLLAR PREDICTION MARKETPLACE | [METAPHYSICS]
Forbes
💱 Welcome to the future of betting markets, where nearly anything can be wagered on, from bitcoin’s peak price in 2024 to the speed at which Trump and Biden climb stairs, to the sex of Hailey and Justin Bieber’s new baby. On Polymarket, some $446 million is currently being wagered on the outcome of the presidential election in November. Never mind that in the United States betting on the outcome of elections is prohibited, according to the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission, which deems it against the public interest. Polymarket, whose headquarters is in New York City, is a prediction market phenom, thanks largely to the world’s current obsession with American politics.
🚀 Though blockchain technology isn’t necessary for this type of application, Polychain uses a network called Polygon, which operates 24/7 and sits atop Ethereum, where transactions cost fractions of the chain’s normal fees. However, instead of US dollars, customers who want to make trades on Polymarket use the dollar-based stablecoin USDC. But even that is changing. Last Wednesday, Polymarket announced it is enabling users to pay for their bets using bank transfers and credit cards through a partnership with Miami-based MoonPay.
☘ The prediction marketplace’s soaring popularity has convinced top-tier investors, including Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin, to back the startup with funding totaling $74 million. Currently, markets tied to U.S. elections, of which there are more than 100, are driving most of trading volume on Polymarket. These are supposedly off-limits to U.S. residents, though 25% of his website’s traffic comes from the U.S., according to web analytics platform Similarweb. Polymarket’s 26-year old founder, Shayne Coplan, won’t say much about his teams efforts to prevent U.S.-based users from betting on elections. He prefers to emphasize his new platform’s strengths.
REDDIT ACQUIRES GENERATIVE AI STARTUP MEMORABLE AI | [SINGULARITY]
Bloomberg
💰 Reddit Inc. is acquiring Memorable AI, a startup that uses generative artificial intelligence to help marketers create better ads, in its first acquisition since going public in March.
💥 Memorable AI has built technology to help advertisers find the most effective text, images and videos to use in their sponsored messages, and Reddit hopes the acquisition will improve the quality of ads on its service.
🗣 “This acquisition allows Reddit to accelerate our work in optimizing, generating, and selecting ad creative to deliver even better results for advertisers,” Reddit Chief Operating Officer Jen L. Wong said in a statement.
📽 New York-based Memorable AI was founded in 2021, and uses AI to help marketers predict how often an ad will lead to a direct action, such as downloading an app or visiting a website. The Memorable AI employees will join Reddit’s advertising team. Reddit did not disclose financial terms of the deal.
🤝 Reddit has also been striking deals with artificial intelligence companies. It signed data licensing deals worth $203 million with companies including OpenAI and Alphabet Inc.s’ Google, to help train their AI models. In May, Reddit announced a pact with OpenAI that would bring its content to ChatGPT, while also helping the social media company add new AI features to its forums.
TELEGRAM BRINGS WEB3 TO 1 BILLION USERS | [METAPHYSICS]
Metaverse Fashion MAGAZINE
Telegram has launched a powerful in-app browser supporting Web3, giving nearly a billion users access to decentralized websites. The update also introduces a Mini App Store featuring popular mini apps with video demos and screenshots. Users can now share mini app content directly to Telegram Stories and send digital Stars as gifts. Additional enhancements include a front flash for video messages, a weather widget for Stories, and customizable story covers.
Telegram browser
Telegram's in-app browser now allows users to collapse and reopen pages from the bottom bar, making it easy to switch between messages, websites, instant view articles, and mini apps. Supporting decentralized websites hosted on TON, this feature is available across all mobile and native desktop apps, bringing Web3 to almost one billion monthly users. Users can now check notifications without losing their place in an article, web page, or game and can add bookmarks for easy return to pages later.
Mini App Store
Telegram reports that over 500 million of its 950 million users engage with mini apps each month. The platform has introduced a new 'Apps' tab in Search, listing both frequently used and popular mini apps for easy access to games and services. Developers can now enhance their mini app previews with video demos and screenshots, providing users with a clear idea of what to expect. This update aims to streamline the user experience and boost interaction with mini apps.
Sharing from Mini Apps to stories
Mini apps on Telegram can now create custom story content, such as AI-generated videos, achievements, and leaderboard snapshots, which users can share directly as Telegram Stories. This feature allows for innovative app experiences and helps existing apps reach a broader audience through users' contacts.
Gifting Stars to friends
The new update allows users to buy digital goods in mini apps or access paid content in channels using Telegram Stars. Users can now purchase Stars as gifts for their contacts, with those celebrating birthdays featured at the top of the gifting list. Gifted Stars appear in chats as beautifully animated gift boxes, enhancing the celebratory experience.
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