| Plus, Siri AI is coming to your other apps soon. |
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Think Squid Game, but make it robots. And the stakes are…a job at a convenience store? Six humanoids in Shanghai were recently tasked with running a shop for 24 hours straight. The entire thing was livestreamed in a broadcast aptly called “Robots Never Clock Out,” and the machines had to pass challenges like navigating obstacles, keeping shelves stocked, and…telling the difference between regular and sugar-free Coke. Unfortunately, two of the six humanoids were eventually let go. In one case, the robot apparently got distracted from its assigned task and left the store entirely (an understandable reaction when you’re told to work a 24-hour shift). Watch the androids-on-wheels very slowly place items in baskets and scowl when something blocks their way. Also in today’s newsletter: - Rich people are paying Gen Z big bucks to fix their reputations.
- Siri could soon come to a third-party app near you.
- Those freezer hacks were even worse than we thought.
—Lindsey Choo, Whizy Kim, and Saira Mueller |
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The Download Big Tech money didn’t talk this election  Morning Brew Inc. | TL;DR: Tech billionaires were among the biggest losers of the US midterm elections, with Elon Musk at the front of the pack. As it turns out, voters did Pokémon Go to the polls to push back on the data centers fueling the AI boom. The results could slow the AI buildout for the next several years—and send tech companies looking for friendlier ground abroad (or in orbit). What happened: Silicon Valley’s top donors poured hundreds of millions of dollars into candidates who mostly lost. Despite spending nearly half a billion dollars backing Republicans (the most a noncandidate has ever spent), Musk saw his picks lose almost everywhere—most notably in key red states like Ohio and Texas (he spent over $200 million in the latter alone). AI was on the ballot across the country: 56% of voters called AI and data centers a “crucial or a major factor” in their vote, per an NBC exit poll. Power struggle: Worries about higher electricity and water bills, as well as air and noise pollution, have fueled the data center backlash nationwide, per the Financial Times. Voters made it official yesterday: Texas, Georgia, and Ohio (three of the biggest AI data center hubs) elected Democratic governors who promised to pause or restrict data centers. At least 29 jurisdictions passed local bans or restrictions on data center projects, including one in Trenton, Ohio, that could stall Amazon’s plans for a campus there. But not every state followed suit: Florida narrowly elected a Republican governor who supports data centers. Plan B(illionaire): Since the results started coming in, X has been on fire with memes about tech CEOs suddenly discovering their inner Democrat (see this very 2020 makeover)—and for good reason, as they have a lot riding on the AI buildout. Nvidia expects global spending on AI infrastructure to reach $3 trillion to $4 trillion a year by 2030. If progress slows in the US, companies could turn abroad. But they haven’t exactly been welcome there, either. Finnish regulators ordered Google to halt work on two data centers last month, after it reportedly cleared about 250,000 trees before finishing environmental reviews. In Australia, a massive outback project scrapped its construction timeline after a regulator extended its review. Musk, for his part, joked last night that data centers in space are “looking pretty appealing” right now. Bottom line: Deep pockets used to be the tech industry’s biggest advantage—but this week, they didn’t buy much (except, apparently, when the CEOs’ own pockets are on the line). —LC Also in elections…- There was one tech sector that had arguably the best night…and made some people a whole lot of money.
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The Zeitbyte Rich, embarrassed, and paying Gen Z to fix it  Morning Brew Inc. | What do you do if you get canceled online? Obviously, you hire a bunch of very young people to rehab your reputation. Specifically, by burying the internet in an avalanche of other information about you—and trying to sway what Google and AI chatbots relay when curious people search for you. That’s exactly what the ultrawealthy are now doing to keep their names spotless. And to achieve this, reputation management firms are staffing up with Gen Zers, since so much badmouthing today occurs in meme-clogged social media threads that require someone who doesn’t need to google what “mogging” or “larping” means. Retainers for such youthful expertise can start at a painful $25,000 a month—but that pales in comparison to what bad press can cost: A single negative article once set a client back about $200 million, per one reputation firm that spoke with Business Insider. But for everyone who doesn’t have $25,000 a month lying around, there’s still that 22-year-old cousin you ran to when “maxxing” first started trending online. —WK Chaos Brewing Meter: ☕☕/5 |
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 | - Siri AI will soon be able to do things for you in non-Apple apps. Next up: telling Siri to get you to level 20,000 in Candy Crush.
- The big freezer hack that’s now hit 11 countries and counting didn’t just affect supermarkets but, disturbingly, this very precious cargo.
- Scrolling Reddit could become a lot more annoying soon—and it’s not just because you’ll have to be logged in.
- AI agents are now billed as do-everything assistants, but take a wild guess at how many Uber rides third-party agents successfully booked last quarter.
- An upgrade is coming to Bluetooth that could make your fancy wireless headphones sound even better.
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