Apple faces the music

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AI apocalypse? In a compelling but dark interview with The Guardian, AI researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky forecasts that “our current remaining timeline looks more like five years than 50 years. Could be two years, could be 10” — meaning machines may destroy humankind in that amount of time. While we prefer to look on the bright side of AI, his insights do make us think. Honestly, we’re just trying to survive this week’s atmospheric river in LA…

In other news… the EU fines Apple half a billion dollars, Big Tech’s biggest players are returning to SF, and superhero movies ain’t cutting it at the box office.

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TECHNOLOGY

The EU makes Apple face the music

The Future. The EU handed down a €500 million (~$539 million) fine to Apple after investigating Spotify’s complaint that Apple prohibits iPhone apps from informing users about cheap alternatives to Apple’s music service. If the fine stands, Apple will likely have to give third-party apps more freedom than ever before.

History time
The story of the recent half-billion-dollar fine starts five years ago.

• In 2019, Spotify accused Apple of anticompetitive practices, specifically targeting the App Store tax.

• 2020 saw the EU begin their investigation into Apple.

• By 2021, the EU narrowed their complaint down to Apple’s prohibition of apps’ linking to their services within their own apps.

• In April 2022, Apple got rid of that prohibition.

• Then, in 2023, the EU sent Apple a new list of objections, threatening fines of up to $40 billion.

• The current fine concerns Spotify’s 2019 complaint regardless of Apple’s recent policy changes.

Sour grapes
Apple will likely appeal this fine since fighting back has worked for them before. But all this pressure will discourage them from cracking down on third-party apps — which will start getting bolder with their services and demands.

Apple probably can’t stop them — and definitely shouldn’t try.

BUSINESS

SF’s techies return from their pandemic exodus

The Future. After a hard few years for San Francisco, the famously expensive city is finally starting to recover from its steady outflow of residents and tenants. AI hype and return-to-office mandates are causing the city to liven up but aren’t protecting it against the volatility of bubbles.

Just like old times
Big Tech’s biggest players are trickling back into the city — and bringing their workers with them.

• Tech founders like Elon Musk, Henrique Dubugras, Pedro Franceschi, and Howie Liu are all returning with hopes — or mandates — that their employees come, too.

• This marks a 180 for some bosses and investors who encouraged employees to move to cities with lower tax burdens and smaller populations during the pandemic.

• SF’s commercial real estate scene has reflected this trend, with AI startups (including OpenAI) reserving plenty of the city’s vacant office space.

Look, a bubble
This is good news in the short term for anyone with a commercial interest in San Francisco. But like every gold rush in history, the AI gold rush is vulnerable to the short-sightedness of bubbles.

Why invest in office space for companies designed to replace the workers who use it?

TOGETHER WITH RITUAL

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So, now we want to hear from you…

YOUR DAILY POLL

We ask the hard-hitting questions.

77.1% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Do you consider yourself middle-class?

“I do consider myself middle-class right now, but I worry about the future. I don’t have enough money saved, now in my mid-50s, to weather lack of employment in my future before I retire. It’s scary AF.”

“I'm 54 and feel like I’ve only reached middle-class status within the last few years (based on the six markers).”

“76-years-old, retired with a pension and social security. At 83, I will be below the poverty line as my pension will expire. I will be existing on $2,300 per month.”

“It irks me when I hear wealthy people saying, ‘we were middle-class growing up,’ but she went to private school. Come on.”

“Yes, and our combined household income is closer to $250,000. Takes a lot more to be middle-class these days!”

ENTERTAINMENT

Popular taste in movies is changing in 2024

The Future. This Presidents’ Day weekend has seen lower movie theater attendance than usual. It’s also witnessed a change in popular taste, with a musical biopic defeating a superhero flick at the box office. This upset could signal that comic book characters are on the way out, as new genres like music-based films are on the way in.

What’s going on at the box office?
Apparently, not every superhero movie has blockbuster potential.

• Bob Marley: One Love, a biopic of the Jamaican reggae singer, was the best-performing film this past weekend, earning $52 million domestically — pretty cool given that Marley died in 1981 and may be unknown to younger audiences.

• Madame Web, a superhero thriller led by Dakota Johnson in the Spider-Man universe, flopped with $26.2 million in domestic ticket sales — pretty grim since it cost $80 million to produce and will struggle to turn a profit in its theatrical run.

How did we reach this moment?
“One look at the hits and misses of 2023, and there is clearly a new blueprint as to what can constitute a hit,” Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at the box-office tracker Comscore, told Variety.

Not only was Barbie (a fantasy musical-comedy) the biggest hit of 2023, earning $636.2 million domestically, but Wonka (the musical based on the Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is the biggest holdover from last Christmas driving traffic to cinemas this year — it’s grossed $210.7 million in the US and Canada so far.

Highlights

The best curated daily stories from around the web

Media, Music, & Entertainment

• Disney+ is adding four Korean-language original shows to its 2024 slate. Read More → variety

• Travis Kelce is exploring movie roles, unscripted series, comedy opportunities, and product endorsements — which could make him a big Hollywood star. Read More → thewrap

• Masters of the Air, the epic war miniseries executive-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, had more viewers in its opening weekend than any other Apple TV+ series in its first season ever. Read More → variety

Fashion & E-Commerce

• The DunKings tracksuits worn by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Tom Brady in Dunkin’s now-viral Super Bowl ad sold out in 19 minutes in its initial run last week. Read More → wsj

• Cybertruck engineer Wes Morrill addressed claims that the EV rusts in the rain, saying the orange specks are likely surface contamination and not part of the truck’s stainless steel body. Read More → insider

• Porsche is adding two new plug-in hybrids to its fleet as a response to “significant demand for efficient and dynamic E-Hybrid powertrains.” Read More → theverge

Tech, Web3, & AI

• Gen Z is struggling to handle pressure at work because they’ve grown up without work-life boundaries. Read More → insider

• The EU is investigating TikTok’s compliance with the bloc’s Digital Services Act. Read More → techcrunch

• A class-action lawsuit filed on Valentine’s Day accuses Match Group of manipulating dating app users. Read More → wapo

Creator Economy

• Celeste Aria’s “Dorito theory” explains that TikTok scrolling is so addictive because it’s never fully satisfying — like the chips. Read More → tubefilter

• “Stan culture” might be filling a void many Americans are experiencing from loneliness. Read More → salon

• Reddit is giving access to its user-generated content platform to “an unnamed large AI company” in a new licensing deal worth $60 million. Read More → theverge

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Today’s email was written by Luke Perrotta and Kait Cunniff.
Edited by Boye Akolade and Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.