Together with
Happy Monday, Future Party people. How’s everyone feeling today? Hopefully better than our March Madness bracket. While the NCAA’s annual tourney is full of upsets, this year is on a different level. After the first weekend of men’s basketball games, there’s not a single perfect bracket left in the country.
But don’t feel too bad. The odds of perfectly guessing is about 1 in 120 billion. You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning twice or drafted by the NBA (ironically).
In other news… Local businesses brace for Swifties, AI gets copyright updates, and doing errands may never be the same again.
Top Trends
YouTube → Beef
Twitter → Jon Stewart
Google → Lance Reddick
Reddit → Djimon Hounsou
TikTok → “All Your’n” - Tyler Childers
Spotify → “Laura” - M83
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MUSIC
“Cause I knew you were profit when you walked in.” // Illustration by Kate Walker
Cities are readying for the Swift era
The Future. A Taylor Swift tour guarantees a massive economic windfall for the cities she’s playing in, meaning that local businesses must prep for the highest demand they’ll likely see all year. When it comes to superstars like Swift, don’t be surprised if cities start vying to become concert hosts like countries do for the Olympics.
Swift CityEveryone’s excited that Taylor is coming to town.
Glendale, Arizona (which just hosted the Super Bowl), renamed itself to Swift City last Friday and Saturday to kick off Taylor’s Eras tour.
An additional 150,000 people are estimated to have headed into the city (which has a population of 250,000) to see the shows.
That’s no surprise when Swift’s tour broke Ticketmaster’s single-day sale record, with over two million tickets scooped up in 24 hours.
The Swift SpecialGlendale… er… Swift City Mayor Jerry Weiers said, "One of my jobs is to promote my city by being a cheerleader. [...] And it shows that we're serious about our sports and entertainment district, while having fun at the same time."
The massive influx of people has restaurants and hotels gearing up for demand — creating satellite sites to accommodate more people, hiring extra staff, and stocking up on ingredients. To get a sense of the demand, the Holiday Inn Glendale completely sold out of rooms on the day the tour was announced.
AI
Writing partners? // Illustration by Kate Walker
AI-assisted works win copyright approval
The Future. Wholly AI-generated works may not be eligible for copyright protection, but the Copyright Office may allow AI-assisted works to receive a certificate. This is all still in flux, and the Office will be holding listening sessions soon to better understand what is at play, but the partial copyright of AI works may sow even more confusion among artists and those that employ them.
A helping handThe US Copyright Office may be ushering in the era of humans and AI creating together.
Copyrights can only be granted to works that are “the product of human creativity” and can’t be issued to authors that are “non-humans” (i.e., AI or robots).
When it comes to generative AI, the Office says that prompts act “more like instructions to a commissioned artist — they identify what the prompter wishes to have depicted, but the machine determines how those instructions are implemented in its output.”
But, the Office also signaled that works using AI can get copyright if the human author “selected or arranged” the AI output in enough of a “sufficiently creative way that the resulting work constitutes an original work of authorship.”
Code-switchingSo what does that all mean? According to the Office, if you modify an AI work enough, it can transition from just an AI generation to a piece of human creation — how that is decided and by who has huge implications.
But there’s a wrinkle — only the human elements of these AI-assisted creations will be protected, as was the case with Kristina Kashtanova’s comic book, Zarya of the Dawn, which had its AI-generated illustrations denied copyright protection.
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BUSINESS
No-touch revolution
COVID rewired shopping and dining
The Future. Because of COVID, doing errands may never be the same again. With innovations in E-commerce, QR codes, and loyalty apps, technology not only met the social-distancing moment but has now cemented its place in the normal way of operating. While many of the innovations may make doing business easier, they may also put more distance between retailers and customers.
Drive-thru everythingAccording to Axios, here’s what people do and don’t like about how we now buy and eat.
Shopping:
Pros: Mostly everyone is now comfortable with e-commerce and is on board with drive-thru or drive-up pickup options.
Cons: The shrinking of open store hours and constant supply chain shortages are a headache.
Dining:
Pros: Online ordering options and restaurant loyalty apps have won over customers because of their convenience.
Cons: Replacing physical menus with QR codes that open them on your phone are a bust — a 2022 survey by Technomic found that 88% of diners preferred paper menus.
Anything else that you love or grinds your gears?
Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
The Cure twists Ticketmaster’s arm
Rock band The Cure was determined to keep ticket prices low for their upcoming tour, offering their cheapest tickets at an amazingly-affordable price of $20 a pop. But, when Ticketmaster started selling the tickets last week, customers were hit with exorbitant fees that made that $20 shoot up to $47. Frontman Robert Smith was having none of that and demanded a reason from Ticketmaster. The company, in apology, offered those that bought the lowest tickets a $10 refund and a $5 refund to everyone else. It’s a small gesture, but clearly, it pays to complain.
Read more → insider
Noah Schnapp’s next role: chicken king
Noah Schnapp, famous for playing Will Byers on Stranger Things, is getting in on the ghost-kitchen craze with a new plant-based chicken outfit called TenderFix. The virtual, delivery-only restaurant, which will operate out of IHOP locations, is a partnership with NextBite. The sandwiches, sliders, and tenders are available on TenderFix.com and most major food-delivery platforms.
Read more → thr
Meta wants you to pay to be real
Following in Twitter’s footsteps, Meta is rolling out a paid verification feature in the US so you can get a little blue badge on your profile on Facebook and Instagram. Perks of “Meta verified,” which costs $11.99 on desktop and $14.99 on mobile, include “proactive impersonation protections” and “direct access to customer support.” Does anyone think this is worth it?
Read more → theverge
The proper building-to-housing quotient
As remote work has emptied office buildings across the US, housing advocates have been pushing the idea of retrofitting the offices into apartments. According to structural engineers, the architectural sweet spot to make that dream a reality is to convert “mid-rise, modestly sized structures built before World War II, with at least two sides fronting open areas or streets in neighborhoods near, but not directly in, the city’s dense financial center.” That may seem specific, but there are currently 49 buildings in San Francisco that fit those criteria.
Read more → fastcompany
Your boss has a stranglehold on your mental health
If you find yourself stressing about going to work because your boss is awful, you’re not alone. A study by The Workforce Institute at UKG found that 69% of people say their manager is the person with the biggest impact on their mental health, or has an equal effect on their partner. That’s a big deal because 63% of people are more committed to work when they have good mental health, and 80% feel more energized. Leaders, be advised.
Read more → forbes
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Today's email was brought to you by David Vendrell.Edited by Nick Comney. Publishing by Sara Kitnick.