It’s nearly the weekend, and we’re already getting a glimpse of the future after a real photograph won third place at an AI photo competition. Once the truth was revealed, the photo by Miles Astray was disqualified from the 1839 Awards. Of course, Astray had submitted the picture to show “that Mother Nature and her human interpreters can still beat the machine.” Oh, how times have changed since way back in April 2023 when it was an AI photo that disrupted a real photography competition.

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In other news… travel agents fly in popularity, LinkedIn submits to jobs for you, and KidSuper turns fashion into spectacle with Cirque du Soleil.

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• YouTube – The Instigators

• X (Twitter) – Harrison Ford 

• Google – Beetlejuice

• Reddit – Pixar

• TikTok – “Morena” - Beéle

• Spotify – “Make It All Right” - The Offspring 

.TRAVEL.

Travel agents make a comeback with young vacationers

The Future. While the use of travel agents had sharply declined last decade since their heyday in the ‘90s, the industry is now on an upswing as Gen Zers and millennials discover how easy and cost-effective it is to use them. As a number of tourist hotspots throughout Europe introduce strategies to curb over-tourism, the most successful agents may be those who can recommend and plan trips in under-appreciated destinations.

Country concierge
Young people want to go on vacation without all the hassle of planning one.

• 76% of travel agents report getting more work in 2021 than they did before the pandemic.

• In 2023, 38% of Gen Zers and millennials preferred using a travel agent than planning a trip themselves — way more than 12% of Gen Xers and 2% of boomers.

• They’re turning to agencies like Fora and Sojourney Travel, which can curate a trip to have a certain aesthetic or focus on sustainability, have cheap services, or sometimes work on commission from hotels and other travel firms.

The demand for travel agents comes as money spent on travel and entertainment popped 30% last year. Young people were behind much of that spending.

And with millennials and Gen Zers traveling more frequently than older generations and considering travel more important than other life goals, the ability to have trips planned that are hassle-free, unique, and curated is very attractive.

52.5% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Have you watched a movie in theaters in 2024?

“Big blockbuster action flicks still work better on the big screen, with big sound, and the occasional collective gasp. Also, classic popcorn is still better than microwaved.”

“These new theaters with the heated recliners make it worth it!”

“Thought about it and decided to just watch a streaming movie and not spend a hundred bucks.”

Media, Music, & Entertainment

• Liberty Global acquired a majority stake in the Formula E racing circuit from Warner Bros. Discovery. [Read More]

• Gathr, the film-focused tech startup, is rolling out a pay-it-forward ticketing model similar to the one used by Angel Studios that turned Sound of Freedom into a hit last year. [Read More]

• PleasrDAO is selling a five-minute sampler of Wu-Tang Clan’s one-of-a-kind Once Upon a Time in Shaolin for $1… because the full album contractually can’t be released until October 8th, 2103. [Read More]

Fashion & E-Commerce

• KidSuper has recruited Cirque du Soleil to help bring the spectacle to his upcoming show at Paris Fashion Week. [Read More]

• Soho House announced that it’s opening its first location in Japan (which will be in Tokyo), marking the brand’s fourth space in Asia. [Read More]

• After taking off with Gen Z, wired headphones have officially been minted as a fashion accessory. [Read More]

Tech, Web3, & AI

• Neither Apple nor OpenAI are paying each other to put OpenAI on upcoming iPhones — the distribution of the tech is seen as a mutual benefit. [Read More]

• Photo-editing startup Picsart is collabing with Getty Images on a custom AI image generator. [Read More]

• Amazon announced that it plans to invest $230 million in startups building AI applications, giving chosen companies access to talent and tech from Nvidia. [Read More]

Creator Economy

• Roster is launching to act as a vetted hiring platform for specialists like video editors and thumbnail creators. [Read More]

• TikTok is introducing a video feature called Off the Record that lets musicians share the background behind new music. [Read More]

• Threads is starting to show live baseball scores in case you need a new way to follow games. [Read More]

.ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.

LinkedIn wants to apply to jobs for you

The Future. LinkedIn announced a slate of new AI-powered features and AI-focused tools to help connect job seekers with open positions. Don’t be surprised if the future of job searches is your chatbot getting interviewed by an employer’s chatbot.

Application assistant
Need a job? LinkedIn wants to be your recruiter, coach, and educator.

• The social platform allows job seekers to search for specific jobs using AI-powered text prompts and then generate resumés and cover letters for the positions.

• It’s bolstering its video-based learning feature with new AI instructional videos. Existing videos have seen a 1,650% surge in demand over the past year.

• Premium subscribers also get access to personalized, AI-powered coaches that will roll out across the platform and take their expertise from instructors like Lisa Gates and Anil Gupta.

LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft (a major investor in OpenAI), is seemingly trying to solve two issues at the same time — a difficult-to-navigate labor market slowdown and the rise of AI in the interview process. Landing a job is a mix of finding an open position and then navigating a sort of people-based SEO system that weeds out candidates.

By putting AI in your corner, you may be able to fight data with data.

• Watch: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence stop by GOAT Talk to share their favorite rappers, sitcoms, and cameos from the Bad Boys franchise… all topics they’re well versed in.

• Listen: Acquired interviews Howard Schultz about what he’s learned from his three stints as CEO of Starbucks.

• Read: NYT explores the meaning of “brainrot” — the term for when your vocabulary has become a meme because you’re terminally online.

Every brand wants to jump on the AI hype train…

LATEST PODCAST EPISODE

Today we get into how concert ticket sales are in a lull, how online publications are using games to game the system, and Apple's new announcement about AI.