Baby Anthropic

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TGIF, FutureParty people. You have one last weekend to get your Christmas shopping done. It’s probably too late for online shopping, so best of luck finding parking at the mall. Also, is it just us, or did the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seem especially short this year?

DAILY TOP TRENDS

Anthropic Raises A Chatbot Like A Child

Anthropic has hired researcher Kyle Fish to develop the moral and ethical rights that AI should be afforded if it were to become sentient.

The Big Picture: AI is developing at breakneck speed as companies race to create systems that replicate human capabilities without all those pesky human needs (money, rest, food, etc.). But as companies develop chatbots that feel human, they’re now wrestling with whether that imbues them with human-like rights. Things are about to get thorny.

Between the Bots: Fish’s new role, according to Insider, is to ensure that as artificial intelligence evolves, it gets treated with the respect it’s due.

Wait, what?

• Anthropic says Fish will consider questions like “what capabilities are required for an AI system to be worthy of moral consideration” and “what practical steps companies can take to protect the interests of AI systems.”

• And this isn’t a joke to Fish — he wrote in Effective Altruism Forum that “I want to be the type of person who cares — early and seriously — about the possibility that a new species/kind of being might have interests of their own that matter morally.”

• Why? Because “taking the interests of AI systems seriously and treating them well could make it more likely that they return the favor if/when they’re more powerful than us.” The implications of that are spooky.

The Future: Fish, writing in a paper that was co-authored by researchers from Oxford and Stanford, believes that AI are developing “the kinds of computational features associated with consciousness and agency.” In other words, sentience. If a robot has sentience, does that entitle it for us to care about it being bored with tasks we’ve assigned it, to worry about its rights on par with human rights, or to hesitate in limiting its agency? Or, does the fact that we made AI give us unlimited power over it? These are questions Steven Spielberg wrestled with in his ahead-of-its-time masterpiece, A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

That’s a lot for humans — who are being displaced by human-made AI — to consider. So, don’t be surprised if people outside of Silicon Valley simply look for the off switch.

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Kia Wants You To Express Your Car On TikTok

Kia is turning to TikTok — and top creators — to give people a novel, interactive way to customize and purchase its new 2025 Kia K4.

Why It Hits: Kia is already getting plenty of positive buzz for the marketing campaign. It’s a microcosm of the shift to interactive, gamified marketing across Gen Z’s favorite platforms, including Fortnite and Roblox.

Behind the Showroom: Kia is changing what it wants to go viral for (aka not hotwiring and joyriding).

• The “TikTok Creator Car Configurator” lets users customize a 3D rendering of the K4, including body color and interior type.

• During the build process, animations made by creators such as Sir Wrender, Miranda Morey, Alain Bui, and Hallie Tut “splash” across the car, per Tubefilter.

• When a user is done building the car of their imagination, they can do a “walkaround” of the car as if they were in a showroom. 

• Users can then be redirected to Kia’s site to buy the car. That’s a pretty big purchase to do through TikTok!

Final Touches: Automakers are suddenly rushing to compete with Tesla in the DTC market. First was Hyundai’s team-up with Amazon. Now, it’s Kia and TikTok. With traditional car commercials heralded as one of the marquee forms of marketing, car brands seem to be making sure that they don’t lose that creative torch in a more creator-focused, interactive landscape.

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DEEP DIVES

• Explore: Deadline gives each Hollywood studio a report card on how its slate fared at the box office this year.

• Read: Variety details how Netflix has turned Squid Game into a major business franchise ahead of the show’s anticipated second season.

• Watch: Complex sits down with Mike Shinoda about the origins and future of Linkin Park.

51.7% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Do you think public paranoia about drones is justified?

“It’s currently legal to fly drones during the day and at night. However, all it takes is one or a series of drones being used for nefarious purposes and the paranoia will be justified.”

“It feels like an invasion of privacy when they fly over your house!”

“Our mistrust of the media and everything involving CEOs, politicians, police, lawyers, etc. is justified. We’re being constantly played for fools.”

“Unfortunately, once things make it into social media, they take on a life of their own.”

“Collective freakout over anything is nauseating. So many people get distracted by things like this.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

QUICK HITS

→ Entertainment / Media

🎥 Gower Street Analytics projects that the 2025 global box office will hit $33 billion — a steady increase from 2023 and 2024 but still trailing behind the pre-pandemic peak of 2019.

🎞️ Cineverse, the studio behind Terrifier, is debuting an AI-management tool for indie films to license their content for AI training.

🤼‍♂️ Logan Paul will be joining his brother in fighting on Netflix — for the WWE.

→ Technology

🤖 Google is adding an AI Mode to its flagship Search tool… just as it rolls out its own “reasoning” model.

☎️ You can now call 1-800-CHATGPT to speak to the chatbot on a landline.

🚗 Tesla’s robotaxi service could roll out in Austin as early as next year.

→ Fashion / E-commerce

👟 Reebok has inked a multi-year deal with the WNBA.

📦 Nike is slashing prices for the holiday season to clear out its inventory — a bid to get sales pumping again.

🛎️ Soho House shares are soaring after the company received a sweet buyout offer from its executive chair, Ron Burkle… who really wants to take the company private again.