Uber needs Lyft to keep clunking down the road

Plus: AI stock-pickers, South Africa's power grid and more. Bloomberg This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a life-enhancing offering of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [The rideshare race]( isn’t a race without Lyft. - ChatGPT isn’t a [stock-picking genius](. - Fashion is becoming [gender-neutral](. - South Africa’s [power grid]( is going green. Uber Needs a Lyft I suspect I’m not the only one who feels an intense sense of validation after looking at [this chart]( from Dave Lee. In my heart of hearts, I knew that Uber was more expensive than Lyft. But to see it charted on the page like that, in all its mathematical glory?? Extremely validating. The other day, I was at an indoor cycling class and overheard a woman tell her friend, “ALWAYS crosscheck Uber prices with Lyft. Chances are, Lyft will be the winner.” And it’s true: Lyft does normally have the lower fare, [at least in New York City](. But even so, Lyft’s share of riders still looks like this: This, my friends, is not the chart of a winner. It is the chart of a stressed-out company that just laid off 26% of its staffers after investors replaced [its co-founders](. Lyft is now the underdog against an “[800-pound gorilla](,” which might seem like a perfect time for Uber to “finish off Lyft once and for all, take the market for itself, and get to the exciting business of screwing us all over,” Dave writes. But killing Lyft would be horrible for Uber, because a rideshare monopoly would trigger a gazillion antitrust tripwires that Lina Khan set up at the Federal Trade Commission. Not only would a Lyft-less Uber put a sweat-inducing regulatory spotlight on CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s forehead, it would put both [Uber]( [drivers]( and riders on high alert. Think about it like this: Right now, if I check Uber and Lyft to see which one is cheaper, I will feel (wrongly) satisfied to select the option that is 78 cents less — even if, six months ago, the same ride would have cost me $7 less. But without that ability to crosscheck, people will get even [more upset]( because they have nowhere else to turn. Uber needs to give Lyft a five-star rating so it can keep on driving. Bonus Tech Rival Reading: The [Apple vs. Samsung]( smartphone wars have taken an exciting turn. — Tim Culpan I Like Everything There are two types of people in the world: Those who are immune to cooking-gadget marketing schemes and those who own a bunch of things that look like this: I sold my soul to OXO. AMA. Illustration: Jessica Karl I’m not saying that the above image accurately depicts the innards of my kitchen cabinets, but I’m not not saying that. If you, too, aggressively cram your drawers and cabinets with infrequently used and irregularly-shaped corn-cutters, strawberry-destemmers, avocado slicey-thingies and milk-frothers, you are far from alone. All of these items were sold to you as a promise: This [insert product] will make your life easier. But what these advertisements conveniently fail to mention is that they will also: - Take 25 minutes longer to clean because there are 6,426 interchangeable parts, none of which are dishwasher safe. - Make your life infinitely more dangerous because the free-floating chopper blade makes the bottom of an ice skate look like a butter knife. - Rot in your drawer (or cabinet) for the rest of time because, let’s face it, nobody wants to lose their pointer finger while washing a zucchini spiralizer. The indignity of it all! Those kitchen gadgets, for all their luster, are decidedly not worth it. The same thing can be said about a lot of supposed life-enhancing offerings. Take AI: Although the technology is still in its infancy, there’s a nonzero chance it could end up overpromising and under-delivering in a lot of areas. We’ve all seen the articles: “ChatGPT Can [INSERT THING] Better Than You.” Maybe that thing is [conversing on a dating app]( or [writing a guitar solo](. But this can easily backfire. See: The [Hinge bots]( that claim to “like everything about culture.” Wall Street is far from immune to the lure of AI. ChatGPT is already being employed to [decipher everything from Fedspeak to financial news](, and companies like [JPMorgan Chase]( want to be competitive in the space. But Nir Kaissar warns that even if we automate certain tasks, [ChatGPT isn’t about to become a stock-picking genius](. That’s because actively managed mutual funds and hedge funds are run by financial professionals who frequently try to outsmart the market using Fed statements and news stories — and fail. It’s not because they’re bad at it, per se, it’s because Fed statements and financial news are not good at predicting things. “Why automate manual processes that have little or no predictive value?” Nir asks. “If anything, AI is more likely to burn investors than benefit them,” he writes. All around us, AI is the bright, shiny new toy — what Nir calls “a can’t-miss investment opportunity.” But more likely than not, we could go without it. AI is kinda like one of those corn-stripper gadgets: It looks cool and easy to use, but it’s really not any better at cutting the kernels from the cob. And if you’re not careful, things can get bloody. Hot-Button Issues I spent the weekend watching [the prequel to Bridgerton](, where a woman named Lady Danbury spends her afternoons rambling about in the woods in 17 layers of petticoats. It wasn’t until the early 20th century when a bunch of women said: Wait, why don’t we just wear pants? The women-in-pants movement was called “bloomerism,” because, as the name connotes, women started rambling about in their bloomers — and doing other masculine stuff like smoking, drinking and playing poker. Some men were so outraged at the prospect of women in pants, they passed laws [banning them from wearing trousers](. Just as pants were a hot-button issue 100 years ago, so too is gender-neutral clothing today. “Sped up by social media and the influence of international celebrities like Harry Styles, [nonbinary fashion is becoming more prevalent]( and driving retailers to figure out how to catch up,” Leticia Miranda writes. Of course, unisex dressing has been around since [the days of Prince]( and [David Bowie](, but it was often luxury designers that experimented with styles that fell outside of the gender binary. In order to achieve an androgynous look, many members of the LGBTQ community have needed to shift between men’s and women’s sections at clothing stores and thrift shops. That’s now changing, with retailers like H&M and [Uniqlo]( releasing more affordable gender-neutral lines that can be accessed by all. It’s a step in the right direction, but there’s still a lot of work to be done before non-binary options become [as ubiquitous]( as women’s pants. Read [the whole thing](. Telltale Charts There’s a literal bright side to South Africa’s battle with blackouts: [A solar power renaissance](. David Fickling says that “in March alone, imports from China (the source of almost all of the world’s exported panels) came to $110 million, more than in the whole of 2018.” If you take one thing away from today’s newsletter, let it be this chart. [People are more lonely than ever before]( — and loneliness can be as harmful to our health as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. I’m not one for cheesy CTA’s but, please, text your long-lost college roommate! Or give your aunt — the one that still likes to send you cat GIFs — a call! Or tell a joke to your neighbor. Idk. Just interact with a human today. Remember: “You are part of the glue that holds us all together, and can contribute to a happier, healthier society,” as Lisa Jarvis writes. Be the glue! You won’t regret it. Further Reading The [debt-ceiling standoff]( is a tale of two battles. — David A. Hopkins [This]( is what happens when a small town goes MAGA. — Francis Wilkinson What are [oil companies]( gonna do with all that money? — Matt Levine Scientists were able to [extract DNA]( from a 20,000-year-old tooth. — Andreas Kluth A lot of [private equity horror stories]( started with pension funds. — Allison Schrager How [audit firm KPMG]( fell into First Republic’s financial rut. — Chris Hughes Why [NFL football stadiums]( should go back to the 'burbs. — Matthew Yglesias ICYMI Another mass shooting [in Texas](. [Food insecurity]( might get [even worse](. Tucker Carlson wants to [torch Fox News](. Airline delays may [make you money]( someday. Kickers [Bull riding]( is having an urban renaissance. [Stranded Australian woman]( survives on sweets and wine. [Tequila]( needs more transparency. Fraudulent [“ghost cows”]( haunt Kentucky. Israel caught the [Fruit Roll-Up smugglers](. Notes:  Please send your most shameful kitchen gadget and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](