☕ More shady moves

How an old beer might get a new life... July 22, 2023 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( Good morning. Everything is going according to plan. - Lionel Messi scored a dramatic game-winning goal in his MLS debut, and the US women’s team defeated Vietnam in their first game in the World Cup. - Barbenheimer is off to a blistering start, with Barbie and Oppenheimer snagging $32.8 million in combined North American ticket sales on Thursday. All signs point to a massive opening weekend for the double feature. —Molly Liebergall, Sam Klebanov, Matty Merritt, Abby Rubenstein, Neal Freyman [CLICK]( THIS TO REMAIN A SUBSCRIBER Clicking on newsletter links is the only way for us to know you are reading (and enjoying) Morning Brew. If you don't click by next month, you will stop receiving this newsletter. [Click here]( to let us know that you’re still an active subscriber. Thanks! MARKETS Nasdaq 14,032.81 -0.22% S&P 4,536.34 +0.03% Dow 35,227.69 +0.01% 10-Year 3.841% -1.2 bps Bitcoin $29,948.44 +0.41% AMC $7.17 +62.95% AH *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 3:00am ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Stocks were a [mixed bag]( at the end of an especially volatile day yesterday. The Dow kept the party going for its 10th winning day in a row—its longest hot streak since August 2017, but the Nasdaq dipped as investors prepared for changes coming to the index on Monday. - Stock spotlight: Meme stock AMC had a to-the-moon moment in after-hours trading after a Delaware judge unexpectedly halted the company’s controversial plan to split its stock, which would have diluted the shares of the amateur investors who believed in the struggling theater chain.  TECH [ChatGPT seems to be getting dumber]( [ChatGPT logo with magnifying glass]( Francis Scialabba The accuracy of OpenAI’s generative language model appears to have declined so much this spring that it’s giving high-school seniors wearing sunglasses in calculus a run for their money. A not-yet-peer-reviewed study by Stanford and Berkeley researchers of ChatGPT-4 and ChatGPT-3.5 found a huge [difference]( in the chatbot’s answers between March and June of this year—often for the worse, something people were already reporting anecdotally online. - GPT-4 went from 97.6% accuracy in identifying prime numbers a few months ago to only…2.4% in June. - The newer version of the language model got better at fending off problematic prompts, like coming up with illegal money-making schemes. But rather than explaining why queries are troublesome, it’s now more likely to simply say something like, “Sorry, but I can’t assist with that.” - When asked to create computer code, GPT-4 generated functional work 52% of the time in March and only 10% of the time in June. The lines of code it provided weren’t wrong, but they started to be accompanied by nonusable text, which could create headaches for companies trying to integrate ChatGPT into programming workflows. The researchers say the change in ChatGPT’s behavior in such a short time is likely because OpenAI is tweaking its product. But because the company keeps its work so private, it’s hard for anyone to tell exactly what’s caused ChatGPT to start flunking. OpenAI says it’s looking into these “reported regressions.” But more transparency may be coming soon…Yesterday, representatives from seven companies leading the AI charge—including OpenAI—convened at the White House and [agreed]( to guidelines that include more safety tests before product releases, a watermarking system for AI-generated content, and more disclosure of the technology’s vulnerabilities. If the companies break their promises, it could land them in hot water with the FTC.—ML   FROM THE CREW [Give your B2Biz a B2Boost]( [The Crew]( How? With Morning Brew’s engaged audience of 22m+ monthly readers, of course. Our unique community of young, hard-to-reach readers (who are 1.7x more likely to have a household income of $150k+) can give your B2B offerings the valuable visibility you’re looking for. B2B decision-makers know how crucial it is to get their business’s potential in front of the right s, and the Brew’s [paid advertising opportunities]( connect your brand to our audience by leveraging our popular B2B-centric franchise newsletters, specialized events, and skyrocketing cache of multimedia content. Morning Brew is powered by the knowledge our readers trust us to deliver. From Retail Brew’s trending insights to Healthcare Brew’s timely updates, we’ve got a B2B Brew for you. Which one will you choose to grow with? [Advertise with us](. WORLD [Tour de headlines](#) [Tony Bennett performing]Marco Piraccini/Archivio Marco Piraccini/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images Crooner Tony Bennett has died at age 96. The legendary singer of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” [died]( yesterday following a yearslong battle with Alzheimer’s disease, during which he continued to record music and perform. Bennett’s career focused on the Great American Songbook and spanned more than seven decades. Though popular music styles changed drastically during that period, he never lost his relevance—his final performance was a concert and television special with Lady Gaga. The celebrated performer was also active in politics, especially during the Civil Rights Movement: He participated in the march from Selma to Montgomery with Martin Luther King Jr. Trump’s legal troubles will play out during campaign season. The criminal [trial]( over former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving office has been set for May. In an order handed down yesterday, Florida federal Judge Aileen Cannon rejected the ex-president and 2024 hopeful’s bid to postpone the trial until after the election, as well as the government’s preferred trial date in December. It’s one of several criminal investigations involving Trump, who refers to them as hoaxes. He recently signaled that he may be indicted soon in a separate probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. ​​ Disney might let sports leagues buy a piece of ESPN. When Bob Iger said that Disney was looking to sell part of ESPN to strategic partners as the House of Mouse struggles with the decline of linear television, most of us probably pictured high finance types getting involved in the network. But CNBC reported yesterday that the company has held [preliminary talks]( with the NFL, NBA, and MLB about the possibility of the leagues taking a minority stake. Disney, which owns 80% of the network, will be “open-minded” about who the partner could be, Iger previously said. BUSINESS [SBF accused of even more shady moves]( [Shady SBF]( Ed Jones/Getty The temperature got cranked even higher on the hot water FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was already submerged in. FTX’s new management [sued]( him and some of its other former execs this week, hoping to claw back over $1 billion of company funds. The collapsed crypto exchange claims the ex-execs misappropriated the money for “pet projects” and personal use such as… - Gifting $10 million to Bankman-Fried’s father—cash that FTX believes is now being used to bankroll SBF’s legal defense. - Routing $725 million in FTX stock to company executives who provided nothing in return that would justify the equity. - Using $546.1 million to buy a stake in Robinhood. Perhaps most surprisingly, FTX also contends Bankman-Fried’s brother planned to tap into its budget to purchase the Pacific island nation of Nauru as a potential apocalypse hideaway. Other dodgy (alleged) acts: Separately, the Justice Department accused SBF of leaking the [personal diaries]( of his ex, Caroline Ellison, to try to influence the criminal trial over his actions at FTX. Ellison was the CEO of Alameda Research, the FTX-affiliated crypto trading firm the company allegedly funneled customer funds to. She has already pleaded guilty to fraud and is a key witness against SBF. Prosecutors claim SBF, who has pleaded not guilty, leaked her candid notes about their relationship in order to portray her as a “jilted lover” who committed the crimes on her own.—SK   FROM THE CREW [The Crew]( AI in HR? More than 70% of Americans oppose AI’s use in final hiring decisions. Despite all the promise of automation, it seems like workers still miss the human element. HR professionals should read [Tech Brew’s report]( which unpacks how applicants respond to new hiring tools like personality tests and chatbots. [Download now](. FOOD & BEVERAGE [Workers brewing up plans to buy Anchor]( [Anchor beer can floating in water in life preserver.]( Alyssa Nassner Not since the Full House reboot has a city been so hopeful about a San Francisco cultural staple comeback. After Sapporo USA announced plans to shut down Anchor Brewing Company, the oldest craft brewery in the country, the brewer’s unionized employees offered to [buy]( it. The workers sent a letter to Sapporo USA this week saying they want to purchase the legacy brewer and turn it into a co-op. Some background: Anchor was founded in 1896 and is credited with spurring the craft beer craze in the 1970s. In 2017, it was acquired by Sapporo Breweries, a Japanese beer company, for $85 million. Blaming “a combination of challenging economic factors and declining sales,” Sapporo USA said last week it would liquidate the 127-year-old brewery starting August 2, ending an era where people could confidently say their great-grandparents used to order the same craft brew. But workers [told]( VinePair the Tokyo-based brewer had mismanaged the local staple. The Hail Mary. While the final terms of the proposal (including price) are still being worked out, there are about 40 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6 that hope Sapporo USA will accept their longshot bid and give them a chance to turn the business around.—MM   GRAB BAG [Key performance indicators](#) [A weatherman in front of an incorrect weather map]WFAA Quote: “Everyone in McKinney is dead!” Even as the heat wave made it unsafe to work outside this week, Dallas-area meteorologist Pete Delkus delivered a severe burn to a colleague inside the studio. While on-air discussing the region’s extreme heat, he noticed that a heat index graphic listed McKinney, TX, as 101,105 degrees Fahrenheit—or ~10x the temperature on the surface of the sun, per Awful Announcing—and the weatherman couldn’t resist a little [ad-lib]( roast of its designer. If you’re wondering what the heck the heat index even is: It’s a measurement that takes into account how hot you actually feel by factoring in humidity (yes, all those “but it’s a dry heat” people are correct). Stat: Our money’s still on Zuck in hand-to-hand combat versus Elon Musk, but it’s starting to look less certain that Threads is poised to KO Twitter. The app’s number of [daily active users]( fell for the second consecutive week, to 13 million, which is 70% less than its July 7 peak this week, the Wall Street Journal reported based on data from Sensor Tower. Twitter meanwhile still pulls in ~200 million per day. But Meta’s clone is adding new features that it hopes will get more of its 100+ million users to use the app more and draw in even more people. Read: Country music’s culture wars and the remaking of Nashville. ([The New Yorker]( NEWS [What else is brewing](#) - [Amazon]( plans to build a $120 million facility in Florida that will prepare satellites to launch into space as it goes hard at the satellite internet business. - [Leon Black]( the billionaire private equity investor, agreed to pay $62.5 million to avoid a lawsuit from the US Virgin Islands over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the New York Times reports. - [Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis]( has ordered an investigation into whether Bud Light’s parent company breached its obligations to its shareholders through the brand’s brief marketing partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which drew massive backlash from conservatives. - [Update from yesterday:]( Experts have concluded that the creature stalking the outskirts of Berlin was probably not a lion after all but a wild boar, and the massive police search was called off once the animal turned out to be less exotic. In other wild animal news, scientists are testing whether sharks are chomping on [abandoned cocaine]( off the coast of Florida. RECS [Saturday To-Do List graphic] Every second counts: This site has a unique [word puzzle]( for each moment of the day. Nobody around: Here’s why so few people live in one particular stretch of the otherwise crowded West Coast ([YouTube](. Drawn-out explanations: This designer helpfully [explains things]( via sketch every week.  That’s hot: If you can’t afford secondary market Sriracha, try making [these sauces]( yourself instead. Sole searching: What’s in store for Adidas? Check out [marketers’ thoughts]( on where the brand can go after ending its collaborations with artists Ye and Beyoncé. Work smart: HR Brew shares expert insights into devising and revising critical recruiting strategies for optimal hiring. [Watch now](. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Brew crossword: Today’s full-sized crossword is appropriately titled “Double Features.” [Play it here](. Open House Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that wants to end every day with a nice big cone of french fries. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price. [Mansion in Brussels, Belgium with two blocked off fireplaces, classic wooden floors, radiators, tall ceilings, and terrace]Sotheby's Today’s [mansion]( is in Brussels, Belgium, near La Grand-Place and Parc de Bruxelles. It was built in 1900 and has plenty of walled-off fireplaces. The whole 11,172-square-foot building is available and includes a commercial spot on the ground floor, so you can open up a French bakery or American cheeseburger factory if you want. Amenities include: - A courtyard and garden - Radiators that probably clang and bang throughout the night - Grand staircase to descend How much for the Belgian building? SHARE THE BREW [Share Morning Brew]( with your friends, acquire free Brew swag, and then acquire more friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. We’re saying we’ll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. Your referral count: 0 [Click to Share]( Or copy & paste your referral link to others: [morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=a905682a]( AROUND THE BREW [Excel with Miss Excel]( [A woman next to an Excel spreadsheet]( Major update: We’ve partnered with the one and only Miss Excel to bring you the Excel master class you’ve been searching for. [Join us on July 27](. Which up-and-coming place is the next tech hub? [Subscribe to Tech Brew]( for our series on what US cities are doing to draw in top employers. Canva scours 300,000 job applications a year—and every one of them is looked at by human eyes. [Here’s how they do it](. ANSWER $3.6 million Written by [Neal Freyman]( [Abigail Rubenstein]( [Molly Liebergall]( Sam Klebanov, and [Matty Merritt]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. 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