🍔 Is all you can eat profitable?

Plus: A good tweet, our latest video, wild news numbers, de-influencers, a metaverse search engine, weird Sears, and more. [View Online]( [The Hustle] Valentine’s Day is coming, and we’re feeling the love. Keep reading to learn how you can win a romantic getaway or a day at the spa. In today’s email: - AI: What it can learn from the music industry. - Video: The economics of buffets. - Digits: Whopper ads, Elton John, and more. - Around the web: A metaverse search engine, weird Sears, a very cute bird, and more cool internet finds. 🎧 On the go? [Listen to today’s 10-minute podcast]( to hear about whether Amazon’s big bet on media is paying off, and where the company goes from here. Plus, a rapid news rundown to start your week. The big idea [sound wave]( Getty Images The future of AI looks like the music industry’s past Does AI steal people’s creative work? 2023-02-06T00:00:00Z Mark Dent Anybody know if ChatGPT has passed [the bar exam]( yet? It might want to start studying. Microsoft and OpenAI, creator of DALL-E and ChatGPT, [face a lawsuit]( alleging they illegally used code that developers added to GitHub. Last month, artists [sued]( AI art generators such as Stability AI. This litigation phase may be new for AI, but it’s old news when it comes to disruptive technologies. In fact, [according to Vox’s Peter Kafka](, the rise of AI might just match the evolution of the music industry. Remember Napster? It was a file-sharing service where you could download a song over the internet for free (and for several hours of your time if you had [a 14.4k modem]( like at my house). The OG version of Napster fell apart after a torrent of lawsuits from artists and labels who considered the service a medium for stealing music. As an attorney who litigated against record labels told Kafka: Many creators, and creative companies, will see AI as stealing their work, too. Like Napster, AI involves sharing Most generative AI tools crawl the web for data, collecting material from numerous sources, then pump out an essay, a painting, or whatever. - Many sources are copyrighted or available only when licensed. The lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI essentially argues that the AI tools don’t abide by the proper protocols for using code shared to GitHub. - AI backers say the machines are “learning” rather than stealing, and creating something new from a melange of existing materials. How does this all get solved? Post-Napster, the music industry waged a losing battle against the internet for the next decade before capitulating — [and making enormous bank]( by licensing songs to streamers. The big companies with content on the internet may reach a similar deal with AI. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=The+future+of+AI+looks+like+the+music+industry%E2%80%99s+past%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F02062023-AI-music-industry%3Futm_campaign%3DMonday%2BEmail%26utm_content%3D02062023-AI-music-industry%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( TRENDING [eyeball wearing a hat] Calendar purge: Since Shopify announced a ban on recurring group meetings and most Wednesday meetings, the company said it’s [freed up]( ~95k hours on employee calendars. SNIPPETS So long influencers, cue the de-influencers. TikTok videos with the hashtag [#deinfluencing](, in which users recommend why not to buy specific products, have 88m+ views. Holy smokes: New York-based wholesale cannabis platform LeafLink [raised]( $100m in Series D funding at a $500m valuation. Tweet tweet: Twitter [will share]( ad revenue with Twitter Blue-subscribed creators, and [may also]( charge brands $1k/mo. for verification. Meanwhile, startup T2 [raised]( $1.35m to make a new, old Twitter. Amaz-ouch: The FTC is [reportedly]( gearing up for a potential antitrust suit against Amazon. FTC Chair Lina Khan has long been critical of the company’s business practices. Bad reception: Global smartphone shipments [dipped]( 12% to 1.2B units in 2022, the lowest level since 2013, and revenue sank 9% to $409B. Speaking of phones, Apple achieved its [highest-ever]( market share in 2022, and [may be considering]( adding a higher-end iPhone to its lineup called the iPhone Ultra. TodAI in AI: A Colombian judge [used]( ChatGPT to make a court ruling, Google invested [$300m]( in AI company Anthropic, and unverified [screenshots]( of Microsoft’s Bing search engine with ChatGPT integration circulated online Friday. Lessons learned: There are countless founder success stories out there, but very few about the more likely outcome: failure. We’re changing that with honest stories on startups gone wrong. [Here’s the latest](. Video [weighing food]( Video: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets 2023-02-06T00:00:00Z Few things epitomize America more than the all-you-can-eat buffet. For a small fee, you’re granted unencumbered access to a wonderland of gluttony. It’s a place where saucy meatballs and egg rolls share the same plate without prejudice, where a tub of chocolate pudding finds a home on the salad bar, where variety and quantity reign supreme. - “The buffet is a celebration of excess,” [says]( Chef Matthew Britt, an assistant professor at the Johnson & Wales College of Culinary Arts. “It exists for those who want it all.” But one has to wonder: Is it possible to out-eat the price you pay for a buffet? How does an industry that encourages its customers to maximize consumption stay in business? We looked at the dollars and cents behind the meat and potatoes. [Watch the quick clip. →]( Free Resource Create brilliant PowerPoints Throughout PowerPoint’s 35-year history… not much has changed. Because what works superbly should stay that way. Use this pack of [10 striking PowerPoint templates]( to posterize your speeches, pitch decks, and presentations. Professionally designed themes: - Abstract - Modern - Minimalist - Data drop - 3D gradient - Typographic The kind of slides fit for making splashes. [10 pretty PowerPoints →]( Numbers [digits]( Digits: Whoppers Whopper Whopper Whopper, and more news numbers Plus: Car thefts, Elton John, diploma fraud, and more. 2023-02-06T00:00:00Z Jacob Cohen 1) Burger King’s “Whopper Whopper” [original song]( is unbelievably popular. The jingle, written by a small ad agency as part of a $400m rebrand, scored [99% in brand recall](. 2) Like a good neighbor, State Farm and Progressive are there, so long as you don’t have certain Hyundai and Kia models released between 2015 and 2019, which are especially prone to theft. Only [26% of Hyundais and Kias]( from then had electronic immobilizers, compared to 96% of all vehicles sold. 3) He’s still standing (yeah, yeah, yeah). Elton John’s farewell tour [has grossed $817.9m]( across 278 shows, beating out Ed Sheeran’s $776.4m record, with 51 shows to go. Since his 1986 tour, John has grossed $1.863B and sold 19.9m tickets across 1.5k+ shows. 4) Feds recently busted a massive underground diploma scheme that sold 7.6k+ fake diplomas and transcripts for $10k-$15k each, [raking in $100m+]( between 2016 and 2021. Through the scheme, 2.8k+ customers reportedly received fraudulent nursing degrees. 5) Cassette sales keep winding up. US sales last year reached 440k, up 443% from 81k in 2015. Everyone from Taylor Swift to Megan Thee Stallion to Dr. Dre has reportedly seen nice cassette runs — though quite unlike what they might’ve seen in 1988 when [450m tapes were sold](. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Digits%3A+Whoppers+Whopper+Whopper+Whopper%2C+and+more+news+numbers%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F02062023-Digits%3Futm_campaign%3DMonday%2BEmail%26utm_content%3D02062023-Digits%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( AROUND THE WEB 👨‍🚀 On this day: In 1971, astronaut Alan Shepard [hit]( the first golf ball on the moon during the Apollo 14 mission. 🔍 That’s cool: A [search engine]( for the metaverse. 📚 That’s interesting: The Sears catalog [used to hawk]( everything, from homes to quack remedies. 📽️ Tips: This [quick clip]( breaks down why the LinkedIn summary is important, and how to make yours pop. 🐣 Aww: And now, a clingy little [chick](. TWEET [groundhog meme] Nice work, Phil. ([Link]() Giveaway [prizes]( Love is in the air and we wanna help you celebrate. Whoever refers the most subscribers between today and this Friday, February 10th, will win a $1,500 Flight Gift Card, and the next ten in line will win a $100 gift card to the spa, courtesy of yours truly. How to qualify: - Refer as many people as you can to The Hustle using your unique referral link by 11:59 P.M. PST on Friday February 10th, 2023. - Remind them to check their email and confirm their subscription after signing up. - Check your email right at 12 P.M. EST on Valentine’s Day to see if you were the lucky winner. Here’s your unique referral link for sharing: [ Link to the rules: [( How did you like today’s email? [Love It]( [Meh]( [Hate It]( Today's email was brought to you by [Jacob Cohen](, [Juliet Bennett Rylah](, and [Rob Litterst](. Editing by: Mark “All You Can Edit” Dent. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. 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