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Monday vibes. Hey, Future Party people. How’s everyone feeling this morning — manic, motivated, or maybe even both? If you’re still fighting off those Sunday scaries, remember, there’s no shame in taking a little break. Prioritize yourself, take it easy, and the rest will follow.
In other news… Food nostalgia is off the Chain, Drew Carey deepfakes himself, and Twitter overhauls its blue checkmark
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FOOD
Chain serves up delicious nostalgia
The Future. Chain, the pop-up restaurant concept from actor B.J. Novak and world-renowned chef Tim Hollingsworth, has planted its flag in LA with a semi-permanent home and is making the memory of places like TGI Fridays and Olive Garden cool again. While its long waitlist and high prices may not conjure the same feeling as eating at Applebee’s, the brand’s success may demonstrate how a generation of chain restaurant-nostalgics have been waiting for the concept to be dragged into the modern age.
Memory mealsChain is updating some familiar flavors.
Starting as pop-ups around LA, the restaurant has settled into a semi-permanent eatery — a rented home that includes indoor and outdoor seating for 50 people.
Chain has a rotating menu of “elevated” versions of chain classics like Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme, Chili’s Southwestern Eggrolls, and Outback Steakhouse’s Bloomin’ Onion (same taste, better ingredients).
The restaurant only drops one meal at a time for a limited run. To dine, you have to get on the 15,000-strong waitlist, then pay an all-inclusive entry and meal ticket for $65 when your reservation finally opens up.
Fast fancyWhile Chain has humble inspirations, its execution is anything but (thanks to Novak’s and Hollingswoth’s Rolodex).
John Mayer designed Chain’s logo, while the restaurant was designed by Nope and Yellowstone production designer Ruth De Jong.
It brought in VIPs such as Mindy Kaling, Roy Choi, John Legend, and Chrissy Teigen.
And other brands are taking notice of Chain’s cultural footprint — it partnered with Paramount on a Happy Meal satire called the “Stabby Meal” to market Scream VI and teamed up with Chili’s on a cross-promotion campaign.
AI
Are two Drews better than one? // Illustration by Kate Walker
Drew Carey offloaded a radio show to AI
The Future. Comedian and TV host Drew Carey subbed in someone to DJ a recent episode of his radio show, Friday Night Freakout — an AI replication of himself. It had some kinks, and fans didn’t like it, but the experiment shows that hosting a radio show with AI is possible. And with ElevenLabs and Super Hi-Fi partnering to create AI-driven radio stations, the development of AI radio personalities may be just around the corner.
Creating CareyDrew Carey brought a new meaning to Whose Line is it Anyway? during an episode of his SiriusXM show.
Using a beta version of ElevenLabs’ AI voice tool, Carey recreated his voice to handle most of his DJing, such as introducing songs and doing recaps.
99% of the script was written using ChatGPT, with Carey only making a few adjustments to jokes.
By Carey’s admission, the resulting AI Carey had some issues — the voice sounded robotic, and the script was simplistic. But, it was passable.
Pass the talkSo, what did his fans think? They were not stoked. On Twitter, listeners complained that his voice sounded “soulless” and unlike the “real Drew.” Carey understands the criticism, telling Engadget that “the reason FM stations and treasured radio stations still make money is because people like the personality of the DJs." A replication of a DJ’s voice just doesn’t cut it.
Still, Carey thinks AI will inevitably have a job in DJ booths, either reading late-night scripts or doing some basic ad copy.
TOGETHER WITH BRILLIANT
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SOCIAL MEDIA
Unchecked // Illustration by Kate Walker
Twitter evolves the meaning of the blue check
The Future. Twitter’s overhaul of blue checkmarks (and gold for businesses) rolled out over the weekend and has already proven very confusing and controversial. While many have opted not to give in to Elon Musk’s ploy to raise more revenue, small businesses who rely on the added visibility of verification may have no choice but write down a checkmark as a necessary ad expense.
Losing the legacyNYT offers a breakdown of what Twitter users can expect from the platform getting rid of legacy blue checkmarks (maybe, it turns out) in favor of giving them only to people who pay for it — the $8/month Twitter Blue or the $1,000/month gold check for businesses.
You’ll suddenly see fewer tweets from accounts that don’t pay for the verification because the algorithm makes them less visible than tweets from blue checks (unless Twitter secretly intervenes).
You may see an uptick in fake accounts impersonating public figures who decided not to pay for blue checks.
Your “For You” tab will only be populated by blue checks unless you already follow unverified accounts that pop up there. In other words, it’ll be harder for tweets from unverified accounts to go viral.
While the blue check change is meant to boost revenue (which Twitter needs), the company is already preparing for it to be unpopular. Internal documents show that Twitter is planning to let the 10,000 most-followed organizations and the top 500 advertisers that have already been verified keep their verification.
We’ll see how long that plan lasts.
TOGETHER WITH OURA RING
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Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Italy says “no, grazie” to ChatGPT
The first domino has fallen — Italy is outright banning ChatGPT, saying that the AI tool threatens data privacy and puts minors at risk. The country’s data regulators have told OpenAI that it must stop processing data from Italian users because the company has “no legal basis” to use that data “to train the algorithms that power the platform.” If OpenAI doesn’t comply, it could be fined up to 4% of the company’s global annual revenue or $21.8 million — whichever is more.
Read more → wsj
Virgin Orbit crashes
The private race to conquer the stars just lost a major competitor. Virgin Orbit announced that it plans to lay off 85% of its staff (675 people) and cease all operations at least for “the foreseeable future.” The Richard Branson-run startup wanted to keep going but needed more money to do so. And after two potential financing deals fell through, it had no choice but to call it quits.
Read more → theinformation
Now you can travel like James Bond
If you have a ridiculous amount of money set aside for a vacation, then James Bond producer EON Productions and luxury travel company Black Tomato have the itinerary for you. In honor of 007’s 60th anniversary, the two have partnered to offer “The Assignment” — a minimum five-night adventure that includes a customizable menu of experiences from various Bond films (including ones that require special effects and stunts… for real). It’s the ultimate experience for the 007 diehard… if you can afford the starting price of $18,500 per person.
Read more → thr
Tony Hawk turned Pro Skater into a mint
If you’re of a certain age, you grew up with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series… and, apparently, so did Tony Hawk’s bank account. Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Hawk said Activision offered him an upfront flat fee of $500,000 for his name. But, he opted to take royalties instead, which has netted him over eight times that initial offer. With the series making over a billion dollars in sales, it’s clear Hawk foresaw the long game as the winning move.
Read more → insider
Guy uses AI to make Kanye apologize
An AI engineer named Roberto Nickson has done what millions have hoped Kanye would do for a while: apologize. Nickson recorded himself singing an apology track in Ye’s style, then used AI to transform his voice into Kanye’s — the results are incredible. Nickson believes that, in the coming years, every artist will have the ability to use AI to record “their” vocals.
Read more → futurism
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Today's email was brought to you by David Vendrell.Edited by Nick Comney. Publishing by Sara Kitnick.