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Gmail 2.0. Hate writing emails? Us too. But soon, you might never have to pen another one. Google’s new Workspace AI feature, “Help me write,” just dropped. With simple text prompts, users can now draft messages in-app — and that’s not all. The functionality extends to creating images in Slides and table templates in Sheets… it’s a whole new world.
In other news… Gen Z and millennials are workaholics, Google powers text-to-music, and creators are becoming social media strategists for brands.
Top Trends
YouTube - “Keep Dat” - iCandy
Twitter - Thirsty Thursday
Google - Anthony Davis
Reddit - Puppies
Spotify - “Players” - Coi Leray
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CULTURE
Millennials aren’t taking the vacations they want // Illustration by Kate Walker
Young people can’t help working too much
The Future. Younger generations are talking about work-life balance more than ever but can’t seem to institute it in their own lives. Whatever the reason, it may be time to question our relationship to productivity. Is a good work ethic really “good” if it makes you miserable?
Around the clock
Deloitte’s annual survey of millennials and Gen Zers revealed that these groups struggle to practice what they preach.
While respondents valued a person’s ability to protect their time more than anything else, they were twice as likely to define themselves by their jobs than by their hobbies or relationships.
Many also reported that the financial instability of recent decades makes them feel that their career goals may be unattainable if they don’t make early sacrifices.
Additionally, some struggle with the fear of letting down parents who exalted work and made big sacrifices to give them better opportunities.
Protestant worst ethic
Regardless, working this much doesn’t make people happy. And small fixes – like muting work notifications when you’re off the clock – still don’t rid workers of the guilty feeling that they should be working. If we want to walk the walk, we might need to re-examine our association of hard work and moral standing.
AI
Music ex machina // Illustration by Kate Walker
Google makes text-to-music a reality
The Future. On Wednesday, Google released MusicLM, a generative AI program that creates music based on text prompts. When the tech giant unveiled the project months ago, they balked at a public release, citing copyright and ethics concerns. But the Gen AI arms race has led them to break that promise – and it may just redefine our relationship with music.
Testing, testing
Google’s been clear about what the public version of MusicLM can and can’t do.
Users can specify which instruments they want in a piece, as well as genre, “vibe, mood, or emotion.”
They can also ask MusicLM to write a score for a specific scene or situation, like songs from a punk concert or soft classical music for a dinner party.
But MusicLM won’t create anything based on prompts that include particular artists or singers.
Facing the music
Like all other content, music is threatened by the rise of generative AI. As it gets easier for AI to create authentic-sounding audio entirely based on other people’s work, courts will have to decide whether AI scores are truly music to their ears.
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BUSINESS
Brands prefer creator-produced content
The Future. Gone are the days when brands reached out to creators and gave them instructions for sponsored posts. Now, brands are working closely with influencers to brainstorm and produce content for their social channels — and even to define their social strategies. This move towards authentic and natural (rather than obvious) marketing could render highly polished ads outdated and ineffective.
The brand’s gateway to the creator’s audience
The rise of TikTok and the ensuing ubiquity of short-form video content has made creators indispensable to marketers.
In a recent survey from HubSpot, 33% of marketers reported leveraging short-form video on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts as the backbone of their marketing strategies.
90% said they would increase or maintain their investment in short-form video in 2023.
20% said they plan to begin creating short-form content for the first time this year.
Really good at speaking “Internet”
Many brands want to emulate the user-generated content style in their short-form videos, even when they’re not hiring creators to produce those videos.
Back in the day, ads would interrupt content, but now ads may just become indistinguishable from the content itself.
Future Forecast
For those of you who like to stay a step ahead, here are a few things we’re excited about right now :
AI-driven editing. Munch is an all-in-one editing tool centered around extensive machine-learning capabilities. It identifies the most engaging and trend-worthy clips from your long-form video content based on real-time marketing analytics. If you’re looking to level up your marketing strategy, give Munch a try.
Publisher’s Parmesan. No, it’s not what we eat at our Friday dinners when co-founder Francis cooks. It’s actually a column in a newsletter that’s quickly emerged as a go-to source for relevant content on tech, business, and startup news from around the world. Weekly Olio already counts the who’s who of investors, startup founders, economists, and industry professionals among their subscribers. You can be one too!
Flowers for your gram. And your mom! (Because it’s Mother’s Day this weekend). And anyone you love! We recognize that each one of you probably has a different relationship to this holiday; some of you may be experiencing grief, and not everyone has a heteronormative family dynamic. We love and see you! And hey, these Flowergrams are a cute way to send your gratitude — with a little New Orleans’ flava — to whoever your lucky recipient may be.
Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Egg prices are returning to normal
Americans have been battling an egg crisis over the past year due to soaring inflation and a bird flu outbreak, which drove the average cost of a dozen eggs up 60% in 2022. But as inflation cools, prices appear to be falling back down to earth. The average cost has dropped from $4.82 to $3.27, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, suggesting the Fed might be beating inflation.
Read More → insider
Salaried Microsoft employees won’t get raises in 2023
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees only hourly workers would receive raises this year. While Microsoft will still offer salaried employees bonuses and stock awards, the company won’t “overfund to the extent” it did in 2022. The senior leadership team, including Nadella, won’t get salary increases either.
Read More → theverge
Where the Class of 2023 can get the biggest bang for their buck
Houston, Philadelphia, and Austin rank as the three best big cities for college grads to land their first jobs amid economic uncertainty, according to Gusto, a payroll and HR platform for small and mid-sized businesses. While Houston tops Gusto’s salary list, NYC ranks #10. New grads in Houston earn an average of $65,648 per year, compared to just over $31,000 in NYC.
Read More → insider
IATSE launches a commission to study AI’s impact on show biz
The commission, which will begin its work immediately, will issue a report of its findings and recommendations to the IATSE General Executive Board at the end of July. AI has already disrupted the entertainment industry and is one of the sticking points that led to the WGA strike.
Read More → deadline
Epic Games invests in virtual fashion
Epic Games and digital fashion company CLO Virtual Fashion have purchased shares in each other, signaling Epic’s interest in virtual fashion as another part of its metaverse ambitions. CLO Virtual Fashion offers fashion design software and a marketplace where garment designs can be bought and sold. Even though the metaverse hype appears to be waning, Epic can still dress fans to impress in virtual worlds.
Read More → theverge
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Today's email was brought to you by Luke Perrotta and Kait Cunniff. Editing by Melody Song. Publishing by Sara Kitnick.