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EavesdropAI. The next time you’re sending your coworker a cheeky message during a company meeting, it might be wise to mute up. A study on keystrokes heard over Zoom found AI can now detect what you’re typing with 93% accuracy. Pretty wild stuff, if we do say so ourselves. Read the full study here.
In other news… streamers face shrinking catalogs, the rise of “lazy girl jobs,” and Disney’s cost-saving AI plays.
Top Trends
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ENTERTAINMENT
Suits, streaming’s cable hit // Illustration by Kate Walker
Streamers face shrinking catalogs
The Future. With USA’s Suits topping Netflix’s charts, it looks like the Peak TV streaming model of the past decade (small episode orders, few seasons, big stars, and high production values) may not be the most successful strategy to turn a profit and keep viewers engaged. The opposite is a return to 100-episode shows, which requires an overhaul of how the TV business works now. While that may be a lifeline to Hollywood, it may require rebooting audience expectations.
Yesteryear’s hits
Streamers may soon run out of the broadcast and cable shows that made their libraries valuable while subscribers waited for new originals.
Streamers relied on a steady supply of shows from those outlets to reduce churn — think Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, and The CW’s multi-show Arrowverse.
But ironically, cord-cutting has gutted the traditional model, forcing many cable outlets to ditch scripted entertainment and putting the top four broadcasters on life support.
That means the streamers will have to make them — something their business model is not built for — because they’ll eventually run out of older shows for young viewers to discover.
If they don’t, they run the risk of viewers having a buffet of shows to start watching (which attracts new subscribers) but nothing they can really sink their teeth into (which keeps those subscribers).
So, is there a fix? Vulture points to the old way of making TV — more seasons so viewers can commit to characters, the ability to amortize production costs over more episodes, and a return to licensing to keep making money over time. That also means streamers have to rebuke the cost-plus model that treats every show as a modest hit before it airs (meaning actual streaming residuals for creatives).
Is looking back really the way forward? Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, and Hulu may already think so.
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WORK
Coasting // Illustration by Kate Walker
The “lazy girl job” is the new quiet quitting
The Future. The “lazy girl job” is the newest internet-minted work trend — a cheeky response to the very serious issue of burnout. Whether or not the anti-rise-and-grind culture is as widespread as TikTok may lead us to believe, the truth may be the unhealthy overtime culture of boomers was the product of an economic era of seeing a tangible return on that investment rather than the DNA of the generation.
Hustle no more
Another day, another term for wanting out of the rat race.
“Lazy girl jobs,” per Bloomberg, are “low-stress, low-effort roles that pay decently well (think $60 to $80k) while allowing plenty of freedom and flexibility.”
Of course, this doesn’t apply to just women, but it seems to be a refutal of the “girl boss” trope.
The term was coined by TikTok creator Gabrielle Judge, who has since quit her day job to work on monetizing the term (never waste a branding opportunity, we guess).
No matter what term is in vogue now, the overall vibe is young people are looking at the economy — the inability to afford a home, shrinking benefits, mass layoffs — and saying, “no thanks.” It’s better to keep their mental health in check.
But is that really true? While Gen Z does preach work-life balance, a recent Deloitte survey found they’re actually working really, really hard.
Hey, those bills need to get paid somehow.
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Watch and learn (a new language)
Learning a new language can be fun. But who knew it could be this fun? Lingopie is teaching languages through the shows and movies you already know and love!
Here’s how it works: All of the content on Lingopie’s platform comes with two sets of subtitles. So, the more you watch, the more you’ll learn.
You’ll have access to:
Learning Spanish, French, Italian, and six other languages
Speaking the “real way” with slang and all
3,000+ shows and movies from all over the world
The coolest part? You can immerse yourself in the culture and stories from the region of the language you’re learning.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Courtesy of Disney
Disney recruits AI to find cost savings
The Future. While AI has recently become a focal point of the writers and actors strikes, Disney has been experimenting with the tech for years. Now, it’s doubling down on developing a system that could be used across the company. Though the purveying wisdom across Hollywood is it’s too early to see what impact AI could have on making movies and shows, Disney may have a pretty good understanding of how it hopes to integrate the tech into its operations.
Budget bot
According to Reuters, Disney formed a “task force” earlier this year to see how AI can be used at the Mouse House.
It’s developing in-house AI systems and looking to partner with third-party companies.
Currently, 11 AI-focused job positions are open for applications (just like at several other major entertainment companies).
A Disney insider said the company hopes to use AI to optimize spending, especially as recent blockbuster budgets have swelled up to $300 million.
As it turns out, Disney is no stranger to AI. It used AI to help de-age Harrison Ford for the opening scene of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, used machine learning to create a free-roaming Baby Groot robot at Disney World, and had an AI-powered cabin droid at the now-defunct Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser hotel.
Additionally, Disney Research (which is based out of Switzerland) has been working for a decade on “digital humans” that are allegedly “indistinguishable” from real people when plugged into media. Disney says the tech is only meant to “augment” digital effects… but it’s easy to see why that development would be alarming to flesh-and-blood actors.
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Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Media, Music, & Entertainment
Oppenheimer is extending its IMAX 70mm run — a film format so large that the reel is 11 miles long and weighs 600 pounds — for another three weeks due to outsized demand. Read more → variety
AMC Theatres has eked out a profit off the success of summer hits like Barbie and Oppenheimer, but CEO Adam Aron says the company is still facing a cash crunch. Read more → thr
Travis Scott secured the third biggest album debut of the year and the best selling rap vinyl since 1991 with the release of Utopia. Read more → variety
Fashion & E-Commerce
Although adidas will go ahead with selling its remaining YEEZY stock, Foot Locker has declined to take part in it, fearing blowback. Read more → complex
Luxury watches are the new streetwear, becoming the latest symbol of cultural coolness. Read more → bof
A first-generation iPod has sold for $29,000 on the fractional-ownership platform Rally, giving a 16% return to all the “shareholders.” Read more → axios
Tech, Web3, & AI
Taiwanese chip-maker TSMC is building its first European plant in Germany, giving the EU greater access to the tech and Taiwan more protection from potential Chinese invasion. Read more → wsj
After some confusion and backlash from its users, Zoom is trying to ensure “customer content” won’t be used to train its AI. Read more → fastcompany
Spotify’s AI-enhanced DJ feature is expanding to 50 countries, but its audio commentary feature will still only be in English. Read more → engadget
Creator Economy
TikTok is hosting a livestream singing contest, “Gimme the Mic,” to discover new talent. Read more → tubefilter
Alex Cooper of Call Her Daddy fame is launching a podcast network, dubbed The Unwell Network, which will be a subsidiary of her recently minted media company, Trending. Read more → deadline
Competing with #BookTok, 34% of people between the ages of 14 and 25 say they find their book recommendations on YouTube. Read more → tubefilter
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Melody Song. Copy edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.