Choose Your Own Survivor

PRESENTED BY LIGHTFIELD

Happy Thursday, Future Party. Did you know that J. Cole was a professional basketball player this year? He was recruited by the Chinese Basketball Association’s Nanjing Monkey Kings and was scheduled to play three games. Because his visa took so long to process, he only got to play one. But this isn’t Cole’s first time on the court — he also had a short stint on the Basketball Africa League in 2021 and Canadian Elite Basketball League in 2022. Alright, NBA, your move.

Allbirds, which recently sold off most of its assets in a fire sale, is pivoting to become an AI-compute company.

Why It Confuses: Allbirds used to be one of the kings of DTC retail, so a move to AI feels… well… totally random. But with compute scarcity a real issue in the AI industry, maybe buying GPUs and rebranding as an AI company is just smart opportunism. Only time will tell.

Unboxed: Apparently, Allbirds can be anything.

Closing Thoughts: Stunningly, Wall Street seems to love Allbirds’ new flight path, sending its stock soaring as much as 876% and giving the company a new valuation of about $150 million. Still, that’s a far cry from the $4 billion it was once valued at when it went public in 2021.

Allbirds isn’t alone in making such a head-spinning identity switch. WSJ reports that Florida-based karaoke-machine company Singing Machine rebranded as Algorhythm Holdings… and dragged transportation stocks down after claiming to have developed an AI system that was “capable of increasing trucking efficiencies.” Bizarre times.

The Future: Jury’s out on whether Allbirds can reach new heights by getting into AI, but expect more distressed companies to follow their lead. Soon, everyone may have a little GPU side hustle as a new line of revenue.

Jump into LinkedIn. Check Crunchbase. Open your CRM. Scroll through your inbox. Skim the last transcript.

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An upcoming horror film called Slay Day will be the first interactive feature film to get a wide release.

The Big Picture(s): Filmmakers have been trying to figure out how to make communal choose-your-own-adventure films for years… but the complexity of the storytelling and the logistics have made it nearly impossible. If CtrlMovie, the company behind Slay Day, has figured out how to do so in a satisfying way, it could introduce an entirely new film format in theaters.

Behind The Scenes: Slay Day doesn’t want you to use your fingers to cover your eyes in fear — it wants you to use them to guide the characters’ decisions.

Choose Your Ending: According to producer Mark Dragin, the hope is that the audience interactivity creates a new type of audience energy, where people talk rather than just sit quietly (your mileage with that may vary). Additionally, the team believes that the unpredictability of where the story could go may inspire plenty of repeat viewing… and higher grosses.

CtrlMovie’s pitch seems to be already landing around Hollywood — Paramount is developing two of their interactive movies.

Coming Soon: If they catch on, CtrlMovie’s films could be the next form of trivia night — a competition against teams of audience members to sway where the story will go.

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70.7% of you voted No, not my taste in yesterday’s poll: Have you ever been into Justin Bieber’s music?

“To be fair, I don’t know a single song of his.”

“I like a couple of his songs if they play, but I don't go looking for them.”

“Millennial here and yes, always was a belieber, and am so excited about how Justin continues to carve his own path… especially now after all he's been through!”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🎫 In a lawsuit filed by 34 state AGs, a jury has found that Live Nation and Ticketmaster are an illegal monopoly in event ticketing.

🎥 Warner Bros.’s new indie label has been named Clockwork, and it has picked up Sean Baker’s next film, Ti Amo!, as its first release.

🍿 Neon’s breakout horror hit, Longlegs, is getting a sequel… from Paramount.

🛰️ Amazon has struck a deal with Apple to power the company’s satellite phone service with its Starlink competitor, Leo.

👩‍💻 AI startup Objection has raised millions of dollars in funding from Peter Thiel to roll out an AI platform that aims to assign a “trust score” to journalists.

🤖 Anthropic is on a collision course with OpenAI over support for an Illinois law that would waive the liability of AI companies when their systems cause some sort of disaster.

🫠 Snap shares are up after the company announced it would cut 16% of its workforce… because AI.

👀 The EU says its age-verification tool is ready to roll out widely to the public.

📺 YouTube is joining Peacock as an official broadcaster of the Eurovision Song Contest.