24 May 2023

Hi folks,

In the past, tech has been hailed as the solution to unconscious bias. Humans lie and judge people, but tech doesn’t… or so we thought.

The AI platform Midjourney has created images of the “perfect” man and woman, which scream of stereotypes. And we feel bad for the Texas professor who failed half his class after ChatGPT falsely claimed it wrote their papers.

Maybe ChatGPT is fairly “human” after all.

Scroll down to read more about the hottest new video game, which Premier League clubs are growing stateside, and “grammable” dinners…

Stats to power your week

🤖 66% of consumers agree that companies who develop AI tools need to be transparent about how they’re developing them. And countries like the US, UK, and Italy are already putting protections in place. (GWI Zeitgeist)

🇹🇷 It’s election time in Turkey, and outlooks are mixed. 55% of citizens think their economy will get worse, but 40% think their personal finances will get better. To ensure its users don’t get swayed at the last minute, Twitter is blocking some content ahead of the election. (GWI Core)

🎮 The video game Valorant has increased by 18% year-on-year in popularity, driving rival developer Valve to announce their free-to-play competitor: Counter Strike 2. Early access players say it’s already doing a lot right. But with the Valorant esports scene growing, is it enough to get people back on Valves’ side? (GWI Gaming)

⚽ The Premier League title race is over; Manchester City lifted the trophy on Sunday. But how are clubs performing off pitch? US interest in the English Premier League has increased by 53% since 2020, and new fans are picking sides. Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United’s popularity across the Atlantic have decreased over the last few years, while Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, and Wolverhampton Wanderers are the biggest climbers. Who doesn’t love a good underdog story? (GWI Sports)

🧑‍🍳 In case you hadn’t heard, we recently added Hungary as our 52nd market. In honor of that, here’s a cool tidbit about its consumers. Hungarians are 22% more likely to be interested in cooking than the rest of the world. Makes sense, as they’re always Hungary. (GWI Core)

What’s on our radar

People have started gaining access to Google’s AI text-to-music app, MusicLM. It was announced at Google’s I/O conference a couple of weeks ago, and the first creations are starting to trickle through. Looks like Drake might have some more competition on the way.

In the UK, it’s estimated that up to 1 million people have canceled their broadband, citing rising living costs. When we looked at what people would trim from their budgets in a downturn, UK consumers were 51% more likely to say they’d cut back on utilities.

Montana’s the first US state to ban TikTok (kind of). The app has been banned for a few months on US government devices, but this is the very first time a state is trying to issue a blanket-ban on app stores.

Elon Musk has described working from home as “morally wrong”. Easy to say when a lot of CEOs enforcing this could be heading elsewhere…

The travel industry is rebounding after a few years of uncertainty. But with more people jetting off, is there a downside? Scientists have predicted that we’ll break the 1.5C global warming threshold over the next few years, as their sustainability concerns heat up.

In the midst of the ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike, Jimmy Fallon’s been the first late-night TV host to put his writers on an unpaid leave of absence, despite his comments at the beginning of the protest.

The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom has sold 10 million copies in just 3 days; it’s now the fastest-selling game in the franchise. That’s more than Nintendo’s Wii U console sold in 3 years.

Influencers have been taking over the restaurant industry. Social media recommendations from people with big platforms can have a more immediate impact than traditional awards, and they’re pushing a lot of foodspots to become more “grammable”. Is the food you’re eating “giving”?

Chart of the week

There’s been a lot of scary talk about AI replacing people's jobs recently. Since the start of the writers’ strike, a vocal part of the internet has been quick to point out that “Hollywood is done for!”. But can AI really replace artists who create music, TV, and film?

It's not just a question of whether it can. It's also a question of whether it should. While a good chunk of people believe that AI is capable of producing “real” art, there’s a lot of concern over whether tools should be able to imitate real people or use copyrighted material to generate it.

Get more from GWI

Bits and bobs we thought you might like:

• 4 digital media planning tips to ace your marketing strategy
• 3 examples of sustainable brands hitting the mark with US consumers
• Spending habits in Australia: how are households faring down under?