All Caught Up: ChatGPT-induced psychosis, MAHA teen influencers, America's pop cultural decline
Your AI actually hates you!
Happy Friday! What a week.
Sometimes I’m inside my house an unfair (to me!) amount. Other times, I’m like, wow I live in New York, I should be outside. And this week was certainly an outside week! Charli at Barclays on Sunday, a party at the Guggenheim on Thursday, and a preview of the new Costume Institute exhibition later today. I personally really enjoyed all the Met outfits and commentary this year.
Other notes: I co-authored a piece on the delusional attitude brands have when it comes to community-building, and we’re gearing up for a newsletter rebrand around here (and hopefully more exciting things to come!).
This week's picks include cafés at home, LV face stamps and why intelligence is marketable again.
Christina’s weekly scroll –
New pope just dropped.
People are losing their loved ones to ChatGPT-induced psychosis.
There is an artificial intelligence crisis unfolding around us. The executive branch is peddling AI-driven rage bait, while students are cheating their way through college. Plus, your AI actually hates you!!!
On that note, excited for Brad Troemel’s upcoming ZIRP SLOP REPORT, dropping next month. In it, he traces how the Fed’s Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) has led to our current slop landscape.
Bill Belichick is looking for a new publicist. Lmao. This is why putting your brand in the hands of a 24-year-old isn’t always a good idea!
Why is Dora teaching manosphere slang? Not fantástico.
Weight Watchers filed for bankruptcy.
How The Trump Stole Christmas!!! Tariffs are creating problems for toymakers.
Smart is the new sexy and it’s changing brand marketing. And while we’re here, gently plugging
’s TikTok Oracle piece.Meta’s new AI feed is a creepy microcosm of the human-AI experience.
Uber says self-driving cars are outperforming human drivers in Austin… by a lot!
Do we know how to hang out without making it a production? Great read from
on the recent trend of cafés at home.Turning our homes into cafés is how a generation craving connection, time, and intimacy is reinventing hospitality—less as performance, more as ritual—using the aesthetics of the coffee shop to fill the void left by vanishing third places and over-optimized social lives.
KATSEYE for Glossier. Cutie!
Heaven x Starface is reeeally good!
Soho is in its “corny stage” now.
As American homes get bigger and apartments get smaller, the death of the dining room feels inevitable.
I don’t care if his family gave permission, NBC using Jim Fagan’s AI-generated voice for NBA coverage is weird and bad!
Nikita’s weekly scroll –
Ari Emanuel bought Frieze back from Endeavor. Frieze will now be part of a new creative/arts/entertainment venture he’s building.
Brands continue to permeate the ‘stack ecosystem. A few launches this week, from Raya’s Places app launching a Substack helmed by Eddie Huang, American Eagle launching with Casey Lewis setting the vision, and NY Mag’s fearless Substack lead
departing for CNN. Oh and joined too.Niche-ish design news: the kerning on Pope Francis’ tomb is a mess.
Terminally online cashmere sweater type news — The Row updated their Instagram avatar, and it kinda reminds me of that one skincare brand that launched and was everywhere say… 18 months ago. And by everywhere, I mean design case study wise.
I enjoyed this piece from
about the paradox of effortless style. I love how she connected the impulse to history like the impressionists.The Athletic launched a Whatsapp channel for their F1 coverage. Makes sense to me!
Sprite is now the #3 soda in America, dethroning Pepsi! They had relaunched their (OG to me, as a child of the 90s + early aughts) campaign “Obey Your Thirst” last year with Anthony Edwards and Sha’Carri at the helm. Also, apparently something called Sprite Chill has contributed to this sales lift. Which leads nicely into my next point, a great take from Chloe at The Dieline about these vibe-based flavors that are coming about.
What the hell is a sunshine? We are the IP generation. Bloop. I mean, the number of times I’ve called someone out for gently thieving my ‘stack on LinkedIn…
I’d probably bank this one about how we’re in an era of pop cultural decline for, like, Sunday when you’re sad about going back to work.
Been thinking about this for years — how you can sit next to someone ‘famous’ but they’re not really famous at all if you think about it. Another banger from W. David Marx about the empty popularity of the 21st century.
I knew next to nothing about DVF’s personal life, and this excerpt of Barry Diller’s memoir was interesting. In fact, I knew next to nothing about him too and… um what a career!
I’ve been getting served videos from boys who are, like, 12, talking about eating ground beef and pasture-raised eggs for every meal, so it does not surprise me at all that there are MAHA teen influencers.
What’s Stanley planning after the water bottles?
It’s a great time to be Grace Wales Bonner. Her semi-eponymous brand saw 81% growth between 2023-2024!
Charli xcx wore Anne D to The Met. Rihanna wore Anne for the afters. This is the first time the brand has been at The Met, and some Big Luxury Brands (Gucci, Celine, Bottega Veneta, McQueen, Loewe, Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, and Fendi) were conspicuously absent reportedly.
You are not owed a creative career. Anyway, I am thinking a lot about *gestures vaguely* this stuff especially with the vengeful attitude around/about creative people from AI dude bros, who are afraid to be seen trying and just want to fake something unoriginal built from stolen data :)
Related/unrelatedly, a few folks across my feeds have been writing about the proof that something was human-made as a luxury/aspirational signal. 100% going to happen with the endless slop everywhere. Free me.
I couldn’t quite put into words why the Doechii LV face embellishment made me uncomfortable but…
Elmo is #OpentoWork.
The US and China will be holding trade talks tomorrow in Geneva. Love this GPT-generated reality we live in.
Dirt and Boys Club have launched a Drudge Report-like object called Clone.
The Partiful founders worked at Palantir. This is old news if you spend too much time online like me.
I spent like 15 minutes trying to find a clip on YouTube about these OG cyborg kids from the mid-90s a college professor once showed me in order to introduce this next article. Are BBL baddies a transhumanist concept?
Francesca Scorcese, Amelia Grey…It’s a great time to be a nepo baby and wear lip gloss.
Being on the weightlifting side of IG reels, I’ve been getting served endless ‘natty or gear’ videos, and unsurprisingly, being on gear is funneling boys into the alt-right.
A nice lil piece on the CDMX metro design system.
˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚Little Treat Corner ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
Christina’s weekly report:
READING: The fantasy of playing Final Fantasy and this incredibly refreshing piece by
.
EATING: Orecchiette al pesto basilico.
PLAYING: This TikTok over and over again for anyone asking me why I think brands should stop commenting on random posts 👍
OBSESSING: Over animal onomatopoeia in different languages <3
RECOMMENDING: Screaming!
TREATING: Persian pistachio syrup.
Nikita’s weekly report:
READING: A lot about Catholicism.
EATING: We have Sweetgreen at home ;/
PLAYING: NTS Radio.
OBSESSING: Over my dog.
RECOMMENDING: Working hard.
TREATING: I think it’s ice cream time.
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The AI-fueled psychosis thing is straight out of a Black Mirror episode - specifically, one from the latest season.
Thanks for the mention! Just subscribed!