π Good morning. Buckle up in your metaphorical airplane seat this week for the continued fallout from Spirit Airlines’ sudden death. While even sipping water aboard a Spirit plane would cost you $4.50, and respondents in a 2014 poll said they would prefer sitting next to literal snakes than flying with the airline, those yellow planes might end up being missed by travelers. Why? Well, the Spirit Effect, for one: in markets with cheap options, like Spirit or Frontier, airfare is 21% lower on average than in those without them. Maybe the $4.50 wasn’t so bad…
A little help?
Every so often, we need you to click a link so we know you're an actual human being who likes us, not some weirdo bot. Hit the button below to confirm you still want to receive The Hustle.
π² Not such a sure bet: A small number of prediction market accounts clean up while the others… not so much, according to analysis from The Wall Street Journal. The numbers show that just 0.1% of accounts on Polymarket make up 67% of the profits — that’s less than 2k accounts making nearly half a billion dollars. These pro accounts often use algorithms and large data sets to predict movements and manage risk, while amateur traders rely on emotions and vibes.
☕ This is not fine: Artist KC Green created one of the most iconic memes of our time — a comic of a dog saying, “This is fine,” as it sits in a room ablaze. Now, Green has accused AI startup Artisan — the company that plastered its “stop hiring humans” ads across San Francisco — of blatantly stealing his work for an advertisement touting its AI avatars. Green encouraged people to “please vandalize" them and toldTechCrunch he’s looking into legal representation, while Artisan claims it’s reached out to Green to talk.
π Mi casa: StartupCasa is preparing to launch its ~$200/month home maintenance service. It scans your entire home, then identifies various problems that need or may soon need fixing. The fee includes 1.5 hours of handyman work, but in the event of a larger problem, users will have to pay extra. So why would you fork over that much dough? Casa will still handle all the logistics, so if you really hate calling people, scheduling repairs, and making decisions, then you do you.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
This meme stock ain’t kidding: GameStop offered to buy eBay for $55.5B, a risky-sounding move considering GameStop’s $11B market cap is dwarfed by eBay’s $46B.
Diagnosis, STAT! A Harvard study found that AI outperformed human doctors in emergency room triage, diagnosing patients correctly in 67% of cases, compared to 50%-55% for human doctors.
May he rest in peace: Ask.com, AKA Ask Jeeves, has shut down. The search engine, launched in 1997, used natural language processing to answer questions a year before Google debuted its search engine.
Tell me what I want to hear: A recent study from Oxford University’s Internet Institute found that AI models designed to “soften difficult truths” were more likely to provide incorrect answers, especially to sad users.
BUILD THAT BUSINESS
For building the business of your dreams
Time to climb into the ol’ mind palace and dig up that genius thing you thought up last summer… or was it the summer before that? (Just keep stabbing, it’s in there somewhere.)
And once you remember: use these nine nimble templates to test your next big idea and expound on the pitch.
Nine frameworks for founders:
Assessing feasibility
Brainstorming names
Pitching and presenting
Building your tech stack
Estimating expenses
Planning profit channels
Fill out all of these and you’ll have the bones of a business plan, swank-lookin’ slides, and foundation docs for your first co-workers.
Relationships are complicated. But a relationship with a chatbot? That's a whole different ball game — one that more and more people are finding themselves in, but which your average relationship coach might not be equipped to help with.
To fill the gap, Amelia Miller, a 29-year-old “human-AI relationship coach,” is using her expertise as an AI researcher and social scientist to help people manage their emotional connections with chatbots.
Since launching her business last summer, she now has over a dozen clients (mostly male tech workers). And as perhaps the only person offering the service, she toldCNBC demand is higher than she can handle.
Connection in the AI era
Unlike typical relationship coaches, and despite what you might’ve assumed, Miller’s coaching doesn’t focus on strengthening these bonds (no need for that since, unlike humans, bots can be programmed to your liking).
Instead, she makes sure her clients are engaging with AI in healthy ways so that it doesn’t inhibit their “capacity to connect with real people.”
She teaches them AI literacy, helps establish personal AI usage guidelines, and has them exercise normal human-to-human social skills.
These relationships also aren’t exclusively romantic: “Whether your chatbot acts as a therapist, assistant, lover or friend, I’m here to help you be intentional about the relationship you want — and how to build it,” Miller’s website states.
A recent survey found 10% of US adults use chatbots daily, with ~90% using them for personal purposes, like emotional advice.
Nearly 30% of Americans say they’ve had a romantic relationship with AI, and 25% of young adults think they could replace IRL ones entirely.
While AI companions can alleviate feelings of loneliness, these artificial relationships can have serious consequences when gone unchecked and their impact on real-world relationships is still unknown.
The future of AI relationships
Miller’s service is still niche, but as AI becomes more enmeshed in our lives, that likely won’t be the case for long. And she isn’t the only resource for people looking to manage their relationships with the tech.
Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous offers support groups worldwide for people dealing with “compulsive and problematic” AI use.
There are communities on Facebook and Reddit for people with AI partners, including the subreddit r/MyBoyfriendIsAI, which has 35k members.
AI has become a common topic in therapy sessions, particularly in Silicon Valley. And, like Miller, some mental health pros are now highlighting AI companionship as their area of expertise.
“Stop waiting for perfection” and other lessons from a founder who made $120k in 24 hours from an unfinished app.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
How much more delicious fries taste when they’re stolen, compared to when you eat your own, according to a new study published in the journal Food Quality and Preference.
The experiment involved 120 participants, who found the thrill and guilt of stealing made the forbidden food that much yummier, confirming what Italians have long known — the Italian proverb “Il cibo rubato ha piΓΉ sapore” translates to “stolen food has more flavor.”
AROUND THE WEB
π On this day: In 1961, Alan Shepard became the first US astronaut in space less than a month after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space.
π§That’s interesting: There are a lot more forms of ice than you might think.
π️ Newsletter: Nudge breaks down marketing psychology to help you 10x your marketing.
-1.png?width=1120&upscale=true&name=Noteworthy%20Number%20template%20(35)-1.png)
