Happy Friday! This week, we turned our attention to a power couple at Arrowhead stadium and, seemingly, ranch. But first:
📡ON OUR RADAR
Remember Shopify’s radical remote work, no-meeting experiment from nine months ago? The change has led to remarkable outcomes, including a 15% reduction in meeting costs and a 26% decrease in meeting time per person on "no-meeting Wednesdays." As a result, Shopify is on track to ship 18% more projects than the previous year.
Following an activism uptick in 2020, stemming largely from the Black Lives Matter movement, many companies publicly pledged to prioritize diversity and equity in their workplaces. It turns out that many companies are walking the walk. According to a recent analysis of S&P 100 EEO data by Bloomberg, in the first year following the Black Lives Matter protests ( 2021), 94% of the 300,000 jobs created were filled by people of color.
Dianne Feinstein, the first woman to serve in the Senate from California, passed away this morning. Her decades-long political career, while worthy of celebration, has been marred in recent months by continued controversy surrounding her age, health, and whether or not the legislator remained fit for public service.
💡ON OUR MINDS: WGA, AI, & U
After a 148-day labor strike, The Writers Guild of America announced Tuesday that it will end its strike after agreeing to a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The agreement addresses key points of contention around higher pay, streaming bonuses/data, minimum staffing, and the big one: artificial intelligence.
While studios advocate that the use of AI makes the development and production process more efficient, they eventually ceded to the WGA on many AI regulations, severely abridging how AI tools can be used to craft future projects. How they will be enforced remains to be seen.
The deal comes amidst larger conversations about AI’s relationship with creative materials: highlighted by recent lawsuits and awareness on how AI is trained.
While this is a clear win for creatives and will facilitate some return to normalcy for entertainment projects, there is the lingering question of when the Screen Actors Guild strike will come to an end as well, and how they will settle on AI rules. For now, enjoy your favorite talk show returning to the air—it might be a while before we get that Office reboot.
🥊QUICK HITS:
In case you missed these reads.
Lego announced it will forego plans to manufacture toy bricks from recycled plastic after determining that swapping material would actually produce higher carbon emissions.
Man-on-the-street-inspired interviews continue to blow up on TikTok, with the latest viral series: Subway Talk.
The hardest reservation to get in New York City is an internet sensation—and doesn’t actually exist.
Thanks for reading,
HL
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