🤖 What is “AI washing?”

Plus: A communion wafer monopoly, a life-changing drunk phone call, how to handle a bad boss, and more. View Online Crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried will learn his fate in a Manhattan courtroom today. SBF faces a max prison sentence of 110 years for stealing $8B from FTX's customers, with prosecutors seeking 40-50 years and the defense team seeking no more than six and a half. No matter how it goes down, an appeal is sure to follow — despite a conviction backed by 6m+ pages of evidence. In today's email: AI washing: An inevitable byproduct of the AI boom. Almighty dollars: The business of communion wafers. Weird patents: Seriously, this one's really weird. Around the web: The fish doorbell returns, how to handle bad bosses, and more. 👇 Listen: How companies are misleading investors by overselling their AI capabilities. The Big Idea AI washing, explained "AI washing" is when companies misrepresent AI's capabilities or how they're using it to create hype. 2024-03-28T00:00:00Z Juliet Bennett Rylah Sometimes AI seems pretty impressive — at least in its ability to whip up several images of a cat playing a banjo in a matter of seconds. But is it always? SEC Chair Gary Gensler recently brought up the concept of "AI washing" in a pop culture-laden speech, comparing it to The Music Man, a musical about a big-talking con man. AI washing is when companies create false buzz and manipulate investors by: Being misleading about the capabilities, limitations, or risks of their AI products. Lying about how and when they're using AI. Why is this happening? Everyone wants to be part of the hot new thing. Goldman Sachs found that a record 36% of S&P 500 companies talked about AI in their Q4 earnings reports, per Business Insider. But many companies are nebulous at best about what AI can do and how it will integrate into existing operations, while others are hyping a future that may never occur. Example: I received a press release about an AI girlfriend who doesn't nag you to do the dishes. She also doesn't really exist, and unless she's a WiFi-enabled dishwasher, you'll eventually still have to do your own dishes. Does AI washing have consequences? Yes. Hype too hard, and the SEC will come for you. It charged two companies earlier this month. Toronto-based investment adviser Delphia claimed it used AI to predict upcoming companies and trends when it didn't have those capabilities. It agreed to pay a $225k fine. Bay Area-based Global Predictions falsely claimed it was the "first regulated AI financial advisor" and that it offered "AI-driven forecasts." It agreed to pay a $175k fine. While AI does have great potential, companies should also be realistic about what it can do. One company found its customer support agents were 14% more productive when integrating AI, though its higher-skilled agents saw little benefit. And companies that have attempted to use AI to fully create articles, art, or other creative work have had mixed results. May we never forget that Glasgow Wonka experience. Free Resource Nail down your Google Ads strategy Marketing on search engines isn't as sexy as billboards or influencers, but it can be seriously impactful for finding leads and driving sales. We wrote this Google Ads guide + checklist in partnership with Google to help marketers launch highly clickable campaigns. Start decoding keyword strategy, PPC bidding, and more essential strats for advertising your business. (Plus: get $500 in ad credit by linking your Google account with HubSpot. Easy money.) Google ads, simplified → TRENDING Noland Arbaugh, the first person with a Neuralink implant, only learned about Elon Musk's brain-computer interface company six months ago. He did so in relatable fashion: A friend drunk-dialed Arbaugh to encourage him to check it out, then completed the "chaotic good" friend loop by misspelling Arbaugh's name on the online application. SNIPPETS Amazon upped its Anthropic investment by $2.75B after its $1.25B bet on the company just six months ago, giving the tech giant a $4B total stake in the AI company. CEBromance: Mark Zuckerberg is apparently tight with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, posting a pic of the pair wearing each other's jackets to Instagram and calling him "Taylor Swift, but for tech." Seven major gaming companies, which comprise 85%+ of the US legal betting market, are forming the Responsible Online Gaming Association trade group to share information about problem gambling and promote responsible betting. More in betting: Sports gambling stocks tumbled yesterday after the NCAA's president announced a campaign to ban prop bets on college sports. The popular side wagers usually center on athletes' individual stats rather than a game's outcome. Merck's new drug, Winrevair, received FDA approval to help treat the ~40k Americans with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a serious lung disease. Merck invested $11.5B in the development of the drug, which has a list price of $14k per vial. Novo Nordisk sells its diabetes/weight loss drug Ozempic for ~$968/month. A new study, however, found it could be produced for less than $5/month. Woah: Researchers have created the world's fastest camera to help scientists study micro-events that happen too quickly for current sensors to capture. The SCARF camera can shoot up to 156.3T frames per second, compared to the ~100 FPS of a normal high-end camera. Dr. Martens' sustainability efforts now include a resale platform and a collection made with recycled leather. Plenty of time to get your new or used boots before The Crow remake comes out in June. Don't miss this... Despite fears about the economy, layoffs, and AI, most marketing leaders are actually planning on expanding their teams in 2024. Dig into the data on the top three roles that marketing leaders are recruiting. How nuns got squeezed out of the communion wafer business Producing the body of Christ was, for a long time, a nun-run business. Hundreds of small-scale operations operated out of convents across the US, creating the coin-sized altar breads by the millions. The days leading up to Easter would often be a blur of baking for sisters nationwide — for decades, they'd work in kitchens into the wee hours of the night proudly making communion wafers en masse, for mass. Then capitalism caught up to them. Today, almost every piece of altar bread comes from the for-profit Cavanagh Co., America's communion wafer monopoly. ▶️ What happened? → FIT THE BILL There are thousands of companies valued at $1B+. How many clues do you need to identify today's billion-dollar brand? Clue 1: Founded in Buffalo, New York, in 1850 as a freight-forwarding business, two of its founders were guys named Wells and Fargo, who spun off to do their own thing. Now, Wells Fargo both works with, and competes against, this company. Clue 2: This institution introduced the international traveler's check in 1891, which has fallen out of style over time, but if you ever need one, this company remains one of the top issuers. Clue 3: Its ads suggest all of its famous card members know better, but this company was still kind enough to issue a reminder to the rest of us: "Don't leave home without [its product]." 👇 Scroll to the bottom for the answer 👇 Weird Patents Polly want a diaper? We're guessing the answer is no, but that didn't stop Lorraine Moore, Mark Moore, and Cely Giron from patenting a bird diaper in 1999. The diaper, created to let pet birds roam uncaged without concern, featured "an enclosed pouch for receiving and containing excrement." Elastic straps over the bird's wings and Velcro secured the spandex bird diaper, which the inventors said could be made in different designs, colors, and sizes. The get-up could even be attached to a leash, giving you and your bird friend the freedom to travel. Just a person and a bird in a diaper out for a walk, nothing to see there. AROUND THE WEB 🏈 On this day: In 1984, Bob Irsay secretly moved the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis after Maryland passed a law allowing the city to take the team away from its volatile owner. Baltimore didn't get a football team again until 1996. 🐟 That's cool: We've told you about the fish doorbell before, but are pleased to announce it's back in action thanks to spawning season. 🧠 Game: Four daily puzzles. 😩 How to: deal with a bad boss. 😋 Aww: Extreme munching. SHARE THE HUSTLE Hey. Don't keep us a secret. Refer just 3 people and we'll send Hustle essentials as a thank you. Share this custom referral link: https://thehustle.co/join?ref=7598767985 Your referral count: 0 Today's Fit the Bill answer is American Express (Market cap: $163.41B) Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Sara Friedman. Editing by: Ben "Thinking about how much 110 years in prison would save me on rent" Berkley. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. PODCAST JOBS CONTACT US The Hustle, 2 Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141, US. Never want to hear from us again? Break our hearts and unsubscribe.