Morning Brew Daily - Perplexity AI Accused of Stealing & Disney’s Bob Iger Plans Exit…Again

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

Episode 436: Neal and Toby chat about the latest chapter in the battle against AI vs. news publishers – this time, against Jeff Bezos-backed Perplexity AI, which is accused of stealing content. Then, Disney's latest board shake up signals the start of a leadership change that will ultimately replace Bob Iger…again…hopefully. Plus, the Biden administration is making last-ditch efforts to win over voters by proposing free OTC birth control. Meanwhile, the newly dubbed, ‘Sandwich Generation’ is juggling two generations that’s putting a financial strain on their future. Also, Toby looks at Whole Foods’ Top 10 food trends for 2025. Lastly, a run through of other news you should know. Subscribe to Morning Brew Daily for more of the news you need to start your day. Share the show with a friend, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. Find your fit at bonobos.com and use code BREW20 for 20% off.  Get your Morning Brew Daily T-Shirt HERE: https://shop.morningbrew.com/products/morning-brew-radio-t-shirt?_pos=1&_sid=6b0bc409d&_ss=r&variant=45353879044316  Listen to Morning Brew Daily Here: https://link.chtbl.com/MBD Watch Morning Brew Daily Here: https://www.youtube.com/@MorningBrewDailyShow 00:00 - October Theory Trend  03:00 - Perplexity AI  08:10 - Disney CEO Search  11:00 - Birth Control Proposal  14:30 - Sandwich Generation  18:45 - Toby’s Trends 21:00 - News Headline Rundown  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Consider this comparison. PWC data found the percentage of CEOs who report revenue gains or cost reductions from AI is almost equal to the percentage who say they're still stuck. What separates these two groups? PWC points to a clarity issue. Even for CEOs, it's hard to tell what's AI hype, what's reality, and where this tuck can make a tangible difference. Learn where AI can actually make an impact and what successful adoption looks like at

pwc.com slash US slash brew AI. That's pwc.com slash us slash brewAI. Good morning brew daily show. I'm Neil Freyman. And I'm Toby Howell. Today you've heard of Gen Z. You've heard of millennials. But later you'll learn about the sandwich generation.

Then Disney thinks it's finally figured out its succession plans. Is this the time they can finally get Bob Eiger to hang up his boots? It's Tuesday, October 22nd. Let's ride. There are only nine days left of October. so you got to hear about this viral October theory trend before the month ends. October theory, which has been spreading across social media, argues that all those resolutions you typically make during New Year's,

setting goals, picking up new habits, reflecting on the state of your existence, all make way more sense during October instead of the dead of winter. The season is changing, new school years have started, it might make more sense to hit that reset button now rather than three months later. Toby is New Year's in the wrong place in the calendar? I mean, I get this. October is a very introspective time. A lot of it is that you're cozying up on your couch with maybe a pumpkin spice.

Something in your hand. The seasons are changing, like you mentioned. Plus, it just takes so long to actually make a habit stick. And there's nothing worse than trying to make a habit sick than in the dead of winter when everyone else is doing it. So once I read this, I said, yes, this makes a ton of sense. Plus, if you haven't started on your New Year's resolutions, from last year, you still got three months to get it done.

So I think it makes a lot of sense here. Yeah, now my people have figured this out long ago because the Jewish New Year is typically in late September or October. So I'm just used to doing this introspection and this New Year's thing during the fall. And I always thought that made so much sense. And January 1st does seem super arbitrary. So maybe we should all borrow a page from Roosh Hashanah and say, let's put the New Year in October.

I guess it means time can be what I. you want it to be. It really does. Like, why do we need to stick to the calendar? Make your resolutions whenever you want to make them. Now, a word from our sponsor, Bonobos. Toby, you said I was looking dashing yesterday. I'd like to return the compliment this morning. You are looking positively spiffy. Oh, stop it. It's just that I finally have some good options to choose from when I look in my closet every morning thanks to Bonobos. I mean, I used to dread getting dressed every morning. I was caught in a Steve job loop of wearing the same thing every day, except I'm not a visionary founder, so it didn't hit

the same. Yeah, we're in the same thing when you're not a billionaire comes off a little differently, but Bonobos did spark some joy in my morning routine. Now it's actually fun to put together a fit instead of being a chore. And it's night to have a fit that actually fits. Bonobos' wide range of size and fit offerings lets you look your best so you can feel your best. By the way, I do think you could be a visionary founder one day, Neil. I'll stick to podcasting for now. You can find your fit at your nearest bonobos store or head to bonobos.com and use code brew 20 for 20% off. Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the Unreal College deal, everything you need to study and play with

select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 premium and a year of Xbox GamePass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at Windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last ends June 30th, terms at AKA.m.m.S. College PC. In the crowded world of AI startups, perplexity has been a standout. Countless articles have dubbed the AI-infused search engine as a potential Google killer. And just this week, most headlines read how it was in talks to raise $500 million out of valuation of nearly $9 billion.

But those same news organizations that were penning those glowing headlines were also secretly cooking up a lawsuit against it. News Corp, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal in the New York Post, is suing the AI-infused search engine for copyright infringement. Yeah, at the core of this disagreement is an age-old grade school problem. The news publishers think that perplexity is copying their work without giving them proper credit. And in doing so, they are rerouting traffic away from the publisher's sites, stealing away valuable eyeballs and revenue in the process. It is the latest showdown in the growing battle, between news sites and the generative AI companies that are trying to piggyback off their content.

The New York Times also sent a cease and desist letter to perplexity last week, demanding its stop using its content. Toby, these feuds are starting to escalate. Yeah, this actually dates back to July when News Corp sent a letter to perplexity, warning it of legal action if they continue to use its copyrighted works and even proposed a licensing deal. They extended this olive branch. They said perplexity ended up ghosting them. The complaint that this centers on is the fact that, one, they think perplexity can reproduce full articles if you ask it to. You have to use it in a little bit of bad faith. You have to ask them to produce a full text response to a question, which even though it is in bad faith, it can still do that.

It can still really word for word reproduce an article that it's trained on. And then two, the other part of the complaint is that it hallucinates, which is something that we have talked about a lot when it comes to these AI models where it adds incorrect. details that don't necessarily exist in the subject matter. So those two things are why it's been the crux of a lot of these fights between the publishers and generative AI companies. And I don't think we're going to see this one resolve anytime soon. Well, there have been two methods of relationship between news outlets and the growing number of AI chat bots and search engines. On the one hand, some of these news companies are seeing these chatbots as a way as a meaningful source of revenue.

I mean, NewsCorp inked a deal with OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, that's worth $250 million over five years. A bunch of other publishers have Inc. deals with both perplexity and OpenAI to allow them access to their content for a hefty fee. And this comes out of time when news outlets are like, yeah, I'd love some of this money that you're throwing at us. And then there is this more adversarial approach. News Corp is suing perplexity.

and then the New York Times also last year sued Open AI for copyright infringement. So we're seeing two paths that news outlets are following. One is more cozing up to AI and another is taking them on in court. Still, though, you can't help but draw parallels between these legal clouds that are rising up and the fact that perplexity is one of the fastest growing startups out there right now. In talks raised more than $500 million, it would be his fourth funding round in a year. Its valuation has skyrocketed at last raised at $3 billion. Now it's in that $9 billion raid.

So clearly people think the product is something that is great. Jeff Bezos actually backed perplexity from the beginning. It is one of those products that do seem to be genuinely useful in the age of AI right now. So you have these two contrasting things happening where they are being sued by one of the biggest news publishers out there, but it's also one of the fastest growing startups in the world right now. Yeah, and I just want to note that this isn't a chatbot in the sense that chat cheapy T is a chat bot. It is kind of this hybrid between a search engine and a chat bot. It is essentially a better version of what Google AI overviews is trying to do, whereas instead of you query it, and instead of giving you a list of links that make you dive deeper, it just gives you the answer right away and then cites its sources.

The news publishers say that deprives them of people click on their link and going to their website, which is where they make money because they sell ads against this and then there's traffic. So that is sort of what perplexity is, and I know you are quite a user. Yeah, I use it every day, more or less, because that is one thing that perplexity could potentially lay out is that you do have the sources right there. And very often, at least personally, I do go and click on it because you do want a little bit more information. Where did this actually come from? And it has its little citation numbers that you can click out into.

The one thing that has maybe Google shaking in its boots a little bit, too, is that perplexity is rolling out ads. It is testing with a small suite of advertisers where you can potentially even interact in a chatbot-esque manner with an advertiser. So a lot of people are kind of shook by perplexity right now, both on the publisher side all the way all up to Big Tech and Google. It is one of those maybe paradigm shifting startups. And you can see just from the amount of the tension this lawsuit is getting. And I think there's just no question that the business model of search engines is changing thanks to AI. Disney just announced the longest job interview process ever.

The house that Mickey built said it's searching for a new CEO to replace current chief Bob Iger and it will make its announcement in early 2026. This succession battle is sure to transfix Hollywood and will probably be the most closely watched across corporate America. That's because Disney's previous attempts to find a replacement for Iger have been a dumpster fire. And a lot of that is on Iger himself. When he initially ran Disney from 2006 to 2020, Iger pushed back his retirement date five times, leaving investors in limbo.

When he finally did choose a successor, Bob Chapic, of the Parks Division, he hated the direction the other Bob was going in and the board fired Chapic reinstalling Iger in 2022. So will Iger finally relinquished control for good in 2026, or is he going to draw this out longer than the end of the return of the king? You have the right to be skeptical, but Disney says this really is Iger's final two years, and yesterday it put an actual timeline

on his retirement party for the first time. So let's dive into who the successor could potentially be. Bob Iger has four direct reports right now. One is ESPN chairman, Jimmy Piptaro. And then the Disney theme parks league is Josh DeMorrow. Then there's two co-chairs of the entertainment division, which is Dana Walden and Alan Bergman. They have all interviewed with this so-called succession committee in recent winks.

it's probably going to be one of those four. Those one-on-ones with Iger must be pretty intense. But there's a reason to think that this succession process could actually lead to a successor to Iger because of one guy, and his name is James Gorman. Disney appointed Gorman, the chairman of the board. And Gorman is the former CEO of Morgan Stanley. And Gorman left Morgan Stanley after 14 years in charge last year,

and he was seen running a very mature succession process for whoever would take over him. He had three people vying for his spot. He chose one, whose name is Ted Pick, who's now leading the bank. But the other two people who were contenders stayed on as co-presidents, which is a sign that he did this

in a very mature, professional way. And they're saying, okay, you did this at this huge bank that was very thorny. And now can you come and help us and do this at Disney, which has had all types of problems with succession over the past few years?

Yeah, Gorman is kind of seen as the adult in the room here. So now what is the big picture here? There is a specific timeline on naming successor, but unfortunately, you called it the longest job interview in history. This is going to be hanging over Disney for the next few years. But as long as Iger finally is shown the Dorney doesn't do another reverse fake, head fake, Brett Favisk retirement and then come back, I think people are going to be happy wherever this lands. A new rule proposed by the Biden administration yesterday would require private health insurers to cover specific FDA over-the-counter contraceptive products without a prescription and at no cost to consumers.

Think birth control pills and condoms, but also emergency contraceptives like plan B or devices like IUDs. They all make the list of approved measures that would be covered by normal private health insurance plans and without cost sharing. Now, birth control actually did become available to those with insurance without copay back when the Affordable Care Act was first passed in 2010, but still required a prescription. This expansion of coverage to include over-the-counter products would be the biggest in over a decade. Yeah, and there was a big development last year that has spurred this push to cover non-prescription contraceptives, which is the fact that this O pill, which is a birth control, daily birth control pill,

became FDA approved for the first time over the counter. That didn't exist in 2010 when the Affordable Care Act was first implemented. So it just didn't, this rule didn't need to exist. but now that that's happened and more could be on their way. That's why the Biden administration is saying, okay, let's have private insurers cover these non-prescriptions as well as prescriptions because they are quite pricey. It's $19.99 for a one-month supply for O-Pill and $50 for a three-month pack.

So they're saying, okay, that's great that they're over the counter. But if people can't afford them, the people that need them, let's issue this rule, requiring private insurers to cover them. So there is a brief comment period on this proposed rule. and if it is approved, it would go into effect in 2025. But this proposal comes at obviously a very key moment ahead of the upcoming election. Reproductive rights have been a very key campaign issue, especially following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.

This access to contraceptives is very popular across the political spectrum. There's a recent 538 poll around the topic, and they found that around 90% of Americans said condoms and birth control pills should be legal in all or most cases. And 81% said the same of IUDs. It gets a little less popular among more Republicans when you're talking about things like plan B pills, but still 70% overall said these methods should be legal.

And that's the question of legality, not access. But the Biden administration is looking at these things and saying, okay, how can we move the needle to get them in more pans of more people and making them less expensive? Up next, what is this sandwich generation? Why are they under so much? much financial pressure.

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Get a quote or find an agent today at thehartford.com slash small. business. Are you someone who pulls double duty by caring for your children and a parent? If so, you're part of what's called the sandwich generation, whose ranks are growing due to demographic shifts and are bearing higher and higher financial costs. According to a Wall Street Journal report, at least 11 million people in the U.S. are now part of the sandwich generation taking care of a child and at least one adult. And the typical Gen S, as I'll call it, is changing. Not too long ago, according to the journal, the average double caregiver was a woman in her late 40s with teenage

kids and a part-time job. But as of 2023, the AARP found that the average age of a sandwich generation member is 44 and more are men. Almost a third are millennials and Gen Z in the critical stages of their career. And because of their growing numbers, people caring for multiple generations have drawn the attention of the two presidential candidates. Earlier this month, Kamala Harris proposed allowing Medicaid. to cover in-home health care, which can get super pricey for aging parents. In response, Donald Trump's campaign said it would give priority to home care benefits and offer tax credits to support unpaid family caregivers.

Toby, these people must be feeling seen for the first time. Yeah, and there are a lot of them, too. According to one estimate, there's at least 11 million people in the U.S. that currently fit this bill of being a part of the sandwich generation. A couple of factors are leading to this. One, people are having children later. and two, people are just living longer in general. So that is why you're seeing this crossover of having younger children and also older

parents providing a burden, someone that you have to take care of on both sides of the spectrum. This has big ramifications for society, though, at large. One, it makes your career more difficult to pursue because if you are a full-time or even part-time caretaker, it's harder to prioritize your career. It weakens your quality of life because you are trying to take care of two people at once. it is a big hit to your budget. It is a huge financial burden. And it impacts your family's financial health long term as well because say, for instance, you are taking $1,500, $5,000 a month, and you're putting it towards supporting an aging parent. Instead of investing that in the market, that can lead to a huge

decrease in the amount of savings you build up over time. So you just keep going down this rabbit hole and you see how this affects so much of society. Yeah. And actually, to put a point on that, there was an analysis by Northern Trust Wealth Management, and they found that a 40-something contributing $1,500 a month over five years to support an aging parent, they stand to lose more than $1 million in retirement savings. If you're caring for children and elderly at the same time, both of those costs are absolutely skyrocketing. According to a care.com survey, 60% of U.S. families spent 20% or more of their annual

household income on child care last year. that's up from 51% of families in 2021. So a big jump in just two years. And then elderly care is also getting way more expensive, especially those home health aids. Median cost of a home health aid climbed 10% last year to $75,500. And then if you talk nursing homes, the average cost for a private room at a nursing home is $116,800 a year. So I know it just threw a lot of numbers out there, but essentially the bottom line is that caring for kids and caring for your aging parents is getting more expensive on both sides. And then one thing that we didn't even really mention is just the emotional toll it takes on these people as well because if you are having to choose between

taking your aging parent to a hospital appointment or missing your child's like dance or style or something like that, that is something, those are years that you can never get back. And there's no right answer here too because you want to take care of your aging parent, but you also want to be there for your child. So just, I mean, We're calling it the sandwich generation, which doesn't sound that serious, but this is a very serious problem that is facing society. I'm sure a lot of our listeners can probably empathize with this kind of conundrum that we're describing here. Right now is one of my favorite times of the year, not only because I get to do another episode of Morning Brew Daily with you, Neal, but also late October is when Whole Foods drops its annual survey peeling back the curtain as to what they see as the major food and beverage trends for 2025.

So without further ado on this edition of Toby's trends, we're going to dive into what the grocer expects to see lining its aisles next year. The big overarching trend the report identified was a rise in international flavors. The ever-reliable dumpling was highlighted as popping up more frequently with Asian fusion foods in general poised to explode in popularity next year. In terms of texture, the report called out crunch as the texture of the moment. Breakfast or dinner, salty or sweet, crunch is ever. everywhere right now with granola and nuts, crispy chickpeas, and dehydrated fruits,

called out as specific textured winners. And finally, in the beverage department, there's a tea boom going on now, according to the report, with functional bruise with added adaptogens and benefits set to be the new hot thing. Neil, lots of trends wrapped up into this Toby's trends. I know you are a food guy. What stood out to you? Well, my takeaway is that some of the hottest trends during the pandemic have not gone away, which was super interesting.

If you look at cottage cheese, Whole Foods identified cottage cheese as sticking around and being really the It Girl in Dairy. And then same with sourdough, which is super surprising. We all thought that would have gone the way of Peloton or other pandemic trends. But sourdough has still remained and remains a force in the food world. So those were two things that stood out. And I was like, what is it? 2024 and we're still talking about cottage cheese in sourdough. So those are two of the takeaways that stood out to me.

Another thing that they called out too was just the rise in water bottles right now. If you think about most people you know, think about your office or your friends, someone is probably lugging around a Stanley or something like that, which has led to this increasing consumption of just cooler stuff to drink in general. They say that you go to trade shows these days and you see sparkling coconut water, chlorophyll water, even protein water. There's this whole trendy category emerging in between water, soda, and energy drinks. I mean, I'm calling it super water.

you can call it whatever you want, but it is just these elevated beverages that have health benefits, but also just cooler to drink than maybe the typical drinks you've grown up on. To close out the show, we're going to try something a little different, a rapid fire rundown of other headlines from the day's news. Still working on naming the segment, if you have any ideas, feel free to shoot them our way. Okay, here we go. Goldman Sachs said, enjoy your stock market returns now because this party ain't going to last. In a new analysis, the bank's strategist predict that the S&P 500 will post an annual nominal return of just 3% over the next 10 years and get beaten

by bonds and inflation. They wrote, investors should be prepared for equity returns during the next decade that are towards the lower end of their typical performance distribution. Toby, this shouldn't be a problem for you because your typical performance isn't very good to begin with. Oh, come on. Wait, you have made money in the market over the last decade. Goldman says the stock market party is over.

you can always have these kind of big, bearish forecast. You never know until you're in the moment. But saying that they expect returns to be in the 3% range compared to the 13% that we've seen in the last decade, that is a little bit scary. We'll see if they are correct. There is still some hysteria around Listeria. After an outbreak of the bacteria tied to boar's head,

Liverwurst killed nine people earlier this year, Treehouse Foods has issued a voluntary recall for hundreds of varieties of its frozen waffle products due to potential Listeria contamination. As of now, there have been no reported illnesses, but Neil, maybe opt for pancakes at breakfast time instead of waffles. The big revelation here is that one company supplies the store brands for every single major grocer,

including Walmart, Target, Harris Teeter, Publix, and Food Lion. So when you go to these different grocery stores and you're buying their store brand frozen waffles, you're buying it from the same manufacturer. And obviously that is a huge problem when there is a Listeria outbreak. The production company behind Blade Runner 2049 sued Elon Musk, Tesla, and Warner Brothers Discovery for copyright infringement, alleging that Musk used imagery from the sci-fi movie to promote Tesla's Robotaxy during the car's launch event earlier this month. The suit accuses Musk of using AI-created images that mirror scenes from Blade Runner 2049, including one featuring a Ryan Gosling look-alike.

They got a case? They do have a case. I mean, if you just look at the photos, separately to a director of the 2004. science fiction film i robot accused must of copying his designs for the kind of his humanoid machines, his self-driving vehicles. I think it's good PR to have these science fiction movies saying, your stuff looks so futuristic that it looks like the stuff we put in our movies. I actually think any PR is good PR in this sense. Cooper Hefner, one of three sons of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, made a $100 million all-cash offer to buy the Playboy brand yesterday. He says that this opportunity is

quote, deeply personal for him, and his goal is to restore the brand to its roots while innovating for the future. Neil, Playboy hasn't published a physical magazine since 2020. Does this mean I have to start covering my eyes when I walk into gas stations again? It might, but you actually have to start covering your eyes when you look at Playboy's stock price, because in 2021, when it went public, it had a valuation of more than $2 billion. Now, its market value is down 99% due to about $53 million, so who knows, maybe another Hefner is just what Playboy needs. An airport in New Zealand is going viral after it implemented a three-minute time limit for passengers to hug their loved ones goodbye before boarding the plane. Danied an airport on New Zealand's South Island hung up several signs publicizing the rule, one of which reads,

it's hard to say goodbye, so make it quick. Three minutes max. Another is more direct. Max hug time, three minutes. For those speaking, quote, Fonder farewells, people should use the cross. car park, the airport says. Toby, is three minutes enough to get your hug in? I am so sore for this because, one, who is hugging anyone for three minutes? And then two, anything to keep the flow of traffic moving at the airport?

I mean, the emotional anguish you save by having the airport experience move more smoothly outweighs any emotional loss I'm getting from a shorter hug. So I am absolutely for this. Finally, New Yorkers clear your schedules on Thursday at 10 a.m. because your New York Liberty are celebrating their WMBA championship with a ticker tape parade that will travel north on Broadway to City Hall through what is known as the Canyon of Heroes. It is a fitting way to end one of the more historic seasons in WMBA history.

What is going to be your lasting memory from this season, Neil? What is going to be my lasting memory? Watching the Liberty win in overtime that night. That was so exciting. It's going to be New York City's first pro basketball championship in 50 years. New York City's first parade since the 2012 Super Bowl for the New York Giants. We'll see if there's going to be two this fall because, of course, the Yankees are in the World Series against the Dodgers.

But the WMBA is in full growth mode. There's three new expansion teams coming by 2026, so they just hope to keep up the momentum. That was fun. I think we'll wrap it up there. Thanks so much for starting your morning with us and have a wonderful Tuesday. For any questions, comments, or feedback on the show, send an email to morningbrewdaily at morningbrew.com. And if you're enjoying Morning Brew Daily, spread the word, share the pod to those friends, family, and coworkers who might be a little out of the loop and could use a dose of news in the morning.

For more sharing ideas, Toby always comes in clutch. Okay, this one's a little random, but I want you to share today's podcast with someone who is really into the show Survivor. Honestly, I just started watching it for the first time and am very obsessed. So I want the Venn diagram of Survivor Watchers and MBD listeners to grow today. Let's roll the credits. Emily Milliron is our executive producer. Raymond Liu is our producer. Olivia Graham is our associate producer. Eugenawa Ogu is our technical director. Billy Minino is on audio. Hair and makeup is a proud member of the Hot Dog Generation, not to be confused with the sandwich generation.

Devin Emery is our chief content officer and our show is a production of Morning Brew. Great show day, Neil. Let's run it back tomorrow.