😅 Robinhood users can bet on the election

Today’s market performance 🏆️

S&P 500: +0.27% 📈
Nasdaq 100: -0.004% 📉
Dow 30: +0.65% 📉
Russell 2000: +1.67% 📈

FROM OUR FRIENDS @ KAJABI
The Reality of the Creator Economy

Kajabi, the leading creator commerce platform, today announces a new brand identity, an expanded suite of digital products, and its latest campaign — The Reality of the Creator Economy — all designed to inspire creators to reclaim their economic power and build businesses on their own terms.

Social platforms make billions from revenue sharing. Yet, most creators aren’t earning a sustainable living. Something’s off. Creators create while platforms profit. Despite creators building the value, platforms are the ones reaping more of the financial rewards.

The data can be viewed at https://kajabi.com/reality-check, but here are some key findings:

• Social platforms made 9X more than they paid out to creators in 2023

• Nearly 50% of creators earn less than $10K in a single year

• Nearly a quarter of creators grind for 2 years before seeing a single dollar. That's 730+ days without a paycheck

• A single TikTok view is only worth $0.00004 on average. That’s a fraction of a cent

• There are 200M creators on social platforms, 0% own their channel.

TOP STORY
😅 Robinhood users can bet on the election

Ain't that controversial.

Robinhood, the infamous trading platform allowing everyone from tweens to grandparents to risk their savings, just became even more controversial.

In case you haven’t heard, we have a pretty important election coming up here in the U.S. of A., and Robinhood wants you to bet on it.

Wait, what? Yup, just today, Robinhood announced that its users would be able to "trade" on the 2024 presidential election, which is eight days away.

But I'm still confused; how will this work? Basically…

• Users pick a candidate they think will win and buy a contract based on that outcome, kind of like buying stock in that candidate’s potential victory.

• As the election date approaches, these contracts will fluctuate based on who people think will win, which seems to change every hour in this election.

• If your contract gains value, you can sell it for a profit. 

OR… 

You can risk it and wait until the election results are final on November 4-5.

Contracts that predict the correct winner will pay out a set amount while losing contracts will become worthless.

So, if you bet on the winning candidate, you profit; if not, you lose your money.

Looks like there’s more at stake in this election than ever.

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AUTOMOBILES
⚡️ Waymo raises $5.6B funding round

Everyone loves a self-driving car. Waymo, the notorious autonomous vehicle company, just raised a massive round of funding.

The Google-owned robotaxi service raised an eye-watering $5.6 billion to expand its fleet of cars and “advance the Waymo Driver for business applications.”

Waymo currently operates in only three cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix, and hopes to add more routes once they determine how to allocate their funds.

Great problem to have, am I right?

Sounds great, but I feel like we need a bit more context. Aren't there already a few companies like this, like Tesla, that are trying something similar?

Why is everyone so bullish on Waymo? While a few companies are testing autonomous vehicles in the U.S., Waymo is the only one running a commercial robotaxi service in several major cities.

Basically, they’re the only ones who have been able to crack the code so far.

WORD OF THE DAY

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
🗑️ AI may generate millions of tons of E-Waste by 2030

Who knew AI could be so wasteful? By now, almost everyone who reads the news or the Munch understands that AI needs a lot of energy to run. 

• And I mean a lot. As of 2023, the current estimate for AI-related e-waste is around 2.6 thousand tons per year.

• That sounds like a lot already, but unfortunately, it’s just the beginning. 

• By 2030, AI’s high computing demands could create e-waste equal to over 10 billion iPhones per year—roughly between 0.4 million tons (400,000 tons) and 2.5 million tons annually. 

That’s the equivalent of a mountain of discarded devices.

Damn, I think I may faint.

Can anything be done? Technically, yes.

Recycling and reusing AI hardware, upgrading to more efficient chips, and improving software can lower waste anywhere from 16% to 86%.

Why such a massive range? Because it all depends on how many people use these practices.

I guess it’s up to you, young padawans.