š Is AI about to start thinking for real?
Good morning, Quartz readers!
HEREāS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
OpenAI says its products are going to start thinking soon. The companyās latest models will pause a bit in order to spit out answers to increasingly complex queries.
Campbellās wants to sell soup without the āSoup.ā Hereās why analysts think itās probably good that the company is considering dropping the word from its name in a rebrand.
Another off-brand Ozempic is hitting the market. Psych-focused Noom has started to sell GLP-1s at rock-bottom prices ā at least compared to Novo Nordisk.
JPMorgan Chase wants its employees to head out earlā¦ier. The bank is capping workweeks at an easy-easy 80 hours to help junior employees avoid burnout.
Larry Ellison is getting really rich, really fast. The Oracle cofounderās wealth increased more than 50% this year to nearly $200 billion.
Weird economic vibes arenāt rattling Walmart
Americansā wallets might be in a lot of different places right now, but their money is still going out steadily even if thereās uncertainty about how much is coming in.
And if one set of consumers are having a hard time, thereās always another group who will be there to contribute to corporate Americaās bottom line.
Quartzās Andy Mills spoke with Wall Street Horizon analyst Christine Short about the current retail environment and why Walmart seems to be succeeding where Dollar General is struggling.
Somebody has been Googling āmonopolyā a lot lately
Google is in court again dealing with a Justice Department lawsuit, this one over its dominance in the advertising technology market.
Jeff Green, CEO of the Trade Desk, one of Googleās largest adtech competitors, thinks that the search giant should be broken up for the sake of market fairness.
Quartzās Rocio Fabbro breaks down Greenās comments and how they reflect the temperature of antitrust sentiment out there.
A FRIDAY MARKETS HAIKU
A need, not a want:
Lifeās bag of eggs, milk, and bread...
Kroger, the giver.
Krogerās stock price rose after the grocery giant reported strong second-quarter earnings that revealed, despite shaky economic conditions and ongoing regulatory battles, shoppers are still flocking to Kroger for food and essentials. Quartzās Francisco Velasquez has the latest.
MORE FROM QUARTZ
š£ A startup named after Lord of the Rings just unleashed a cheap missile into global arms markets
š In with Chubb, out with Apple: Tracking Warren Buffettās portfolio this yearĀ
š WeWork founder Adam Neumann is refunding investors in his failed carbon-credit blockchain startupĀ
š Trump media stock has fallen 33% in a month
š McDonaldās is extending its $5 Meal Deal
šø American Airlines flight attendants just got a big raise after ratifying a new union deal
SURPRISING DISCOVERIES
In space, you can hear a billionaire scream. Polaris Dawn funder Jared Isaacman cheated; he had a microphone when he participated in the first-ever private space walk.
Lando Norris is capable of driving a McLaren slowly. The F1 driver piloted a P1 made of Legos around Englandās famed Silverstone Circuit.
The skincare business is really rocky these days. The latest wave of products center around minerals for their main ingredients. (paywall)
You have a good chance of outliving that tree down the block. The average lifespan of an urban street tree is just 19 to 28 years.
A Ukrainian guy in a van is one of the warās foremost drone experts. Serhii āFlashā Beskrestnov has become a minor celebrity for his frontline military tech research.
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Our best wishes on a safe start to the day. Send any news, comments, JPMorgan Chase time sheets, and rocky skincare to [email protected]. Todayās Daily Brief was brought to you by Melvin Backman and Morgan Haefner.