Who is the AI economy actually working for?

The AI boom is minting millionaires, cutting workers, raising your electricity bill, and growing GDP all at once. The question is who ends up on which side of that sentence.

Quick economy check-in.

Consumer sentiment ticked up slightly before the latest oil-price shock knocked it back down. Inflation is still sticky, growth is still solid, and the Fed is holding steady. The war is expected to leave the economy with more stubborn inflation than we had before, which is not the news anyone wanted heading into fall.

Meanwhile, the stock market had a wild week around AI, driven almost entirely by a handful of companies whose valuations are now larger than many countries. The AI boom continues to mint millionaires at an extraordinary pace. Whether any of that is reaching you is a different question, and it’s the one I want to talk about this week.

In today’s letter:

Who the AI economy is actually built for (spoiler: probably not you)

Why what you hate about AI is actually just capitalism

The $9.99 economy

Can we even trust the vibes anymore?

Chanel flats are financial assets now, apparently

You can now gamble on your canceled flight

Plus: should you be investing in AI stocks? (my answer inside)Read more