If I told you AI writes every issue of Dulture I put out, would you believe me?

All that witty, conversational, informative…for the most part…writing over the past 1.5 years, done by ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

Well, let’s see something.

So OpenAI announced ChatGPT 4o this past week - the best one yet “they’re” all saying. They even did this cute fireside chat demo thing to show off how you can translate in real time with it - which of course is not out yet. I digress.

Also why does it feel like I’m watching a daytime talk show?

So the story goes, I’m sipping my morning coffee and scrolling through the latest tech news when something caught my eye: OpenAI just launched ChatGPT 4o this week. Naturally, I had to see what all the hype was about. Was it really as mind-blowing as everyone claimed? Only one way to find out.

I fired up ChatGPT 4o and, in a moment of curiosity (or perhaps laziness), I decided to let it write the introduction to this newsletter issue. I mean, why not? If AI is going to take over the world, it might as well start with my editorial, right? So, without further ado, here’s what our new AI overlord came up with:

"Greetings, brilliant minds! In a world where tech evolves faster than we can keep up, it's exhilarating to witness the birth of innovations like ChatGPT 4o. This week, we’re diving into the electrifying surge of Chinese EVs—brands like NIO, Xpeng, and BYD are redefining the auto industry and giving Tesla a run for its money. Ready for a ride into the future?"

Not bad, right? Sure, it’s a little formal and might need a sprinkle of my personal touch, but I have to admit, the AI nailed the essence. It's fascinating to see how far we've come, where AI can now not only assist with mundane tasks but also contribute creatively.

Copy and paste whatever paragraphs you think were AI and send them to me, I’ll tell you if you’re right or not. One hint: the AI starts somewhere after the YouTube video above.

Also f*ck AI writing - everytime I give ChatGPT something to write I cringe at what it spits back. Why is it so cheerful? Why does it agree with everything I say when I tell it it’s wrong?

Ok for real, go read again and tell me what’s AI above.

This week's issue is a 5 minute read:

🪞 Nice things? Not for us!

🚗 Road ragen’ men

🇭🇰 Buns buns buns

Another Nice Thing We Ruined

In an age of seeing protests, angry people, and just negative nonsense on TV the internet, seeing something that seemed to truly connect people for good reasons was a a nice lil ray of sunshine. At least conceptually it was supposed to be. I’m talking about the portals that Portals.org installed in New York and Dublin. The idea was to link the two cities together in real time to create a “[b]ridge to a united planet”.

Instead we got OF girls flashing people

The portals were up for a week until they had to be temporarily shut down because:

1. An Irishman was seen sniffing “powder” in front of the portal

2. People mooned eachother

3. Someone from Dublin mocked the twin towers in front of New Yorkers

4. An only fans model flashed everyone in the portal

5. A woman in Dublin was seen grinding up against the portal as others made rude gestures at each other

Suffice to say, if we can ruin it, we sure as damn well will do it! “Technical” solutions will be implemented over the coming days to ensure these things don’t happen again. Essentially the portal is going to turn off and show this instead each time someone flashes the other side:

I Hate to Admit it But…

We men might…MIGHT…”MIGHT”…maybe…might, depending on where you get your stats…be worse than women at driving.

Men account for 84% of fatal accidents in France and 93% drinking and driving crashes. Now that all said, France apparently has some of the most aggressive drivers in Europe with 91% of them routinely breaking the speed limit, 65% using their phones while they drive, and 32% of drivers admitting to hitting a car on purpose that annoyed them.

Y’all need to drive through New York City though - SHEESH

I thought this was just France but in 2021 in the US men were responsible for 72% of fatal crashes. And in the UK men are 3 times as likely to be involved in an accident that causes is fatal or causes serious injury to a pedestrian.

I remember arguing with the guy who did my driving test after I passed. I can’t remember how it came up but I definitely remember him telling me young men are more likely to be a danger on the road than young women. I was like why? And to this day I have no idea why he told me this after he passed me.

The Bun Royalty

What does it take to be the king and queen of buns, you ask? Some may say it involves 80’s inspired exercise videos. But in this case it’s a different form of physical activity. Every year in Hong Kong contestants can sign up to climb a 46 foot tower covered in plastic buns in the hopes that they collect enough buns to be crowned the bun king or queen.

Wait, what?

Yup, that’s right. People go head to head climbing a big tower covered in 9000 buns where they have 3 minutes to grab as many buns as they can. Each bun has a certain amount of points written on it and so when the climbers come down, the points are tallied up and the winning man and woman with the most points are crowned the king and queen of buns.

This all started in the late 19th century Cheng Chau Island (where the competition is held) was struck with a plague outbreak. Residents of the island would pray to the Gods and offer them buns, which would later be snatched from towers that they were placed on, hence the tradition. It was said that the higher the bun on the tower snatched, the greater the fortune it would be for the snatcher’s family.

This year’s winners were an ice climber and a firefighter respectively. They beat out a field of 200 climbers who all submitted applications back in March to get a chance to compete. Other than the trophies in the picture below, all they get is the privilege of being called Bun King and Bun Queen for the year.

Anything for a bun.