Axios AM

May 21, 2024
Hello, Tuesday! Smart Brevity™ count: 1,384 words ... 5 mins. Thanks to Noah Bressner for orchestrating. Copy edited by Bryan McBournie.
1 big thing: Jarring generation gap
Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios
From values to voting to happiness to economics, America has more than a red-blue divide: It has a massive generational divide.
- Why it matters: If you're trying to run a successful organization or sell a product or service, you'd better understand these nuances.
🔎 Zoom in: In his Six-Chart Sunday newsletter, Washington strategist Bruce Mehlman spells out startling differences that have emerged between older and younger generations across a striking array of topics:

1. Values: Members of Gen Z are less than half as likely than Baby Boomers to say patriotism, belief in God or having children are "very important," according to a recent Public Opinion Strategies polling report, "Key Data by Generation."
- Another Zoomer casualty: Believing America is the "best place to live."
- When it comes to religion, millennials and Gen Zers are much more likely to consider themselves atheists, agnostic or "nothing in particular."
2. Economics: Americans 18-29 were more likely to say they have a positive impression of socialism (44% favorable) than capitalism (40%), a 2022 Pew poll found.
- Just 28% of seniors viewed socialism favorably.
3. Political parties: Millennials and members of Gen Z are twice as likely to consider themselves political independents (52%) as the oldest generation of Americans (26%), according to Gallup data.
- Mehlman, who writes the "Age of Disruption" Substack, told us younger voters are shunning "the two tired parties."

4. The Middle East: Americans under 30 are twice as likely to sympathize with Palestinians than the U.S. population as a whole, according to Pew data from February.
🎸 Mehlman told us: "I got the idea [for this "Generation Gaps" mashup] when reading a Washington Post story showing the favorite music genres by generation that I ended up not even using!"
- "I was disappointed that 18 to 29-year-olds were one of the few demographics not loving 'classic rock,' and started a Sunday piece entitled, 'The Kids Are Not Alright.'"
Go deeper: Two more generation-defining trends ... Gift link, "The most popular, obscure, Democratic, Republican and hated music in America."
2. 🤖 Scarlett Johansson vs. OpenAI

Many people think one of OpenAI's new voices for ChatGPT sounds awfully like Scarlett Johansson in the AI romance movie "Her." It turns out she does, too — and she has lawyered up.
- Why it matters: The dispute between the maker of ChatGPT and a performer famous for representing AI will further spook creative artists already suspicious that AI could dilute the value of their work, Axios' Scott Rosenberg writes.
🎨 The big picture: OpenAI announced yesterday it was putting a "pause" on offering a voice for ChatGPT known as "Sky" that users have often noted sounds like the AI assistant Johansson played in the 2013 film.
- In a statement last night, Johansson said she turned down an offer from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last September to use her voice for ChatGPT.
- Johansson said she was "shocked, angered and in disbelief" to hear how much the AI voice resembled hers.
- She added that OpenAI hit "pause" on Sky after her lawyers demanded the company "detail the exact process" it used to develop the voice.
👀 The intrigue: Johansson claimed Altman made the case last year that her voice would be "comforting to people" and "could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives."
- Johansson said Altman contacted her agent two days before the GPT-4o demo asking her to reconsider, but the system was released "before we could connect."
Altman said: "The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson's, and it was never intended to resemble hers."
- "We cast the voice actor behind Sky's voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused using Sky's voice in our products. We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didn't communicate better."
3. ⚖️ Trump trial fireworks

The judge overseeing former President Trump's New York hush-money trial admonished the last defense witness for his reactions while on the stand:
- "Are you staring me down right now?" Judge Juan Merchan asked Robert Costello, a lawyer who advised Michael Cohen in 2018.
Why it matters: It was one of the most dramatic moments of Trump's criminal trial — now in Week 6 — and led the judge to temporarily clear the courtroom, Axios' Erin Doherty writes.

4. ⏱️ Clocking "60 Minutes"

Last weekend, "60 Minutes" wrapped its 50th consecutive season as the No. 1 news program, according to new Nielsen figures, Axios Media Trends expert Sara Fischer writes.
- Why it matters: The transition to streaming and digital news has been a ratings killer for many shows. But the CBS News staple remains a juggernaut (9 million viewers on one recent Sunday).
Get Axios Media Trends, Sara's weekly newsletter, out later today.
5. 💰 Trump tightens fundraising gap

President Biden's political operation raised less than former President Trump and the Republican Party last month, Axios' Erin Doherty writes.
- Why it matters: The latest figures show Biden still has a cash advantage. But Trump and the RNC started tightening the gap on Biden's fundraising lead.
The Biden campaign has held a sustained cash advantage over Trump, who started the year at a huge deficit and continues to spend millions to fight his legal battles.
- Biden's operation brought in $51 million in April, the campaign said yesterday.
That's well short of the $76 million former President Trump's campaign brought in, along with the Republican Party.
- Trump's April fundraising haul was largely driven by his record-breaking $50+ million fundraiser in Palm Beach.
6. 🧠 Neuralink seeks second patient

The FDA cleared Neuralink — Elon Musk's brain implant startup — to insert its chip in another patient, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim writes.
- Why it matters: It's another step forward for brain-computer interface devices that companies hope will someday treat neurological disorders.
Neuralink is taking applications for another patient with quadriplegia to test whether the device can allow a person to do tasks like control a phone and computer.
- The first patient, Noland Arbaugh, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that the device gave him the ability to have nearly full control over a computer using only his thoughts.
7. 🌡️ Florida weatherman's surprise warning
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Amid a record-breaking heat wave, a Miami TV weatherman had an urgent message for his viewers over the weekend: Go vote if you want to fight climate change, Axios' Martin Vassolo and Andrew Freedman write.
- Why it matters: NBC 6 meteorologist Steve MacLaughlin challenged Florida's climate policies, telling viewers that "the most powerful climate-change solution is ... in the palm of your hands: the right to vote."
📺 That day, Miami's heat index — the "feels like" temperature — set a May record of 112°F.
8. 🎞️ Sandberg brings Oct. 7 film to Capitol

Sheryl Sandberg spent four days in Israel filming interviews for a documentary about sexual violence during the terrorist attack of Oct. 7, because she felt the issue was getting too little attention.
- Why it matters: The former Facebook COO is using her celebrity and access to decision-makers to call attention to an issue she says "feminists and progressive groups and human rights activists have fought for, for 30 years."
Driving the news: A bipartisan screening of the film, "Screams Before Silence," will be held for lawmakers and others at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday evening.
- Hosts include Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.)
In an interview with Axios, Sandberg — head of her Lean In foundation, and a founder of Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners — urged people "to stand against ... sexual violence, no matter what you think of anyone else."
- "You can believe that what's happening in Gaza is a tragedy," she said. "I believe that what's happening in Gaza is a tragedy, and still stand firmly against the sexual violence on Oct. 7."
Context: Pramila Patten, the UN's special representative on sexual violence in conflict, reported in March that her team found "clear and convincing information" that some hostages held by Hamas "have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence."
- Some accounts of sexual violence on Oct. 7 have been disputed.
- Hamas "denies its gunmen sexually assaulted women during the attacks or mistreated female hostages they took to Gaza," the BBC reports.
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