Today’s Big Story

Dating in the AI Age

Finding deep love … or a deep fake?

Dating is never easy. Talk to single people using dating apps, and they are likely to tell you that the experience is awful, but that they have to be there. It’s just how people meet in this day and age. But the emergence of AI and other technology is now making this already complicated and awkward process even more complicated and awkward.

As Dazed points out, even just a couple years ago, AI-generated images on the apps were a rarity—something to screenshot as comical group chat fodder. But as this sort of tech has advanced, nobody’s laughing anymore. Generated AI is becoming more and more integrated into myriad aspects of our lives, and there is growing discussion—in the media, and via sporadic (but viral) social posts— about how AI is changing the face of dating.

Discussions about AI and dating often focus on platforms like Replika and Anima, which offer humans the chance to find (train?) the AI companion of their dreams. But, it turns out, the digisexual revolution starts with us first—and AI images are only the beginning. In fact, what appears to be even more popular is the use of tools like ChatGPT in order to craft bios, replies and even streamline dating admin.

Have you heard of Rizz? Not the term, but the app … which can generate prompts for profile bios, conversation openers and tailored replies. Then there’s Iris, a dating app which uses AI to match users who are most likely to find one another mutually attractive. Not to be beaten, the more established dating apps are themselves branching into the world of artificial intelligence: Tinder and Hinge (both owned by Match Group), along with Grindr and Bumble have all been exploring AI features.

And then there are the scams. Savvy crooks are scamming those looking for love. They’ll utilize deepfake videos for video calls and post photos of others like an old fashioned catfish scheme to pull off their con. A projected 8 million deepfakes will be shared worldwide in 2025, up from 500,000 in 2023, according to one British government source. The recipients fall prey to classic cases of “romance baiting” or “pig butchering”, named for the exploitative way in which scammers cultivate their victims and bilk them out of money.

Senate Unexpectedly Passes ‘No Tax on Tips Act’

The idea is politically popular, but the tax benefit details get tricky

The Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to pass legislation that would eliminate the collection of federal taxes on tips, moving a step closer to fulfilling one of President Donald Trump’s key campaign promises. Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada brought the bill to the floor with the expectation that it would be blocked, but Sen. Ted Cruz declined to and it quickly passed—giving its official stamp of approval to an idea that has gained traction since Trump campaigned on it during his 2024 presidential campaign.

The idea was quickly embraced by Democrats. The effort targets working-class voters, which Democrats have seen slip away from the party over the last decade, and is particularly relevant in places like Las Vegas. NBC News reports that the legislation would create a tax deduction worth up to $25,000 for tips, limited to cash tips that workers report to employers for withholding purposes on payroll taxes. The tax break would also be restricted to employees who earn $160,000 or less in 2025, an amount that will rise with inflation in coming years.

A broad chunk of restaurant workers and bartenders and a large share of hotel staff, barbers, salon workers, tour guides and delivery and Uber drivers are among those who most likely stand to benefit. Yet a unique mix of labor economists, budget hawks aligned with liberals and conservatives, and even some restaurant interest groups have come out against the ‘No Tax on Tips’ idea. Why? Well, if tipped workers at a restaurant make more than their colleagues who don’t get tips, those workers could either demand more money or take up tipped-eligible roles themselves elsewhere. And if a low-income taxpayer already has zero taxable income due to the standard deduction, the tip deduction would provide no additional benefit.

Do You Pay for Premium Streaming?

Ad-supported streaming tiers gain traction with Gen Z and millennial viewers

I don’t want to sound like a snob, but a necessary extravagance for me is paying for premium streaming. There’s something about waiting for ads when you’re watching on-demand programing that’s tougher to take than ads when I’m scrolling social media or watching broadcast TV. I’d rather have less streamers and only have the ad-free version—but I might be in the minority there.

As streaming prices keep climbing, more subscribers are willing to opt into advertising to keep a lid on costs. Deadline reports that 54% of SVOD subscribers have at least one ad-supported tier of a paid service. And nearly half of Discovery Plus, Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO Max, Netflix, Paramount Plus, and Peacock subscribers in the U.S. are paying for ad-supported plans, and that around 75% of subscribers have at least tried them before.

It’s considered a win-win for streaming companies that can reap the benefits of both additional advertising revenue and growth from providing more affordable memberships. Antenna reports that 65% of users who had subscribed to ad-supported plans were completely new to the streaming service, with users who had switched from pricer ad-free tiers accounting for only 11% of subscriptions. Netflix’s ad tier has especially taken off, having doubled in subscribers over the last year. That success is emboldening the platform to start experimenting with its advertising model, with interactive and pause screen ads coming in 2026, and plans to blend AI ads into shows and movies in the future.

Robot Vacuums Are Evolving

The latest iteration has a claw that tries (and mostly fails) to pick up your socks

Robo-vacuums are nothing news. They’re convenient, sure, but they can’t do everything, right? However, like any technology, they’ll keep evolving and iterating in order to get closer to our collective ideal. The Saros Z70 has been making waves online and on social media as the first robot vacuum with a mechanical arm to lift lightweight objects and clean those missed areas most autonomous suckers miss.

That means that it can tidy up dropped socks, lightweight footwear such as slippers and sandals, along with tissues and pieces of paper that end up on the floor. However, in practice, The Verge says it’s nowhere near achieving this goal. “Yes, the arm can pick up items and put them away, which is seriously impressive. It collected my son’s discarded socks and a few balls of paper, putting them where I asked it to. But the Z70’s limitations are deal-breakers at this point, and its lack of consistency also lets it down.”

Wirecutter agrees, calling it a gimmick. “Over a few weeks of testing, I found that the claw fails more often than it succeeds. Roborock representatives even warned us that it’s a work in progress when they sent a review sample.” Most sites who tried it had similar experiences, calling it a premium robot vacuum and mop with all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a flagship, and the mechanical arm is nice, but not ready for prime time. Of course, maybe Mashable put it best when they said, “If you have the very adult budget to spend $2,600 on a vacuum but can't manage to pick up your own socks, we have a deeper problem.”

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