AI Actor Sparks Outrage in Hollywood & McDonald’s Monopoly is Back

Morning Brew Daily

Morning Brew

Business News, News, Business

4.4 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode 681: Neal and Toby discuss the impending government shutdown that causes concern for federal workers and programs…except for holders of gold. Then, Hollywood is heated over the first AI actor that got signed by a talent agency. Also, McDonald’s is bringing back its classic Monopoly game after a decade-long hiatus from the infamous scam. Meanwhile, Toby dives into the trend of the “996” work culture that began in China and is making its way through Silicon Valley. 00:00 - Microsoft’s “vibe working” 2:30 - Gold goin’ good 7:15 - AI actor’s rising conflict 11:00 - McDonald’s Monopoly is back 15:00 - Toby’s Trends: 996 work schedule 20:00 - Sprint Finish! Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn Ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Check out https://www.linkedIn.com/mbd for more. Get your MBD live show tickets here! https://www.tinyurl.com/MBD-HOLIDAY Vote for MBD in the Signal Awards! http://bit.ly/3W4e5ik Subscribe to Morning Brew Daily for more of the news you need to start your day. Share the show with a friend, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. Listen to Morning Brew Daily Here:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.swap.fm/l/mbd-note⁠⁠⁠ Watch Morning Brew Daily Here:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@MorningBrewDailyShow⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The holiday shopping season is just around the corner. Yes, really. The October, November, December rush is a real one. One minute you're spooky and the next you're decking the halls. So send your customers on a spree while you sit back, relax, and watch the sales roll in with Contentful. Contentful helps retailers deliver content that converts. You can create tailored on-brand
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0:33.1	slash black Friday. That's contentful.com slash black Friday.
0:47.4	Good morning for your daily show. I'm Neil Fryman. And I'm Toby Howell. Today a government shutdown is coming. So why are stocks going up? Ben, what's the 996 grindset work schedule that is sweeping the startup world?
0:56.0	It's Tuesday, September 30th.
0:58.0	Let's ride.
0:59.0	Have you ever tried to create an Excel spreadsheet based solely on vibes?
1:07.0	Probably didn't turn out great.
1:09.0	But soon it's going to get a lot easier because yesterday
1:11.9	Microsoft said it was launching vibe working in its office suite, a play on vibe coding, which is
1:18.0	when you generate code by typing in a text prompt to an AI program. Similar thing is coming to
1:22.6	Microsoft programs where you type in plain language what you want to see, and it'll generate a complex Excel spreadsheet,
1:29.3	Word document, or presentation ready PowerPoint. Essentially, anyone can become a first-year consultant.
1:35.1	I mean, what's next vibe? Cooking, vibe parenting. We're in a bit of a vibe bubble right now,
1:40.0	Neil. That being said, this is a risky vibe for Microsoft because you do not want to mess too much
1:45.0	with Excel. A few spreadsheets underpin the entire global economy, so you do not want that agent
1:51.1	screwing up, which it still does a fair amount, by the way. It got a 57% on spreadsheet bench,
1:57.9	this benchmark for judging an AI model's ability to edit spreadsheets.
2:01.8	That places it first amongst most of its competitors, but behind the human accuracy of
2:06.7	71%. So first of your consultants, you're probably safe-ish for now. And now a word from our
2:13.4	sponsor, LinkedIn ads. Quick, what does Roaz mean? Return on armchair spend.
	...

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