Working Girl's Guide #59: AI is making us all the same person, Starbucks has a rival

Courses are getting cut in Indiana, a linguist found that YouTubers are overusing the word “delve,” and I dressed corporate at a bridal shower.

Let’s get into it.

AI is making everyone sound the same, and its impacting work and relationships

A linguist from the Max Planck Institute in Germany found that YouTubers — even those who weren’t scripting with ChatGPT — started using 52% more AI chatbot-preferred words (“delve,” “meticulous,” “adept”) after the release of ChatGPT. Another study out of Cornell found that people who suspect their colleagues were using AI-generated messages in professional comms were more likely to perceive that colleague as un-collaborative. Now would be a great time to humbly flex that I NEVER USE AI FOR THIS NEWSLETTER because this is straight from my corporate soul to yours! Hopefully you can tell, because I humbly suspect AI could never make as many jabs at Annie as I do.

Careful, Starbucks: there’s a new coffee chain in town

Luckin Coffee, the fastest-growing chain in China, is expanding to the US. In 2023, their revenue in China beat out Starbucks revenue for the first time ever. Only time will tell how the chain does stateside — their drinks are about 30% cheaper than Starbies, but Starbucks has a 50-year headstart in the US. Apparently Luckin has a line of brightly colored drinks called “Refreshers,” which sounds… very familiar. So far, Luckin is in New York city only. NYC readers, let me know! Have you tried it? How does it stack up?

New laws are cutting courses

This hits close to home, since I was just in Indiana at my alma mater this past weekend! Indiana University is cutting more than 100 academic programs thanks to a new state bill that requires public universities to have to request special permission if the number of graduates in a program falls below 15 for a BA program, or 7 for a master’s program. A handful of the programs that are being cut: Art History, American Studies, Atmospheric Science, Cognitive Science, Comparative Literature, Dance, Earth Science, French, and Italian.

I don’t have a free weekend in San Francisco until… December. That’s a bit chilling. This past weekend was of course another wedding, and this one was extra special because the couple got married on campus at Notre Dame (our alma mater). We also got to go on the field, which felt very cool. I was not wearing the below-pictured dress while on the field (would have been too camouflage, my friends would have probably forgotten about me and left me there). I have to say, wearing an engagement ring to weddings hits very different. Is that embarrassing to say out loud?

I wore this to a bridal shower (I told you! Wedding stuff all the time!), but I do feel it to be a corporate slay? There is no midriff usually, the pose is misleading! Ever since my color analysis (real ones remember), I can’t stay away from Thanksgiving-turkey brown (the professionals apparently call it chocolate brown, which I guess sounds a lot sexier). Recommendation: size up on the top!

It turns out if you send yourself voice memos at all times, even in public, actually no one stops to ask you why you’re talking to yourself. So stop trying to remember everything and just voice memo yourself like you're your own personal assistant. Walking to the subway and remember you need to follow up on that budget thing? Voice memo. Lying in bed and suddenly realize what you forgot to tell your boss? Voice memo. Your phone becomes this magical dumping ground for all the random work thoughts that pop up at inconvenient times. Then tomorrow morning, you just play them back while you drink your coffee, and boom! Plus, you get to hear your own voice being surprisingly competent, which is honestly a nice confidence boost.

Thanks for reading!