Hello! ChatGPT, a new AI chatbot, had a busy weekend, with users asking it for help with everything from coding to weight loss. We wonder if writing a data-driven newsletter is beyond it... Today we're exploring:
Disbanded?
The Iranian attorney general announced yesterday that the country’s controversial morality police force has been ‘shut down’. The announcement, as yet unconfirmed by the Iranian Interior Ministry, comes amidst two months of nation-wide protests after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody in September. Ms Amini was detained by the morality police for wearing her hijab improperly.
Amini’s death has been described as Iran’s ‘George Floyd moment’, with protests raging across the nation and arrest figures reportedly reaching close to 20,000. Some Iranians have used the Qatar World Cup to amplify the voices of those back home, with fans demonstrating in the crowd and players refusing to sing the national anthem in their opening game in a reported nod of solidarity.
In July, Iran ranked 143rd of 146 nations on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, an index that scores countries across key indicators such as economic participation, political empowerment, educational attainment and more.
Iran's scores highlight how deep-rooted some of the issues raised by Amini’s death and subsequent protests are. Indeed, the nation was only ahead of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, where respect for women has reportedly dropped to a record low under Taliban rule.
The abolishment of the morality police, if confirmed, would be by far the biggest concession made to protesters since demonstrations began.
Go Deeper: The US came 27th on the Gender Gap Report — explore the data here or read the full report.
Roblox rising
Mariah Carey is putting on a Christmas show for young fans. That’s not particularly big news for the self-proclaimed Queen of Christmas, given that we’re well into December. The twist, however, is that the performance will be virtual, through game platform Roblox.
Carey’s ‘Winter Wonderland’ will be complete with a treasure hunt, item drops and — of course — a rendition of her festive hit All I Want For Christmas Is You, adding Carey to the list of artists who have performed in the virtual world where users flock to play games and hang out.
Rich in robux
For those unfamiliar, Roblox is an online gaming platform that puts much of the creative onus on its players — users program games and play games programmed by other creators. Initially popular with kids, the platform’s audience has rapidly expanded as its potential as a metaverse beyond gaming has grown. Roblox even has its own currency — Robux — which users can exchange for in-game items… but acquiring Robux very much requires real-world currency.
In the last quarter, 58.8 million users were logging in everyday to explore everything the online universe had to offer. That figure’s up 22.6m since 2020 when the company claimed that more than 50% of US kids were already on Roblox. All told, users spent more than 13,000 million hours on Roblox in the last quarter alone. All that playing, chatting and buying generated the company some ~$2.2bn over the last 12 months, with the company valued north of $20bn at the time of writing.
Here to stay
Last week we explored the topic of remote work. If you missed it, the short version of the story is that roughly half of all job applications on LinkedIn last month were for remote work positions, way more than the number of remote work positions actually available. That got us thinking about other pandemic trends, many of which haven’t stuck around in the same way.
A time in space
Data from Google reveals how online yoga, home workouts, the breadmaking boom and even searches for wine delivery, have all struggled to maintain their early 2020 momentum as life in America returned to something resembling "normal".
Much to the chagrin of Zoom executives, far fewer people are searching for the video chat tool, making the company's share price chart look oddly similar to the search trend presented above. Indeed, many of the lifestyle changes that could have lingered ended up being short-lived.
One hobby that has maintained some buzz is chess. Searches for “online chess” got a modest bump during the pandemic as competitive board game players turned to web versions of the ancient game to scratch their competitive itch. Then Netflix’s popular show The Queen’s Gambit came along and from there the game has made headline a number of times — thanks in part to a cheating scandal. All told, daily user figures have quintupled to 5 million at Chess.com since 2020, according to the platform.
• Over 75% of Americans think the $7.25 federal minimum wage is too low.
• New Zealand wants Meta and Google to start paying up to publish local news on their feeds.
• More on ChatGPT, the new AI chatbot who definitely didn't write any of the words you've read today.
• Mapping the cheapest 5-star hotel in every state.
• Charting how China’s fallen out of love with wine.
Off the charts: Which nation, that ranked lower than Iran on the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report, were we charting about back in 2021? [Answer below].
