When an AI server says “I’m here to help!"—they aren’t here to help you—it’s there to tire you out until you accept your fate or log off in frustration. Companies today, in their never-ending quest to cut costs, have increasingly turned to AI-powered solutions for customer service—so they (i) hire fewer human agents, and (ii) make it frustratingly difficult for you to reach an actual person. Back in the old days, AI customer service was nothing more than keyword-triggered auto-responses and simplistic, rule-based bots....

Something fun for April 1st: Goofy (and economically spicy) IP bleaches—aka, copycats! Miu Miu vs. Zara Miu Miu is high fashion. Zara is high speed. One sells couture dreams; the other sells dreams on clearance. For trendy (and budget-aware) fashion girls, Zara is a cheat code—you can literally recreate an entire Miu Miu look for about 5% of the price. TikTok is full of tutorials showing how to turn YSL, Miu Miu, or Prada show into a Zara haul....

Today at Columbia Business School’s DRO PhD open house, a friend of mine from SJTU is really into something called “experimentation”—and introduced it to me. I found is somewhat echos online learning. But not entirely the same. Experimentation in OR/OM means actively exploring different actions to learn about unknown factors, rather than passively using assumed parameters to optimize a system. This concept is central to online learning problems like multi-armed bandits and reinforcement learning....

Last summer, my then-boyfriend—not an economist but, as it turned out, a very rational kind of asshole—drove me to the airport to San Francisco. As I trying to connect up Apple Music in the car, I frustratingly struggled with his ancient iPhone 8. He muttered that “the new one is already ordered.” I nodded. Fine. Weeks later, I landed back from Yale, and he was there to pick me up again—with the same cracked iPhone 8....

Ariana Grande’s new album Eternal Sunshine (Deluxe) is released today, with six additional songs. Eternal Sunshine Deluxe Ariana Grande has always been my favorite pop singer. Her new album as usual, is extremely complicatedly layered and emotionally authentic. I bet for at least 8.0 in pitchfork. AG is setting the upperbound of pop music. Because, pop music, just like every other genres of art, are constrained by their definition, structure, and functionality....

The Art Institute of Chicago boasts one of the world’s finest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. If you’re a frequent gallery visitor, one Monet won’t be too much of a surprise. But a walls of Monet’s Wheatstacks would still be impressive… The following is one of my favourite. One of Monet’s 25 Haystacks painting (1888-1891). Btw, really good short introduction for impressionism: The Triumph of Impressionism In the 1870s, a group of young artists, who would be known as the Impressionists, redefined what a painting should be....

I am at Chicago Booth’s PhD admits visit day. Professor Budish suggested a really useful advice in terms of how to choose where to go to “Go and read (thoroughly) the papers of the professors you want to work with at all places you want to go to. Then you’ll know.” Professor Pernoud gave a hint on being successful PhD student: don’t procrastinate, submit papers asap. Booth’s ‘winter garden’ And I ran into Emir Kamenica in the hallway....

Do Chinese people really drink that much milk tea? Mar 25 2025: Chinese tea chain Chagee filed for a U.S. initial public offering on Tuesday, seeking to trade on the Nasdaq using the ticker “CHA.” Since its founding in 2017, the company has grown to more than 6,400 teahouses across China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, as of Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing. Roughly 97% of its locations are in China....

Match Day happens on the third Friday in March (March 21, 2025, in this year’s case). On Monday of that week, students learn whether they’ve matched with a residency program but they don’t yet find out where they have matched. This Match status notification is sent by email at 10am ET on Monday. (Students who do not match by Monday may apply for supplemental offers that concludes on Thursday, the day prior to Match Day....

Facebook’s former Director of Public Policy Sarah Wynn-Williams published a memoir about her experience working at Facebook (Meta). The book is titled Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism. The book is officially published on March 11, 2025. On the day of the book’s publication, Meta filed an arbitration demand. Just a day later, the book is ‘banned’—arbitrator temporarily ordered Sarah not to make any “disparaging, critical or otherwise detrimental comments” related to Meta and to stop promoting the book....