Natalie Lung

Meta's standalone Meta AI app, launched in April 2025, offers an uneven experience, often hallucinating facts and failing to provide personalized responses (Bloomberg)

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Meta’s Consumer AI App Has Persistent Flaws Months After Debut The Meta AI app offers an uneven experience, posing a sharp contrast to Mark Zuckerberg’s lofty artificial intelligence ambitions.

DEEP DIVE: Meta’s consumer-facing AI app offers an uneven experience, exposing the gap between Zuckerberg’s bold ambitions and what the tech actually offers users

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Dataharvest 2025 - the European Investigative Journalism Conference: Using WhatsApp to crowdsource data View more about this event at Dataharvest 2025 - the European Investigative Journalism Conference

Headed soon to Dataharvest conference in Mechelen, Belgium to present on our process and crowdsourcing tips from Bloomberg's investigation on Uber and Lyft ride share lockouts.

It'll be my first dataj event in Europe - please say hi! #EIJC25

dataharvest25.sched.com/event/1zv0e?...

Grubhub Revives Seamless Delivery Brand in Key NYC Market Food delivery company Grubhub is reviving the quarter-century-old Seamless brand in New York, its biggest market, in a bid to drive growth in a key city as it lags behind rivals nationally.

scoop: Food delivery company Grubhub is reviving the quarter-century-old Seamless brand in New York, its biggest market, in a bid to drive growth in a key city as it lags behind rivals nationally

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Tinder Unveils Playful AI Chatbots in Bid to Boost Engagement Match Group Inc.’s Tinder unveiled an in-app game that invites users to flirt with artificially intelligent chatbots, part of a larger effort to return the dating app to growth by boosting user engage...

I wrote today that Tinder is leaning into AI bots in new voice-based game that uses OpenAI's 4o + 4o-mini to test users’ flirting skills.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s tech newsletter for my first-hand experience interacting with them.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Tinder is finding different ways to boost engagement among Gen Z daters (50% of user base). Ot has been testing a double-dating feature, and as I found out, is taking another page from mobile games by promising more in-app matches and rewards if users log into the app consistently for a week:

Also note: Lyft is catching up here in terms of launching driverless rides with its AV tech partners. Atlanta would be its first market with autonomous cars.

Uber and Waymo are also launching in ATL this summer. It will be their 3rd market together after Phoenix and Austin.

Lyft to Offer Driverless Ride-Hails ‘as Soon as This Summer’ Lyft Inc. said it plans to offer driverless vehicles on its platform “as soon as this summer,” and that it sees human drivers transitioning to other work such as fleet management as autonomous rides b...

Lyft just gave a more precise timeline for its planned 2025 autonomous launch with May Mobility in Atlanta, saying it will roll out "as soon as this summer".

A company blog post today also addresses its vision for the future of its (human) gig workforce 👇

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Bumble Rolls Out ID Verification in Dating App Safety Push Bumble Inc. is adding ID verification to its dating app alongside other new features, an attempt to court safety-conscious younger users who are key to the company’s turnaround plans.

Bumble is adding ID verification to its dating app alongside other new features, an attempt to court safety-conscious younger users key to its turnaround plans.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Note: Founder Wolfe Herde is returning as CEO today, >1 year after handing reins to ex-Slack CEO Jones.

Tinder Owner’s New CEO Signals Urgency to Rebuild User Trust Match Group Inc. will “streamline operations,” invest in growth areas and set up a confidential channel for its employees to share ideas with the executive team to improve its dating apps, said the co...

Details in Match new CEO’s note to employees today:

Co will “streamline” ops, invest in growth areas and set up a confidential channel for its employees to share ideas with leadership to rebuild user trust in its dating apps

(Co has 3 activist investors to date)

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

A Lyft spokesperson now confirms Lyft Silver, the offering designed for senior riders, is coming later this year.

Users can sign up to get notified when it launches in their markets here:

lyft.com/rider/silver

Lyft Working on Simpler Version of Its App for Elderly Riders Lyft Inc. is working on a simplified version of its app for elderly riders, part of an effort to further differentiate itself from rival Uber Technologies Inc.

Scoop: Lyft is working on a simplified version of its app for elderly riders, according to a Bloomberg review of the iOS app code, as Lyft seeks to further differentiate itself from rival Uber

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

London-based Wayve has been testing its driver-assistance software on the road beyond the UK, first in SF last Oct. and in Germany earlier this month.

"500 hours to generalize to California is remarkable, and we saw that even less has been required for our launch in Germany," CEO Alex Kendall said.

SoftBank-Backed Self-Driving Firm Wayve Nears Commercial Debut Wayve Technologies Ltd., the self-driving startup that raised more than $1 billion last year from investors including SoftBank Group Corp., said it’s nearing a commercial debut with major automakers.

Wayve, the self-driving co that raised >$1b last year from SoftBank, NVDA, MSFT, Uber, said it’s nearing a commercial debut with major automakers.

It also published new data claiming its AI model can adapt to US behaviors faster, with less $ than existing methods.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

How Facebook, Tinder and Airbnb Are Being Used for Sex Trafficking in Colombia

Here is the companion podcast to our investigation if you prefer the audio format.

Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/1FoN...

Our reporting shows the prevalence of Meta, Tinder and Airbnb in Colombia & reveals how encrypted tools and loose oversight over platform users pose low barriers to predators seeking to lure minors into sex work and arrange dates and accommodations with tourists from abroad.

Facebook, Tinder and Airbnb Apps are Used for Sex Trafficking in Colombia Better internet service, the proliferation of US apps and an influx of tourists have converged to facilitate the exploitation of minors in Colombia

In the past year, we have spoken to several girls who said they were victims of sexual exploitation in Colombia, as well as more than two dozen representatives of law enforcement, academia, local businesses and nonprofits seeking to curb child trafficking.

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

New investigation: We have been digging into how US apps like FB, Tinder & Airbnb are used for sex trafficking in Colombia. Headlines have focused largely on how men are killed by their Tinder dates. BTS, the women are often controlled by gangs who exploit the apps to conduct business.

Gift link 👇

Uber sues DoorDash, accusing it of anticompetitive practices like coercing restaurants to exclusively work with DoorDash for parts of their delivery business (Heather Haddon/Wall Street Journal)

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Uber Targets Personal Injury Lawyers in Multimillion Dollar Ad Campaign Uber Technologies Inc. is pouring millions of dollars into a national ad campaign to push for reforms in insurance policies that it says have been exploited by personal injury lawyers and contribute t...

News on Uber's latest lobbying effort: a multimillion dollar ad campaign to push for reforms in insurance policies that it says have been exploited by personal injury lawyers and contribute to higher ride prices

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

MyFitnessPal to Offer Personalized AI Meal Planning After Quietly Buying Startup MyFitnessPal, the food and calorie-tracking app, bought an artificial intelligence startup and will soon debut AI-powered meal plans, a feature the company hopes will boost sign-ups and subscriptions.

Exclusive: MyFitnessPal, the food and calorie-tracking app, bought AI startup Intent and will soon debut AI-powered meal plans, a feature the company hopes will boost sign-ups and subscriptions

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NYC Slams Uber, Lyft for ‘Disinformation’ on Driver Pay Hike New York City’s rideshare regulator said Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. are “spreading disinformation” in emails sent to drivers and riders about proposed rules that would give drivers a roughly...

NYC rideshare regulator said Uber and Lyft are “spreading disinformation” in their new email campaigns to drivers and riders about proposed rules that would give drivers a roughly 6% pay hike www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Uber, Lyft Face Antitrust Probe Over NYC Driver Pay Deal The US Federal Trade Commission is probing whether Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. illegally coordinated to limit driver pay in New York City, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News.

scoop: FTC is probing whether Uber, Lyft illegally coordinated to limit NYC driver pay. The firms confirmed they received official info requests from the agency.

A 2024 Bloomberg investigation showed how the firms used lockouts to save them millions in driver pay.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Sources: the highest ranks of the US Office of Personnel Management now include former employees of Elon Musk's companies, including xAI and the Boring Company (Vittoria Elliott/Wired)

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Uber Working on Price-Lock Pass to Rival Popular Lyft Feature Uber Technologies Inc. is working on a new paid offering that would let commuters lock in prices for frequent rides ahead of time, rivaling a popular feature that Lyft Inc. launched five months ago.

scoop: I reviewed Uber’s iOS app code and found that it has been working on a new $2.99 pass that would let commuters lock in prices for frequent rides ahead of time, rivaling a popular feature that Lyft launched five months ago

Details here:

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Ex-Google, Meta Execs Building Emotionally Aware AI Sales Agents Three former engineering leaders from Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. have raised $10 million for a new startup focused on making artificial intelligence-powere...

Three former engineering leaders from Google, Meta and Samsung have raised $10 million for a new startup focused on making artificial intelligence-powered customer sales agents more polite and brand-aware www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Grindr unveils new features, including an opt-in AI chat summary, plans to launch six features in 2025, and says 10K users are testing its AI-powered "Wingman" (Natalie Lung/Bloomberg)

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Airbnb to Spend Millions in Lobbying New York to Ease Rental Ban Airbnb Inc. is pouring millions into a pair of New York political campaigns as it pushes back against short-term rental restrictions that took more than 80% of its NYC listings offline within a year.

You'll likely see more competing op-eds about short-term rentals in NYC this year. Both Airbnb and the well-resourced hotel union are funding and running ads voicing out on a municipal bill that'd roll back parts of the city's Airbnb ban

(article from last week:)
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NYC Is Trying to End Uber, Lyft Driver Lockouts With a Pay Hike New York City is trying to close a loophole that Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. have used to deny drivers millions of dollars in pay with a raft of new measures that would effectively raise thei...

NYC is trying to close a loophole that Uber, Lyft have used to deny drivers $mlns in pay with a raft of new measures that would effectively raise their rates by roughly 6.1%.

The regulator has vowed to amend rules after a Bloomberg investigation on the practice:
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Tinder warns of declining to flat direct revenue through 2026, below estimates, and says it plans to prioritize improving its user experience over monetization (Natalie Lung/Bloomberg)

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