🍫 Chocolate factory AI catfishing

It’s Monday, February 29 — people are talking about Mitch McConnell’s retirement, a disappointing Willy Wonka experience, and more.

As always, we’ve summarized and organized the different shades of perspective, so you can see the big picture quickly. Here at Shades we believe that seeing multiple points of view is the best way to stay informed.

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- Jeff (co-founder of Shades)

🐘 Mitch McConnell announces retirement

McConnell will step down from his Senate leadership role in November. What does it mean?

🐘 AP News: Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced he'll leave the Senate. It's a shift in GOP dynamics.

🐘 The Guardian notes that it came hours after McConnell endorsed Trump for president.

🐘 Rep. Matt Gaetz cheers — McConnell's exit is a win for the GOP's future. Goodbye!

🐘 @KaivanShroff on X is happy too. McConnell's legacy is tarnished by his Jan 6 cover-up attempt. Shame on him.

🐘 But Chuck Grassley praises McConnell's legacy and values his Senate leadership. He led the party for almost 17 years straight!

🍫 Chocolate factory AI catfishing

Glasgow's “Willy's Chocolate Experience” turned sour, sparking outrage and a meme frenzy.

🍫 A Willy Wonka-themed event, “Willy's Chocolate Experience,” was held in Glasgow, Scotland. The NYT said it didn't live up to expectations: The bare visuals disappointed families and kids alike.

🍫 Creative Bloq blamed “AI catfishing” for the fail: The event used AI art to hype up what turned out to be a dismal warehouse setup.

🍫 VentureBeat agreed: The fiasco proves reflects AI's deceptive potential — and it likely won't be the last AI-fueled disappointment.

🍫 But maybe all's well that ends well: The Tab said the disaster was a meme goldmine. The internet is obsessed!

Quick hits

🇵🇸 The number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza passed 30,000 since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

🇷🇺 Vladimir Putin said that the West risks a nuclear conflict if it intervenes further in the Ukraine war.

📺 Jeopardy! has come under fire on social media because of a clue about neopronouns during the show’s Tournament of Champions quarterfinal.

🌲 Scientists are hoping to reintroduce Wollemi pine trees — which were thought to have gone extinct until they were rediscovered 30 years ago — in the wild as part of a conservation effort that could take centuries.

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