✈️ Ryanair took off

What’s going on here?

Elon Musk decided it was time to unveil his challenger to ChatGPT.

What does this mean?

OpenAI’s ChatGPT may be the current go-to vacation organizer and work-shortcut creator, but it’s not the only bot out there. And Elon Musk’s Grok – modeled after "The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy" – is finally ready to join them. Still an early beta version, the chatbot is currently in testing mode with a small group of US users. If that goes well, Grok will be introduced to all the premium users of X, formerly Twitter. That’s probably the most fitting place to start: Grok’s designed to answer even the tough questions with “a bit of wit” and a “rebellious streak”, according to Musk’s statement. X will play an even more important role in the future, too. While most AI chatbots can only pull from static datasets, Grok will feed off a continuous stream of live data from X, potentially fitting it with a more up-to-date understanding of global events.

Why should I care?

For markets: Rule the world – or at least, the phones.

Elon Musk’s mission doesn’t end at Grok. Tesla’s head honcho has made no secret of his desire to make a universal app, encompassing messaging, payments, social media interactions, and everyday tasks. Tencent led the charge with China’s WeChat, but if Grok settles into X well, Musk could take the concept stateside.

The bigger picture: The party doesn’t start til Grok walks in.

Grok’s late to the party: chatbots ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, Claude, Bing, and Hugging Face have all been mingling in the open for months now. But Grok’s promise to stand out against current AI models – specifically when it comes to dialogue and user experience – could be well-founded. Despite only having two weeks of development and training, Musk claims that Grok is already outperforming ChatGPT 3.5 across a handful of benchmarks.

What’s going on here?

Low-cost airline Ryanair unveiled plush results on Monday, demonstrating that strong books beat free pretzels every time.

What does this mean?

Ryanair has been coasting in style for the last few years, despite being distinctively frill-free. The budget airline made nearly $2.5 billion in profit in the first half of the year, 60% more than the same time last year. That’s partly because the airline carried roughly 11% more passengers, presumably won over by non-existent window seats and the thrill of bank-busting fees for hand luggage that doesn’t quite fit in the metal measuring box. And now that planes are full, Ryanair’s been able to pull up prices by about 15% this quarter, comfortable with the risk of scaring off a couple of customers. Layer on the announcement of a €430 million dividend payout for shareholders, and you can see why the airline’s stock is up around 7% this year in Europe.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: No free lunches.

Ryanair’s outspoken CEO is known for being something of a maverick, famously snapping up planes on the cheap when economic downturns have drained other airlines, and turning what would be free perks elsewhere into paid-for extras. That’s not only brought plenty of publicity, but has also created a balance sheet that could be mistaken for a US consumer staples firm’s, making it the envy of the industry.

For markets: Confidence talks.

Ryanair’s first-class business model and books would lead you to believe that buying the stock would bleed you dry. But to match the brand’s discount-heavy image, shares actually trade relatively cheaply, at least according to the firm’s price-to-earnings ratio. But this dividend payout might get investors more excited: the airline’s promise to dole out regular payments to shareholders is a sure sign of confidence about the company’s future. And while Ryanair’s not the first airline to pay dividends, it may be the first to stay committed during both rough and smooth skies.