1/ Youtuber @MKBHD recently tested Fisker's latest EV and called it the "worst car I've ever reviewed."
The video has picked up 4.3 million views since he posted it and even reached execs at the company.
But things got really weird when Fisker responded. Let's get into it.
2/ Brownlee had initially asked Fisker to give him a vehicle to review, but they kept delaying.
Tired of jumping through hoops, he found a car dealer willing to let him borrow one.
3/ When Fisker found out Brownlee sourced a car from a dealer, it asked that he delay his review until a software update came through.
Brownlee refused, saying "It's not really in my policy to wait on promised future software updates."
4/ He continued with the review, posting it to his account on February 17.
In it, he notes "a lot of weird" choices—including unlabeled buttons, sunroof solar panels you can't monitor, and software glitches with the keyfob, cameras, and more.
5/ Brownlee did give credit to the car's handsome physical design.
But he followed that up by saying "You could give me this car and I wouldn't want to drive it," so the pros were obviously not enough to make up for the cons.
6/ Fisker had a truly bizarre response.
A Fisker senior engineer called the dealership that loaned Brownlee the car to try to do damage control.
7/ Unaware that they were being recorded, the rep let some things slip.
They admitted that even after the car's new update, Fisker's software "still got some holes in it."
The video recording of the call has 3.6+ million views on TikTok.
8/ Fisker's stock has tanked ~50% since Brownlee's video went live.
More people subscribe to Brownlee's YouTube channel than to the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today combined.
9/ It's another example of just how influential social media reviewers have become in the product space.
Separately, Fisker announced last week that it may not have money to survive the year.
10/ If you enjoyed this thread, follow us @MorningBrew
1/ The Port of Baltimore is responsible for $15 million in economic activity every day.
And the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse has it closed until further notice.
But what is the economic fallout from losing this key East Coast trade artery?
Let's get into it.
2/ Besides the loss of life and property, the bridge collapse is an economic nightmare.
"The railroads, the trucking industry, the regional distribution centers, commuters, and other segments of the economy," are all being affected, economist Anirban Basu told Business Insider.
3/ "The tentacles here are far-reaching. And they're all negative," Basu added.
He's referring to the tens of millions of dollars that will be lost until the shipping lanes are up and running again.
Although Baltimore isn't the largest port in the US, it is quite specialized.
1/ Google has halted its Gemini AI image generator due to historical and racial inaccuracies.
The AI was "missing the mark," per a company statement, after users came forward citing results like Nazi-era German soldiers being depicted as people of color.
Let's get into it.
2/ Google's Gemini AI (formerly Bard) started offering image generation a few weeks ago and is already under fire.
Users have noted that some of the generated images are chock-full of inaccuracy, especially when it comes to race and historical events.
3/ When prompted to produce a 1943 Nazi-era German soldier, the AI came back with a series of images that featured people of color in uniform.
And that's not the only prompt that brought back some questionable results.