An AI image generator realized our dark thoughts about Black Friday

What can an AI tell you about Black Friday deals? Not much, it turns out, but when we posed a few contrarian thoughts about the upcoming shopping bacchanalia, AI image generator Dall-E 2 (opens in new tab) returned some interesting images that got us thinking about what this Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping season will be like for consumers. I think it's a safe assumption that this won't be a typical Black Friday and pre-Christmas shopping season. We face extraordinary upheaval around the world, and a deepening cost of living crisis that in many countries is threatening to turn into a full-blown recession. Yet, recent studies point to consumers being both more financially cautious and, yet, more deeply invested in Black Friday than in recent years. During Amazon's Prime Day 2 (its new attempt to own the shopping season by preempting Black Friday), US consumers spent, according to Numerator (opens in new tab), on average $46.68, which is down roughly $15 from Amazon's mid-year Prime Day.