• A new analysis from Goldman Sachs found that AI hasn’t yet had any discernable impact on major labor market indicators such as the unemployment rate, layoffs, or productivity measures. Goldman expects the labor market to be one of the first indicators of AI’s effect on the economy because unemployment data is regularly tracked, and the technology’s ability to automate tasks should increase productivity. 

Anyone waiting with bated breath for the rise of AI to roil the labor market will have to sit tight a little longer. 

Despite its rapid proliferation over the last couple years, AI has had no discernible effects on major labor market metrics, according to Goldman Sachs. 

“Aggregate labor market impacts are still negligible,” wrote Goldman Sachs economists Joseph Briggs and Sarah Dong. “Although AI exposure is highly correlated with adoption, there is no economically or statistically significant correlation between AI exposure and job growth, unemployment, job finding rates, layoff rates, weekly hours, or average hourly earnings.”

At least not yet.

Companies across the U.S. have yet to fully incorporate AI into their operations, Briggs told Fortune. 

“I expect that will change over the next several years,” he said. “We’re just still a little bit in the early days of the AI transition.”

Most firms took a gradual approach to integrating AI because the technology was so new and expensive that it required extensive overhauls to existing processes. AI also posed entirely new concerns over data privacy and security that companies had to contend with before rolling it out across their organizations. Some companies may also be playing a waiting game to figure out which AI tools will end up being the best, according to Briggs. 

“The technology is a little bit early, and so you don’t want to be locked into what, in the long run, is an inferior platform,” he added. 

Goldman expects AI will eventually boost the economy overall starting in 2027 with increases to labor productivity and GDP. That uplift will continue through to the late-2030s, according to Briggs and Dong’s note.

Previous Goldman estimates forecasted the full adoption of AI could lead to a 15% increase in U.S. labor productivity and a 7% increase in global GDP. 

“We have a still fairly positive outlook and bullish outlook on the longer-run impacts of AI, and we expect that it will unlock a lot of economic value,” Briggs said. 

Any overarching changes to the economy stemming from AI would have first shown up in the labor market because employment data is regularly tracked and the technology’s ability to automate tasks would, in theory, boost productivity, Briggs and Dong wrote. But since there haven’t been any major changes to ongoing trends in the unemployment rate and productivity, Goldman reasons, AI’s effects haven’t yet kicked in. 

Most labor market indicators have remained somewhat steady over the last year or so. The unemployment has hovered around 4% since December 2023, never dipping below 3.8% or rising above 4.2% over that time. The latest labor productivity measure for the fourth quarter of 2024 was 2% growth, which was a slight slowdown from the 2.5% in the third quarter. 

That’s not to say there haven’t been some changes to the overall labor market. Certain professions, like computer programming, customer service and professional services, that are highly susceptible to generative AI have started seeing some minor changes to hiring practices. 

Specifically, those industries where AI is more heavily adopted have seen slight declines in labor demand, with fewer job postings, according to Goldman’s analysis of data from the jobs website Indeed.com. 

“Labor demand trends over this period show a common decline across nearly all service subsectors that is correlated with exposure to AI automation, suggesting that the onset of generative AI tools may have led some companies to reevaluate hiring plans,” Briggs and Dong wrote in their note. 

Briggs said the next metric his team at Goldman will be watching is “actual job growth” across the economy to see if hiring slowdowns in certain industries are offset by new jobs. 

Big changes to the labor market are expected in the coming years. Goldman’s own 2023 forecast that 300 million jobs in the U.S. and Europe were susceptible to some level of change due to AI captured the scale of the potential impact.

However, Brigg’s report said that it will be at least two years until those changes really manifest themselves. The shakeup to the labor market will ultimately come down to how quickly AI is adopted across broad swaths of the economy. That will only start to happen once costs come down, for both AI companies and their eventual customers, and developers continue building out more applications.  

The AI industry has already started to make strides toward cheaper solutions. The release of the Chinese company DeepSeek’s latest chatbot sent shockwaves throughout the industry when it was reported to have outperformed some of OpenAI’s best models for a fraction of the development costs. Major U.S. developers have also taken strides to find new, cheaper sources of energy in a bid to lower their own costs. 

There has been some progress in business-to-business applications for specific industries like financial services and design. However, the market for these tools has yet to translate to an overhaul of the traditional software market or, as Goldman points out, lead to a substantial, measurable increase in worker productivity outside of a few examples. Though that will change as companies hire more AI talent and cobble the money to invest in new tech; both of which many still lack. 

“There’s just a lot of companies that don’t have the expertise or the internal capital to figure out how to develop applications and restructure workflows so that they can incorporate AI and reap the benefits to productivity that it promises,” Briggs said. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• One-day tickets for Universal’s Epic Universe have gone on sale. A one-day ticket will cost $139, but you won’t be able to use it until a week-and-a-half after the park opens. Epic Universe is set to open on May 22.

Universal Orlando is just over two months away from welcoming guests to its Epic Universe, a major expansion that is taking the central Florida theme park wars to a new level. And fans who want to visit finally have the chance to buy a ticket.

Universal has opened up one-day ticket sales for Epic Universe. Until now, the only way to get an admission was buying a three-, four- or five-day pass, where all but one day had to be spent in other Universal theme parks, or to be an annual passholder.

A one-day adult ticket will run you $139, while children will pay $135 for a single-day pass. (Florida residents do not currently get a discount.) A two-day ticket is also available for $126.50 for adults ($121.50 for kids), but one of the two days must be spent in a park other than Epic Universe.

The park, which was originally scheduled to open in 2023, will open on May 22, but people who buy a one-day pass won’t be able to use it until June 1 or later.

Epic Universe is a $6 billion expansion by Universal meant to lure away more visitors from Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Disney, in response, has announced a major upgrade to its Orlando parks, part of a 10-year, $60 billion investment in parks and experiences.

Epic Universe will feature five different lands. Celestial Park will serve as the entry into Universal Epic Universe, with dining, shopping and three attractions, a carousel, a dual-launch coaster and interactive dancing fountains. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter’s Ministry of Magic will present elements from both the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts franchises, and offer what is likely the most anticipated ride, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, which features the return of Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge.

Super Nintendo World will be a larger interactive Nintendo-themed world than the one in California, with a Donkey Kong-themed coaster where the car appears to jump over a gap. How to Train Your Dragon’s Isle of Berk will let you ‘ride’ a dragon and explore the Viking village at the heart of the story.

Finally, Dark Universe embraces Universal’s monster-movie history, with reimagined classic creatures, including Frankenstein, the Wolfman and Dracula.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff posted an open letter on LinkedIn admitting his company’s dating apps are falling short and don’t feel like places “to build real connections.” He’s now calling on Match employees to offer feedback on how to best improve their apps like Hinge and Tinder.

Finding love on dating apps has felt so bleak one user told Fortune that Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble feel like a “wasteland.” 

“I think the user pool on a lot of these apps has declined,” Max Gomez, a Gen Z communications professional, previously told Fortune. “Gen Z is just simply not using these [apps] as much anymore.”

Match Group’s new CEO admitted as much in a letter posted Thursday on LinkedIn, saying the company’s dating apps like Hinge and Tinder haven’t been up to snuff. 

“Too often, our apps have felt like a numbers game rather than a place to build real connections, leaving people with the false impression that we prioritize metrics over experience,” wrote Spencer Rascoff, Zillow’s former CEO who took the top job at Match Group in February. “That needs to change.”

In his letter, Rascoff called on employees to confidentially share their “unvarnished feedback” on products to help improve the apps. 

“We know that listening to users isn’t enough—we need to move with urgency and increased accountability,” Rascoff wrote, adding Match Group would be “increasing expectations around in-office collaboration” to make changes happen faster. Rascoff has been revered for the company culture he created during his time at Zillow.

Match Group declined to provide further comment on Rascoff’s letter.

Analysts have been warning about the downfalls of dating app companies like Match Group and Bumble for a while. Although Bank of America analysts said in a Feb. 5 note Rascoff’s appointment could be a positive for the company, “the online dating industry faces continued headwinds to user growth.” 

Global users for dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge declined 6% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to Bank of America research. During the past five years, Match Group stock has tanked nearly 70%, plus the “overall sentiment on dating apps largely remains negative,” according to a Jan. 28 analyst note from Citi. However, Match Group total revenue grew 3% year-over-year to $3.5 billion, according to the company’s earnings report on Feb. 4. 

Some younger people have also ditched dating apps entirely, yearning for real-life meet-ups instead. 

“I don’t want to just be chatting people online,” Louise Mason, a millennial marketing specialist from Doncaster, U.K., previously told Fortune. “I don’t want a penpal.”

Rascoff feels users’ pain.

“I’ve heard incredible stories of love,” he wrote. “But I’ve also heard frustration—from users searching for real, meaningful matches and expecting more from the experience.”

Better product offerings could help Match Group climb out of its slump. Citi analysts noted they’re watching for new products and updates that could improve Match Group’s performance and outlook.

“Improved product development is critical in our view to improve underlying user trends long-term,” Citi analysts said. 

Rascoff said Match Group is on top of product updates and developments in his letter shared on LinkedIn.

“Transformation is already underway,” Rascoff wrote, adding Hinge, Tinder, and other brands in its portfolio are finding new ways to implement AI into product development.

“But it’s not about technology alone,” he added. “Our people, our culture, and our deep commitment to our mission will be the driving force behind this transformation.” 

Analysts from Wolfe Research also appear optimistic about changes Rascoff could usher in as the new CEO of Match Group.

“We believe investors will welcome his communication style and cadence favorably,” Wolfe Research analysts wrote in a Feb. 5 note. “A lot depends on successful execution this year, and the company now has another chance to prove out its strategy.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com