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Minnesotans to Tech Oligarchs: We Overwhelmingly Don't Want the Product You're Incessantly Pushing!
You there, savvy media consumer! Study this Axios headline from Friday: "Minnesotans lag nation in rate of AI tool use." Now scroll back up, look at ours, and ponder the subtle ways media orgs push narratives and agendas. (Axios is betting big on generative AI; Racket rejects generative AI—we're happy laggers.)
Anyway, enough media crit, let's concentrate on that report on AI use among working-age adults, which comes courtesy of Microsoft. Kyle Stokes of Axios Twins Cities (who is good and whom we like) plotted the Minnesota data out county-by-county, and found (perhaps unsurprisingly) that AI use is most heavily concentrated in metro areas, where 28.4% of those studied use the stuff; Washington County has the most at 41%. Meanwhile, rural counties come in at just 13.1%; 8.8% of folks in last-ranked Pine County mess with around with AI. At 26.3% overall, Minnesota ranks 38th nationally.
Boosters like to point to how widespread AI adoption has been relative to the newness of the tech. But you'd think reports like this one send chills through the sector, considering the stock market is leveraged to the hilt on AI bets. There's no natural mass market for these "tools," despite the marketing machines barking at us nonstop. And it has been a bad week for AI PR, with Uber COO Andrew Macdonald acknowledging that, for his company, big AI spending hasn't yielded tangible results. Don't blame Washington County when the bubble pops!
What the Hell's a "Ben Schierer"?
More and more folks have been asking variations of that since early Friday, when inevitable-seeming future Minnesota Gov. Amy Klobuchar selected the obscure former Fergus Falls mayor as her lieutenant governor running mate. ("Big day for Fergus Falls," reports the Fergus Falls Daily Journal.)
Ben Schierer, 52, spent 16 years in government, ran two restaurants (Union Pizza & Brewing Company and TÖAST), authored a 2025 biography of former Minnesota Gov. Rudy Perpich, and, most recently, worked at a nonprofit called the West Central Initiative. A father of five, he is also running to replace State Auditor Julie Blaha, but you'd think today's development means he'll bow out of that one.
“Ben Schierer hasn’t just talked about how to create opportunities in Minnesota—he’s actually done it,” Klobuchar says in a statement.
Your DFL, GOP Convention Weekend Cheat Sheet
Time to eat your political-process vegetables: Minnesota Democrats and Republicans are each holding their endorsing conventions this weekend, and you gotta at least know the basics. Here to help are Minnesota Reformer journalists Michelle Griffith and Alyssa Chen, who jointly authored this handy explainer on the DFL (gathering in Rochester) and GOP (Duluth) delegate parties. (The party of Lincoln is reportedly confused and pissy up in the Twin Ports.)
Dems might've answered their biggest Q when Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced that Ben Schierer will join her ticket. Klobes has amassed a war chest of $4.8 million since announcing her campaign 60 days ago. Republicans have more to figure out, like whether House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring), perennial candidate Kendall Qualls, or crackpot pillow CEO Mike Lindell should run as their gubernatorial candidate. Woof, choices like those make the Klobuchar medicine go down easier... Click over to the Reformer for rundowns of every contentious race.
Nothing will be decided this weekend, however, electorally speaking. That'll be the duty of voters during August 11 primary elections.
They're Calling It the T-Shirt of the Summer...
By "they," of course, I'm referring to us, the makers of the T-shirt in question: Racket's viral culture weapon, the gorgeous, hyper-exclusive item of clothing pictured below. (Speaking of questions, savvy media consumer, feel free to question our editorial decision to plug our own merch; we'll sleep soundly tonight atop massive piles of T-shirt profits.) We ordered 280. As of press time, just 60 remain. You know what to do.
