Has Burning Man peaked?

Hi everyone. For the first time in more than a decade, Burning Man is struggling to sell all of its tickets. But first...Three things you ne [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( [by Ellen Huet]( Hi everyone. For the first time in more than a decade, Burning Man is struggling to sell all of its tickets. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Elon Musk and the UK government are headed for a confrontation [over online discourse]( • Paramount takes a $6 billion writedown on its [cable TV networks]( • Amazon strikes e-commerce deals with [TikTok and Pinterest]( Burnt out Burning Man is two weeks away. Soon, tens of thousands of people will head to the arid Nevada desert for the annual art festival, where they’ll don costumes (or birthday suits) and ride around on dusty bicycles and deep-house-thumping, LED-encrusted art cars. Every year since 2011, the festival has sold out almost immediately. Tickets are usually scarce; securing one can be the hardest part of making it to Burning Man. This year, though, something is really different. Demand has dipped significantly. Some theme camps, which get the chance to buy tickets earlier in the year, have many more than they need, and are essentially begging for second-hand buyers. On forums, offers to sell tickets far below face value are not getting any bites. The Burning Man Project, a nonprofit that runs the gathering, also appears to have too many tickets and not enough buyers. For the first time ever, the organization is offering people the chance to buy last-minute tickets on demand — an unheard-of level of availability. For the past 15 years, Burning Man has been inextricably linked to the culture of Silicon Valley. The [first Google Doodle]( in 1998 was a Burning Man symbol, which noted that its founders were away in the desert that week. In the mid-2010s, the wealthiest who’s who of tech was often spotted out on the playa, having revelatory experiences in the dust and partying together. In 2014, Elon Musk [told]( a reporter that Burning Man “is Silicon Valley,” and that “If you haven’t been, you just don’t get it.” Tyler Winklevoss [said]( his time there was “a spiritual experience.” Mark Zuckerberg [helicoptered]( in for a day to serve grilled cheese sandwiches. In 2018, after she was indicted, Elizabeth Holmes journeyed to the desert and burned a tribute to now-disgraced Theranos. Sam Altman [gave]( a talk about AI at the festival in 2022. Though plenty of Burning Man has nothing to do with the tech industry, Silicon Valley’s presence permeates the event. There are theme camps with loose ties to startup accelerator Y Combinator, and luxurious camps whose budgets are bolstered by tech wealth. It’s gauche to treat the festival like a networking party, but it’s also undeniably a place where bonds — personal as well as professional — are strengthened. In the 2010s, it seemed like Silicon Valley elites were drawn to the way the Burn offered a stark departure from the “default world.” Instead of using money, Burning Man relies on gifting. Instead of being hemmed in by expectations, people are encouraged to practice radical self-expression. Now, demand for that experience is dropping. It’s too soon to tell why. It’s been a tough few years: The event was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid. (Some devotees, like Musk, went to an unsanctioned gathering in 2021.) Then, in 2023, rains flooded the desert, leaving 80,000 people stranded in the mud. (I was [there]( — it was fun, I swear.) Or the pain of inflation could be making it feel too expensive. In a statement, the Burning Man Project said its ticket availability was allowing them to “offer greater access to more people as the event nears.” Still, the question lingers. Has Burning Man peaked? Matt Mihaly, a games entrepreneur and longtime Burner, said he was wondering the same thing. Maybe what Burning Man once offered — a way to live differently for a week — is gradually becoming, well, kind of normal. “I feel like Burning Man has gone a little past its peak cultural relevance,” he said. “I wonder if the pseudo-mainstreaming of it is making it less cool.” Mihaly is journeying back to the desert this year, but his camp, Friendgasm, is taking a break. In late June, they were surprised to get an email from the Burning Man organization offering the camp the chance to buy more tickets anyway. Everyone who wanted to go already had a ticket in hand, so they turned down the offer.—[Ellen Huet](mailto:ehuet4@bloomberg.net) The big story Smaller, cheaper AI models are getting [big attention](. For years, tech companies and AI startups have been racing to build ever bigger and costlier artificial intelligence models using a tremendous amount of online data. But now, spurred by growing energy demands and different market opportunities, OpenAI, Google, Meta and Anthropic are investing in more affordable alternatives to their flagship large language models, or LLMs. One to watch [Ezinne Uzo-Okoro, the White House assistant director for space policy, speaks on Bloomberg Television about the astronauts stuck on the Space Station because issues with the Boeing spacecraft that took them there.]( Get fully charged Amazon is testing speedy delivery with drivers behind the wheel of [a Kia Soul](. A tech icon in South Korea is charged with rigging prices in [a landmark case](. 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