The uptick in the usage of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, including Mounjaro and Ozempic, are affecting Americans' restaurant dining habits. Restaurants were already going through it as they tried to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, that attempt to stay afloat might be all the more in danger of capsizing.

GLP-1s, meet restaurant culture
Analysts at Morgan Stanley Research posit that approximately 24 million Americans — 7% of the country's population — will be on a GLP-1 drug by 2035. And diners on a GLP-1 drug are ordering at restaurants in new ways. "I'm taking a GLP-1, and it's reduced [my] eating out by 80%," said Robert Reyes, a restaurant photographer, to San Diego magazine. Reyes is also "eating smaller amounts and ordering less."

More startling, perhaps, is the effect of GLP-1 drugs on people who are not using them. Nathaly del Carmen, a marketing manager in New York, claims that "at least one person at her table" is on a GLP-1 drug "whenever she dines out," said The New York Times. When surrounded by people on the drug, she "eats less" herself. Being around those with smaller appetites "helps with impulse control."

This change has the capacity to alter restaurants' already-thin bottom line. Last year was one of the "worst years in a long time" for the restaurant industry, as it dealt with "inflation that surged prices on almost all of their raw materials," said San Diego magazine. 

Thin is not always the best kind of in
Dining and eating have long been complicated endeavors in American history, ones that readily equate value with thinness. The Ozempic era muddles those endeavors further. The drugs have "revived a cultural fervor for thinness," one that has been accused of "killing off the body positivity movement," said The Guardian.

Manipulating our bodies toward thinness "dates back to at least the Enlightenment, with distinctly racist roots," added The Guardian. It's connected to the notion that "bigger bodies lack self-control and refinement," said Sabrina Strings, a professor of Black studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. GLP-1s, whether used for dining in or out, provide a "medicalized avenue for that control."

Women are facing a one-two punch from generative AI. As the technology becomes more commonplace, so do the issues surrounding its rise. Women’s jobs are more likely to be affected by AI’s growth, research shows, and it could lead to further gender disparity as women are also less likely to use the functionality at work. However, tackling the problem early could lead to women's career ascension instead.

How are women's jobs being affected?
Women are more likely to have their jobs replaced by generative AI, and they are slower to adopt the technology into their work. Eight out of 10 women in the workforce are in "occupations highly exposed to generative AI automation," compared to six out of 10 men, said a 2023 analysis by the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. 

Some of the top jobs being replaced by AI are predominantly held by women, like administrative and clerical work. Women are also more reluctant to use the technology than men, according to a working paper by Harvard Business School. 

Historic misogyny in the workplace likely plays a role. Women face "greater penalties in being judged as not having expertise," said Rembrand Koning, a coauthor of the paper. "They might be worried that someone would think even though they got the answer right, they 'cheated' by using ChatGPT." 

How can the disparity be fixed?
The loss of women's jobs "aligns with broader AI-related disparities," said the World Economic Forum. AI may also create new jobs, but they have a higher likelihood of being male-dominated. Specialized technology training could be key to getting more women involved in developing AI.

The AI boom is being "shaped in ways that don't fully reflect the diversity of society, leaving women underrepresented in the jobs and leadership roles of the future," said the World Economic Forum. "Yet this moment offers a rare opportunity to course-correct." Approximately one in five women are opting to switch jobs as knowledge of AI increases their prospects, according to a survey by IT management company Ensono. 

"The intersection of AI, automation and gender presents a complex and urgent challenge," said Anne Theunissen, a research officer at The Inclusion Initiative at the London School of Economics. "While increasing productivity may be enticing, the effects on women cannot be dismissed."