#48 - AI Autonomy Unleashed

We are still in the process of understanding the generative AI paradigm, yet it seems the ground has once more shifted beneath us. Over the past week, developers around the world have begun building “autonomous agents” to solve complex problems. This next generation of bots is designed to do more than just provide smart answers; they are capable of executing a variety of tasks across multiple applications and platforms.

• Auto-GPT chains together "thoughts", to autonomously achieve whatever goal you set.
• BabyAGI is an autonomous AI agent that contains an AI task manager.
• Google and Stanford created a digital world with 25 avatars who are prompted to act like “believable humans,”.

The contest between companies to create God-like AI is happening without anyone understanding of what lies on the other side. A user of AutoGPT asked it to try to “destroy humanity,” “establish global dominance,” and “attain immortality.” The AI, called ChaosGPT, complied and tried to research nuclear weapons, recruit other AI agents to help it do research, and sent tweets trying to influence others. Obviously it's not capable of this (yet) since we are all still here - but it should give us reason to pause.

According to Ian Hogarth, investor and co-author of the annual “State of AI” report, we are risking to drive the AI bus of the cliff. He cites Berkley professor Stuart Russell: “If we put the wrong objective into a superintelligent machine, we create a conflict that we are bound to lose. The machine stops at nothing to achieve the specified objective.”

This and more in this week's Wayfinder.

IN FOCUS

It's Perugia time! The International Journalism Festival is starting next week and it will bring an incredible number of speakers together to reflect on the current and future state of journalism.

• Here's all you need to know if you are going there.
• You can also follow all sessions live-streamed on the festival YouTube channel
• I'm honored to be in a panel with Sofie Hvitved, Agnes Stenbom and Shirish Kulkarni on future-orienting newsrooms. Feel free to reach out if you are Perugia - would love to connect & discuss any of the many topics I follow in Wayfinder.

NEWSROOMS

Swiss newspaper Blick has found success in engaging both new and existing readers by focusing on audience segmentation and personalization. By analyzing reader data and tailoring articles to different demographics, such as young adults and sports fans, Blick has seen an increase in engagement and subscriptions.

Tav Klitgaard, the CEO of Danish news outlet Zetland talks about how they have grown a young membership base by utilizing AI and audio tools.

+ A new POLIS/LSE report looks at how games and gamification can be used in journalism to build audience engagement and loyalty. 

REVENUE

Publishers are finding new ways to monetize email newsletters beyond the inbox, with exclusive subscriptions, events, podcasts, and consulting services.

PressGazette made a list of the UK news outlets doing the best job converting readers to paying subscribers.

Toolkits has published their Q2 publishing snapshot report. Main take-away: things aren't as bad as expected. This is also confirmed in the latest Subscription Economy Index report from Zuora.

SOCIAL

The aspiration for an alternative to Twitter remains alive. This week Substack launched its Notes feature to the public. It provides a new way for writers and readers to share brief messages in a format that is quite reminiscent of Twitter, complete with the ability to post, like, reply, and "restack."

However, it's becoming clear that there won't be another Twitter, but rather an increasing number of smaller communities. Nathan Baschez explores this shift, noting that Twitter is fragmenting, and new networks are experimenting with new structures to capitalize on it.

+ Lemon8, a new mobile app from TikTok-parent ByteDance is gaining traction in the US market despite concerns about China ties.

+ Last month four of the top 10 most-downloaded apps in the U.S. across Apple's iOS store and the Google Play store were owned by Chinese companies.

AI

News publishers are increasingly considering AI's potential influence on their companies and the news industry. Read my WAN-IFRA interview discussing how to prepare for AI's impact.

AI-generated pop culture has arrived. Every style, idea, and remix can be created quickly and easily. As evidenced by the rise of video memes made with AI generators, the technology is changing the way we consume and create media.

More Ai News

• The Reuters Institute takes a look at the impact of AI-generated images on the work of fact-checkers and journalists. Link.
• Italy gives OpenAI initial to-do list for lifting ChatGPT suspension order. Link.
• Elon Musk has created a new company dedicated to artificial intelligence — and it’s called X. Link.
• Publishers test generative AI to boost SEO. Link.

Tools & Apps

• The social media chapter of chatbots is here: Poe allows you to share & follow personal bots. Link.
• Meta released a new image recognition system that can extract any given object from a photo or video. Link.
• Stability AI release Stable Diffusion’s most powerful round yet: XL. Link.
• Amazon announces new tools for building with generative AI. Link.
• My discovery of the week: The AI Toolbox for Innovators. Link.

AUDIO

Spotify is encouraging broadcasters to convert more of their radio content into podcasts with the launch of their new broadcast-to-podcast technology on the Megaphone platform. .

Meanwhile news outlets are increasingly putting their podcasts on YouTube, despite the platform being primarily known for video content. News organizations hope to reach new listeners who may not have found their podcasts otherwise.

VIDEO

According to Evan Shapiro's analysis of the European media landscape, 54% of consumers are streaming their local/regional services, which is twice that of Amazon and more than Netflix, and almost as much as YouTube, highlighting a strong preference for local/regional streaming services in Europe.

Technology analyst Matthew Ball has put together full account of the emergence of online streaming in a new ‘mini-book’. It’s free and packed with insights!

+ Twipe takes a look at how publishers are leveraging short form video.

+ video-game movies just got a huge next-level boost. "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" blew past expectations this weekend and easily become the year's biggest opener.

READ

The Steve Jobs Archive has released a free ebook called "Make Something Wonderful," providing a unique glimpse into the mind of one of the world's most creative entrepreneurs.

The Verge has published a special series revealing the significant impact of minor design decisions on our daily lives. A must-read series on how user interfaces transform our world.

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That's all. As always feel free to share with friends & colleagues!

I will be attending the Perugia Journalism Festival next week and, as a result, won't have the time to create a full Wayfinder newsletter. Rest assured, I will be back with the regular content soon.

Ezra