#56 - Future Shock

#56 - Future Shock

In 1965, Futurist Alvin Toffler coined the term "Future Shock" to describe the overwhelming stress caused by rapid change, predicting the anxieties of a world upended by rapidly emerging technologies in a book of the same name. Today, as AI rapidly accelerates, we find ourselves even more "future shocked" . AI's constant evolution and powerful impact make it hard to understand. It changes how we see the world and makes us wonder what it means to be human. No wonder we feel a bit lost.

Toffler suggests that coping with change requires being comfortable with progress and therefore trusting it. This challenge goes beyond what we can solve individually and requires political action. Governments play a crucial role in overseeing machines. In that sense, the European AI Act comes at the right moment. It is a first attempt to regain control over AI and mitigate potential harm caused by technology. Transparency is an essential part of it, as without it, we are left with ignorance and doubt.

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IN FOCUS

The new Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 was published this week. As always it is a treasure trove of information highlighting key trends in a rapidly shifting news landscape. One aspect that struck me is the rising worry about aspects of personalisation.

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Source: Reuters Institute

  • Overview and key findings. Link
  • Country and market data. Link
  • Ten charts that sum up the Digital News Report 2023. Link
  • Subscription insights from the Digital News Report 2023. Link

+ The report was also criticized . Nobel laureate Maria Ressa says research used by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism can be used against reporters in the global south. Director Rasmus Kleis Nielsen responded with understanding but defended the report's approach.

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AI/NEWS

On Wednesday June 14th, the European Parliament passed the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) . The AI Act will have a significant impact in the way organizations develop, deploy, and maintain their AI systems. The legislation takes a “risk-based approach, ” introducing restrictions based on how dangerous lawmakers predict an AI application could be.

  • New chatbots that mimic the voices of celebrities and politicians may break the law. Link
  • The Beatles to make one-song comeback via AI. Link
  • Mercedes is adding ChatGPT?to its infotainment system. Link

AI/TOOLS

  • ChatGPT has now over 400 plugins. Link
  • Meta open sourced a music LLM that generates music based on text and music prompts. Link
  • Instagram is testing an AI chatbot. Link
  • How newsrooms like BBC and Semafor use AI tools. Link

AI/RESOURCES

  • The Guardian published its approach to generative AI. Link
  • Experts from FT Strategies gave an excellent webinar?on AI in media and publishing. Link
  • The limitations of today’s text-to-video tech. Link
  • New tools let you see for yourself how biased AI image models are. Link
  • Bloomberg made a powerful interactive article about stereotypes and bias in text-to-images models. Link
  • A long analysis of Google’s new generative AI search experience. Link
  • How to navigate the evolving Language Model stack. Link

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SOCIAL

Reddit, the so-called front page of the internet, finds itself in an unpredictable battle with its own users. The reason is Reddit's decision to charge for access to its API, as a result of which an entire ecosystem of third-party apps and communities and moderators that build on them suddenly threaten to come to a standstill.

Reuters takes a deep dive into Tik-Tok journalism and the creators that are trying to craft a new narrative for?journalism at a time of blistering decline ?for a business in dire need of reinvention.?

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VIDEO

Netflix is shifting its strategy from “local for global” to “local for local,” meaning it wants culturally specific hits. While that will lead to a lot of?investment?in chosen regions, it may also set off alarm bells for countries who are nervous that Netflix has the power and allure to replace their own local industries if they don’t?put up guardrails.

  • Netflix is also toying with the idea of live-streaming sport. Link
  • Amazon plans ad tier for Prime Video. Link
  • How the Marvel cinematic universe swallowed Hollywood. Link

+ A 14-year-old recreated the trailer for 'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' in LEGO style and got hired to animate on the actual film , showcasing how talent, accessible production tools, and collaboration can generate exceptional content.

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AUDIO

25% of Gen Z monthly podcast listeners say they?first?discovered podcasts on social media , and another 19% say they?first?heard about podcasts from a social media influencer or personality that they follow.?

Spotify Advertising launched a 'Future of Sound' report looking at 14 emerging trends in sound. Link

Twitter sued for $250 million by music publishers over ‘massive’ copyright infringement. Link

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SHORT

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IDEAS

Companies can no longer afford to ignore the ethical ramifications of their products. A new toolkit helps you to integrate ethical design into practice.

My find of the week: "Creativity in the Age of AI , a short film by Joss Fong and áron Filkey for SPACE10 exploring AI's role in the creative process and the lessons we can learn from the history of creative tools.

Creativity bubbles up in the corners of the internet. A new genre that is interesting to follow are AI generated Twitch streams. From Ask Jesus anything to an AI-generated debate between a foul-mouthed Trump and an equally vocal Bidden.

+ The connection between social media and mental health is more complicated than it seems. Link

+ Renée Diresta from the Stanford Internet Observatory writes a thought-provoking piece on the creator economy and how it is incentivizing propaganda.

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As always feel free to share with friends & collagues!

Ezra


Marco Mertens

Senior Web Developer bei Landwirtschaftsverlag GmbH

1 年

One of the central questions is how AI tools can be used in an ethical way and how this is not only implemented by governments in a regulatory way, but also becomes part of the AI culture through active discourse at an early stage. More and more tweets are appearing on Twitter about simple ways to make money quickly and easily with AI tools. Again, there are always two ways to make money: an ethical way and an unethical way. In my opinion, the ethical way always requires human effort, reviewing the answers or products of AI tools, putting them into a broad context and improving them or adding necessary information, sources, implications, etc. The ethical way always requires human effort. Here too, an ethical approach as an integral part of the culture of use can ensure that we can use AI tools such as chatGPT in the future in a sustainable and meaningful way as an extension of our working methods. übersetzt mit DeepL (https://www.deepl.com/app/?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=app&utm_campaign=share-translation

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