#80 - Gutenbot

Ai is finding it’s way to newsrooms. If 2023 was the year for exploration, 2024 is definitely the year where the emphasis is on productivity. AI needs to increase efficiency or add scale. A prime example is the way Reach has introduced an AI tool that allows journalists to swiftly rewrite stories from its network, a common practice to increase traffic. This is crucial as verbatim content can hurt Google search rankings. Reach's AI, named Guten, streamlines the process, enhancing efficiency. However, the impact on journalism's long-term value is debatable. As Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director from the Reuters Institute, points out, the fundamental business problem facing news is value creation: people aren't willing to pay attention to, let alone pay for, much of what is published. Doing more of the same more cheaply does nothing to solve that.

IN FOCUS

The time when products that were not ready were not available are over. Generative AI is a big experiment and we are all invited to the front row.

• This week several users reported that ChatGPT has been going off the rails with responses to prompts. Link
• Google's Gemini came under fire because the model created racially diverse Nazis and other inaccurate historical images. Link
• And a new report from plagiarism detector Copyleaks found that 60% of OpenAI's GPT-3.5 outputs contained some form of plagiarism. Link

AI/NEWS?

Last week, there was no Wayfinder. Meanwhile, Sora, OpenAI's new video generation tool, was released. In the meantime, many analyses have been added.

• How Sora works and what it means. Link
• Sora does not make recordings it renders ideas. Link
• Not everyone is happy with the hype. This time we should know better. Link

Other news?

• Gartner predicts a 25% drop in traditional search by 2026, due to the rise of chatbots and virtual agents. Link
• Early adopters of Microsoft’s Copilot AI bot are wondering if it’s worth the money. Link
• The next generation of AI agents can walk around Google Maps, ask for directions and carry out commands. Link
• OpenAI, Google, Meta, X, and others have signed an agreement to limit deceptive AI election content. Link

AI RESOURCES

A RISJ study found that by end of 2023, 48% of major news sites in ten countries blocked OpenAI’s crawlers, while 24% blocked Google’s AI crawler.

The EU has launched a European AI Office that aims to become the centre of AI expertise across the EU.

OpenAI has stared a forum that brings together domain experts and students to discuss and collaborate on the present and future of AI.

Other updates:?

• Adobe announces its own “chat with PDF”. Link
• Google introduces a lightweight open AI model called Gemma. Link
• Text-to-image model Stable Diffusion 3 is out. Link

VIDEO

Apple is venturing into live sports, launching a new "Apple Sports" app in the US, providing real-time scores and stats from major global sports. It aims to boost AppleTV+ engagement by serving as a "second screen" and features a "Watch on Apple TV" button for live sports.

More sports: The NBA launches “NB-AI”, an AI-model that makes live NBA games look like your favorite movies.

Short:

• TikTok says it’s the #1 platform for 18-24-year-old gamers to discover mobile games. Link
• Other Tik-Tok stat: Almost half of adults on TikTok have never posted a video, research shows. Link
• Viewers globally now watch more than 1 billion hours on average of YouTube content on their TVs every day. Link

NEWS

Bad news in the news sector keeps coming. This week, iconic media brand Vice announced that it will lay off hundreds of staffers as it ceases publishing on its own website. A day earlier, Buzzfeed announced that it was selling parts of the company and announced it would lay off 16% of its staff ahead of a “planned strategic restructuring” next week.

For NiemanLab it is clear that there is a need for new news leaders who know how to run a business.

The big issue for news media is which revenue model offers certainty. Everyone is looking for new innovative subscription or advertising models.

• What publishing leaders expect from subscriptions in 2024. Link
• Publishers are testing a new monetization tool from Google called Offerwall, which lets audiences unlock access to content by selecting from a range of options such as buying a subscription, viewing a video ad, sharing data, or purchasing short-term access. Link
• 3 trends shaping publisher's paid products. Link
• The New York Times is testing new ad-targeting solutions using generative artificial intelligence. Link

Other updates:

• An interview with New York Times' A. G. Sulzberger: his career, his company’s business and his newspaper’s editorial values. Link
• Ippen Digital shares their strategy for an AI driven newsroom. Link
• Le Monde launches new mobile app feature to combat news avoidance & information fatigue. Link

SHORT

• Google is holding free webinars to help publishers prepare for the phase out of cookies.
• Apple reportedly faces €500m fine from EU over music streaming access.
• EU opens formal probe of TikTok under Digital Services Act, citing child safety, risk management and other concerns.
• Roblox paid out a whopping total of $741M to creators in 2023.
• A surprising new Pew Research study finds that majorities in most countries say social media is good for democracy.

TRENDS & IDEAS?

The idea of microtribes is making a comeback, with brands now aiming to please many different small groups instead of trying to appeal to everyone. Social media is grouping people with similar likes together, and new technology is making it cheaper and easier to create products just for these groups.

The EBU has released a new report on the future of public sevrice media staff.

The most shared article this week was a piece by Ted Gioia about the state of culture anno 2024. He states that fastest growing sector of the culture economy is distraction, an endless cycle of scrolling, swiping, and time-wasting.

Also good. Kevin Kelley on the trust flip. Generative AI has made us skeptical of media, assuming photos and videos are fake or altered until proven otherwise.

And meet Laika 13, the world's first teenager influenced 100% by social media.

That's it for this week! As always feel free to share with friends and colleagues. Have something to share? Contact me at: [email protected]