#95 - Info Drift

Gen Z swims in a sea of digital content every day, including memes, social media, chats, videos, influencers, and news from many sources. A recent study by Google's Jigsaw team , which focuses on online politics and polarization, explores how Gen Z sorts through this information. Most of their digital experience is in what researchers call 'timepass mode'; in short, they are just looking to not be bored. Rather than engaging in a traditional, information-seeking journey to answer specific questions, Gen Zers figure things out by bouncing around online in a more dialogical and exploratory way.

Instead of verifying facts like older generations, they rely on social feeds and comments to gauge what's important or true. They don't read long articles and distrust anything with ads, paywalls, or clickbait. Instead, they follow trusted influencers and use social cues to decide what to believe. Jigsaw's study isn't based on large polls but on in-depth interviews with a diverse group of 13- to 24-year-olds. While you probably shouldn't draw broad conclusions from this qualitative research, it does match recent data showing that all of us are consuming less formal news content and relying more on social networks to stay informed.

AI

Time has struck a multiyear content licensing deal and strategic partnership with OpenAI . OpenAI now has access to Time's archives and real-time content to train its models and enhance user queries, citing and linking back to Time.

However, OpenAI's partners might not be very happy with how it is executing its part of the deal. A Nieman Lab tests show ChatGPT is directing users to broken URLs for at least 10 publications with OpenAI licensing deals. This highlights a fundamental problem: a good chatbot and a good web index may be fundamentally at odds.

Related AI use case: The O'Reilly learning platform's AI reliably answers learners' questions, credits its sources, and pays royalties to those sources.

Short:

• ElevenLab launches a reader app: listen to articles, PDFs, or any text with high quality AI voices on your mobile. Link
• Synthesia’s AI-generated avatars are getting even more realistic: They will soon have bodies that can move, and hands that gesticulate. Link
• The Boston Consultancy Group on how CMOs are shaping their GenAI future. Link
• Figma announces a slew of new AI tools for designers. Link
• How generative AI could reinvent what it means to play. Link

And an AI reality-check to consider during the summer. The AI revolution should be in full swing. And yet, for most enterprise customers, AI adoption remains a challenge and shows a very different dynamic.

NEWS

A new study finds that people think journalism is increasingly driven by profit, with journalists more focused on making money than delivering unbiased news. This makes news consumers very skeptical of most news reports.

This year’s EBU News Report addresses the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on journalism and the news industry. It presents an array of practical case studies, checklists, and first-hand insights into managing the implementation of generative AI in news organizations.?

Digiday and Arc XP surveyed 115 publishers to understand the state of publishers’s traffic; 80% said search traffic was down in 2023. The number one response, at 81%, is a renewed drive to video.

Short:

• Journalism Crossroads: media professionals talk about their careers and navigating what comes next in journalism. Link
• How DPG Media leverages AI with ChatDPG. Link

VIDEO

NBCUniversal is adding a twist to its Paris Olympics coverage by using an AI version of Michael Phelps to provide personalized daily recaps. The AI-powered commentator will host the mobile-focused, 10-minute “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock.

Similarly, AI advancements are making waves in Hollywood. According to analyst Doug Shapiro , despite the rapid progress of AI video models like OpenAI's Sora and Google's Veo, traditional filmmaking won't be replaced anytime soon due to labor relations, unresolved legal issues, and technical limitations.

Short:

• Interesting case study: How TF1 is turning into a streamer. Link?
• Netflix games aren’t doing very well. Link
• YouTube made up nearly 10% of all viewership on TV in the U.S. in May. Link
• Toys“R”Us apparently made the world’s first AI-generated TV ad. It’s pretty awful .

AUDIO

Universal, Sony, and Warner have filed a lawsuit against Suno and Udio , accusing them of infringing on copyrighted songs with their AI music generators. You can listen to the AI-generated ripoff songs that got Udio and Suno sued here.

Spotify is highlighting a relatively new issue: artificial streams . These are fake streams created by bots or scripts, which distort genuine listening numbers. If left unchecked, they shift revenue from legitimate artists to bad actors, undermining the fairness of the platform.

In the UK, podcast listenership has reached an all-time high. According to a new Edison Research study 42% of people tune into podcasts monthly, while 30% are weekly listeners.

The New York Times is planning to put many of its podcasts behind a paywall.

SHORT

• Facebook is overrun with AI spam and scams, and experts say the platform has stopped seeking their help.
• Google is creating personality-focused chatbots.
• Snapchat announces new safety features to protect teens.
• The Australian government may use its tax system to prevent Meta from pulling news content.
• AnimateDiff lets you easily create animations using Stable Diffusion.
• Meet Dot, the AI that grows with you.

READ

An exceptionally long Meta-Media piece (warning: in French) on influencer journalism. Link

MIT Tech review on how generative AI could reinvent what it means to play. Link

And McKinsey released a State of the Consumer 2024 survey. Link

That's it for this week! After some intense weeks of curating and collecting during evenings and weekends, Wayfinder is taking a long summer break to recharge. We'll be back in mid-August. Enjoy your summer!