I’m a GenZer, Get Me Out of Here!

When I was a child my mum would often use the sentence “Ya os lo he dicho, luego no quiero lloros” (which roughly translates as “you’ve been warned, don’t cry later”) to inform my sister and I about an unpleasant outcome well in advance in the hope of preventing us from throwing a tantrum later.

This week I’ve received an email from a French contact suggesting that it’d be great to catch up on an upcoming event, and she’s offered a call for September.

Leaving aside the fact that this woman is winning at life, her message has reminded me that there’s Spanish blood running in my veins even if living in this country under less than ideal weather conditions makes me forget it sometimes, and it’s about time I honoured my origins.

In other words: next week will be the last issue of the newsletter until September.

In my mum’s words: Ya os lo he dicho, luego no quiero lloros.

Amidst the headlines covering the launch of Threads and the Zuckerberg-Musk feud, you might have missed that Hollywood is on strike.

Let’s recap: it all started with the WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike, which has been ongoing since May, has now the SAG – AFTRA (Screens Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) has also joined them and they've been on strike since mid-July, impacting the presence of actors on current film promotions in order to support the strike, but also projects currently shooting. ?

And what are they striking about, besides better wages? ?The impact of artificial intelligence on the industry.

The key to understand the strike can be found on the lack of regulation around the use of AI in the film industry and how Unions can influence how the technology is used in order to safeguard jobs across the industry.

The rapid growth of AI has impacted all industries, even those we had thought exempt from automation because they relied on the most human of qualities: creativity, the last frontier that will prevent us from being ruled over by robots.

Turns out AI can also do creative jobs, so the realisation that no one is actually safe has finally kicked as not even a Hollywood actor can’t avoid being replaced by a deepfake of themselves.

Something that has been echoed this week by Ian Hogarth in his first media interview to BBC News since taking charge as the new head of the UK's AI Taskforce.

Hogarth anticipates that the rollout of artificial intelligence will inevitably have an impact on the way we work and that protecting jobs will be one of the main challenges as "there will be winners or losers on a global basis in terms of where the jobs are as a result of AI".

According to Hogarth ensuring that people can benefit from AI in positive ways will be one of the main markers of success of the new taskforce, which has received a budget of ￡100m to oversee AI safety and research.

While there’s still a lot to be done to make the UK a leading AI power, Hogarth is certain that that the road towards that future goes through creating the right AI infrastructure for companies -currently access to graphic processing units for small AI startups is a challenge- so the next generation of AI talent and innovation can emerge.

Meanwhile, Gen Z has been caught up in between this technological revolution while also entering the workforce in the heights of a global pandemic, which admittedly is a less than an ideal scenario.

On the one hand what they have lost in opportunities to develop intrapersonal skills can be make up for by their AI-fluency, which turns them into valuable members of any team.

On the other, AI being the double-edged sword that it is, GenZers are not exempt from the challenges of seeing entry-level roles being automated, which can limit their options when looking for a first job.

The future is definitely an uncertain place, but it seems Gen Alpha -the children and future babies of millennials – will be ready for it as per a recent briefing paper by Harvard Business Review

The paper sheds light on Gen Alpha, the largest generation ever with the biggest spending power, and how they will shape the future of work, education, and entertainment as they are growing up in a world where artificial intelligence, games, immersive technologies, spatial computing and streaming are their bread and butter.

Maybe in a great plot twist Gen Alpha will be the ones to bring the Matrix down...

Until then, I have more terrenal concerns. For instance, how the lack of sun is making me look like a walking dead online and offline.

Good thing then that Microsoft Teams is adding Maybelline’s AI-powered ‘makeup’ filters, so now we can all top up on the bronzer to look our best at online meetings.

And now that Meta is open-sourcing its large language model LLaMA 2 and making it free for commercial and research use via Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS, and that Google has started testing a tool that uses AI to write news articles, it’s only a matter of time until an AI-powered, filter-perfect version of me starts producing newsletters by the hour and I finally become a global influencer.

Perfect timing as the UK government is launching a Digital Secondment Programme to bring experts from tech businesses into Whitehall.?

I’m ready to submit my spontaneous application for the Tech for Dummies role. I wonder whether I should specify that I am the dummy, just in case they expect any actual tech knowledge from me, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

First things first:?

Should I use “To Whom It May Concern” or “Dear Rishi”?

Tech News

• As many UK adults now get their news from TikTok as they do from The Guardian, according to Ofcom stats.
• Revolut has launched Experiences, an in-app marketplace to book tours, activities and attractions
• Apple UK sales hit record ￡1.5bn driven by strong demand
• John Lewis trials virtual ‘try on’ service for fashion rental offer
• Uber generated ￡3.4bn of revenue in the UK last year

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Creative & Cultural News

• Creative UK has responded to the government's plans to limit student numbers and spoken about its potential impact on creative subjects.?The City of London has approved ￡25m of funding to go towards upgrading the Barbican Centre A new high of 1.1m people visited the UK from abroad last year to go to a gig or festival, according to a UK Music report.??Bandai Namco is opening its first London store in Camden this July.

马莎百货 plans to demolish their flagship art deco store on Oxford Street have been officially denied.

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This Week I’m Looking Forward To

• ?Barbenheimer day ??
• I never thought I’d care so much about watching a movie about a doll or the creation of the atomic bomb, but this is the nature of life. Or maybe it’s just my personality.
• Anyway, I can’t wait to see Greata Gerwig’s Barbie especially after having watched last weekend her adaptation of Little Women as well as seeing Drive. I’m really curious to see Ryan Gosling play Ken as he couldn’t be a more contrasting character to the lone wolf he plays in Drive.
• The other half of Barbenheimer day is of course marked by the release of Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan with the always brilliant Cillian Murphy in the leading role.
• ?Let’s be honest: if you put Tom Shelby on a film about the mass destruction of the world, it’s a winning bet. Yes, I know, this is not Peaky Blinders, but let me dream and imagine that scenario in my head. That’d would have been an epic end for an epic character.
• ?My plan: Seeing Oppenheimer today, then on Saturday recover from the emotional damage that it is likely to inflict on me, and by Sunday I’ll be mentally ready to embrace lightheartedness again with Barbie.
• Flawless. Think about it if you’re also considering watching both films. You don’t want to go from the highs of Barbieland to the lows of human extinction.
• We already have AI for that.

London Creative and Tech News is a weekly round-up of curated creative, cultural and tech news with a focus on London.?