A Taste of Sunday Brunch

Top Story

Can and should AI be held responsible? Google’s chatbot, Gemini, reportedly told a college student in Michigan to “please die” after calling him a “waste of time and resources” and “a burden on society.” This is not the first time Gemini has come under fire, nor is it the only chatbot to deliver a harmful response. While Google responded calling the answer “non-sensical” and affirming action was taken to prevent similar outputs, some question if that’s enough. The user’s sister, who was sitting next to him when he received the response, shared “I think there's the question of liability of harm. If an individual were to threaten another individual, there may be some repercussions or some discourse on the topic." This comes just one month after a Florida mother sued Character.AI and Google, claiming that the chatbot encouraged her son to take his own life. (CBS News)?

Talk Nerdy to Me

• PSA: Chatbots aren’t covered under HIPAA. Amidst an ask from Elon Musk for users to upload medical information to Grok, a reminder that the internet is forever when you choose to upload private medical information to consumer platforms. (Tech Crunch)??

• ISO: return on investment. Meta hired ex-Salesforce AI CEO Clara Shih to lead a new “Business AI” group and determine how to commercialize its AI investments. (CIO)?

Under the Influence

• A page out of YouTube’s playbook. Spotify is coming for long-form content with the announcement of a Partner Program that lets creators monetize their content based on performance, not just ad revenue. (TechCrunch)?

• Your favorite TikToker, AI-ified. Based on updates to the Chinese version of the app, speculation is rising that creator-based avatars may be coming soon. (Social Media Today)?

Media Navel-Gazing

• Freedom of identity. AI-generated news anchors are providing protection for journalists afraid of government censorship in Venezuela. (The Week)??

• The Podcast Election. If elections are any indicator of mass media trends, 2024 cemented audio’s place in the media landscape. (AdWeek)?

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