A Taste of Sunday Brunch

Top Story ?

Inspiration or imitation? Either way, it isn’t the sincerest form of flattery. Influencer Sydney Nicole Gifford is suing fellow creator Alyssa Sheil for copying her “neutral, beige, and cream aesthetic,” inclusive of her fonts, camera angles, apartment decor, haircut, and Amazon products she promotes on her social media. The two have a history and had previously met to discuss a potential collaboration. Sheil's attorneys argue a copied aesthetic doesn't qualify as copyright infringement and IP attorneys warn that if the case succeeds it will be the first of many brought on by influencers. Is there enough room for everyone in the spotlight? Is influencer content a creative endeavor on par with other art forms? A U.S. District Court in Texas will be the judge. (Fast Company)??

Talk Nerdy to Me

• By the numbers. New data suggests the use of large language models is growing amongst scientific communities, with more turning to tools like ChatGPT for assistance with summarizing and writing abstracts. (Nature)??

• I’m Feeling Lucky. Google is looking to bring a random prompt generator to its Gemini AI assistant. (TechRadar)??

• Pointing the finger away from Gen AI. Meta reported that AI content made up less than 1% of misinformation around the election. (TechCrunch)?

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Under the Influence

• Trump nominee on watch. Public Citizen wants the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Dr. Mehmet Oz for alleged violations of influencer marketing rules. (The Washington Post)??

• 2024’s personal shoppers. More than half of respondents reported purchasing a holiday gift based on an influencer's recommendation, per a new survey. (Yahoo! Finance)??

• Aiming for steady income. Influencers are increasingly turning to platforms like Substack and Patreon, where they can require a monthly or annual subscription fee for access to content. (CNBC)?

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Media Navel-Gazing

• Better read than dead. Journalists at the Guardian and Observer newspapers walked out over a proposed sale of the Observer to Tortoise Media. (NY Times)?

• All’s not fair in love and media. According to new research, three out of four Americans believe news organizations to biased towards one side of the political spectrum. (Pew Research)??

• A self-funded success story. In 2023 four journalists quit their jobs and each contributed $1,000 to launch a co-owned tech news site that now generates almost seven figures a year. (Business Insider)??

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