Content Aware media news: April 25, 2024

Teaching parrots to read newspapers and training AIs to "think".

Published: 14:03, 25 April 2024

Teaching parrots to read newspapers
Why the rush to put values on the content owned by publishers? Well, if your super clever AI can't even answer basic questions which even the world's most underfunded news website could do with ease, it's not much of an advert for the rest of the AI's capabilities. Reuters Institute put them in the hotseat.
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“Underdone, bitter, and lacking substance"
If Google was on Great British Bake Off making cookies, Paul Hollywood - bake tent overlord and flour enthusiast - would send them packing for how often they keep opening the cookie oven and fiddling with the recipe. The "coming soon..." Privacy Sandbox cookie policy changes are still nowhere to be seen.
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And here's why...
The UK competitions authority once again rejected Google's plans for cookie deprecation after viewpoints from industry asserted they would be self-serving and harm competition. This is what happens the elephant gets so big it can't move without stepping on something.
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AMPing up the antipathy
SEO superstar Barry Adams unpicks why publishers resent the outgoing AMP standard, which he argues marks the moment when publishers finally lost patience with the search titan's demands to jump through hoops.
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TikTok tack
Last week we implied that TikTok would surely respond speedily to a EU demand for safety reports studying children's use of the video app, given that the reports requested could help defend against a huge fine. TikTok in fact ignored the demand, so while it is being broken up in the US, the EU too is now on the video app's case.
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Untying the knot
If you sell subscriptions in the UK then read below of changes made to the forthcoming Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill. It revises rules on subs pricing offers and the buyer’s ability to cancel them. It will almost certainly mean new user journeys on all your sign-up pages. While it's UK-centric, other legislators around the world are similarly looking at unsubscribe journeys.
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Pun in ten did
The pun that launched a career.
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Credit where it's due
Good local news news: New York State pens $90m of tax credits towards independent local news outlets.
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It's the Inception conception
While AI firms may yet get away with rifling your libraries, lawmakers are already looking further ahead to how to prevent them turning your thoughts into their property too.
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Rerolls and pre-rolls
Watching X implode its advertiser appeal has become a teaching moment for the business scholars of tomorrow. Nevertheless, it's worth reading its plans to put itself back on the media budget planning sheets.
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