Content Aware media news: July 11, 2024

Fake fakes, fake tunes, and fake cakes - all in this week's Content Aware weekly newsletter.

Published: 16:39, 11 July 2024

Last updated: 17:24, 11 July 2024

Content Aware hits 150 today, in one guise or another. What started off as a barely disguised way of talking about cool things our customers did, sort of grew into this weekly picnic of puns and brickbats as we react as only publishing people can to the things we see around us and to espy some interesting snippets that had previously escaped your attention. We'll keep at it, and hope you keep reading. Thanks!

Fake fake = true?
For all the hype about AI lies causing election confusion and a mass exodus of truth, it turns out that the fear of AI tomfoolery is more prevalent than the actual act itself - but might in fact be just as dangerous. Glide's No.1 human Rob investigates.
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Problems in OpenAI's paradise
OpenAI are under the microscope after basic security issues in the Mac ChatGPT app came to light, in an article which also highlights some even more basic security concerns from within the firm. Colour us surprised: fast-growing tech start-up plays fast and loose with data shocker! What else don't we know? (Anything! - Ed)
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GenAI in Journalism: The Good, The Bad
The European Broadcasting Union's gigantor 191 page report into GenAI in journalism highlights the thoughts of media leaders across the continent about the technology's impending effects on journalism. INMA AI lead Sonali Verma surmises, while the full report is a proper sit-down-with-tea affair.
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No index, no excuse
Google's no-indexing glitch showed itself again last week, mirroring a similar drop from search results for sites in June. No explanation, but the net effect was site content not being surfaced in search results for hours, so check your analytics to see if you were hit. You recourse is zero, unfortunately. Only a huge cynic would suggest that such accidental search blackouts handily give Google real data to hone arguments against its break-up by hinting at what a no-Google day of search might look like.
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On the grand stand
Ricky Sutton's look inside the forthcoming Google anti-trust trial and its surprising witness list - including many Google star names past and present. And as the Perplexity saga rumbles on, an interesting counterview: start-up AIs trying to gain an advantage by pushing the boundaries of law with other people's content actually do the large incumbents a huge favour. If the minnows are allowed to get away with it, the whales swoop in straight behind.
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Them zombies taking your jobs
Long-expired tech site TUAW has mysteriously reanimated and started pumping out news again, under the bylines of some of its best-known writers. A triumphant return? Err, not quite: it's an AI spam farm regurgitating its own old stuff under real-fake names, much to the shock of the actual writers themselves who had no idea their old stomping ground had been acquired by what looks like a modern day body snatcher.
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The sound of lawyers letters
Ever since court cases for sampling became a thing, the music industry has never been shy about going to law for perceived copyright infringement. In the AI era, we are waiting for a landmark case that will set some precedent as to what counts as theft or not. This example will add to the discussion: a bedroom DJ reaches global fans with an AI-generated song which features AI "contributions" from Bad Bunny and Justin Bieber. Music moguls are not amused.
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No tech, no cry
Gazetteer SF is a subscription-based local news outlet that refuses to go down the tech platform's road. Founder Byron Perry's vision is of quality journalism over traffic metrics, so they are sticking to a pre-social tech stack, leaning on things like text messages to tell local news.
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How much fake news really?
A study by IAS revealed that despite perceptions of the world being awash with fake and misinforming political news, it actually makes up a tiny fraction of what's viewed. Yes, it only takes a tiny dose to poison a well, but seeing that most bad actors make very little headway is good to know.
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The banker's view of AI
A 31 page report by Goldman Sachs into AI struggles to make a case that it can ever return the budgets being earmarked for it. Have we already reached peak AI bubble?
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