Wired tells readers what it will use generative AI for — and what’s off-limits
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Monday, March 6, 2023
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Wired tells readers what it will use generative AI for — and what’s off-limits“I don’t want to close off experimentation, and we know these tools will evolve.” By Sarah Scire. |
What We’re Reading
BBC News / Marianna Spring
Twitter can’t protect you from trolls any more, insiders say →
“Current and former employees of the company tell BBC Panorama that features intended to protect Twitter users from trolling and harassment are proving difficult to maintain, amid what they describe as a chaotic working environment in which Mr. Musk is shadowed by bodyguards at all times.”
Semafor / Ben Smith
The Washington Post would like to host a Republican presidential debate →
“Just as news organizations attempt to restore their bipartisan credentials, the Republican National Committee is courting them in an attempt to pull its own band back from the fringe. That same week, the RNC met with broadcasters ABC, NBC, and NewsNation, my colleague Max Tani reports.”
The Washington Post / Erik Wemple
What is Fox News hiding in the Dominion lawsuit? →
“All told, there are about 35 redacted passages in the opening narrative of Dominion's Feb. 16 filing, a collection of anecdotes that launched a frenzy of negative press for Fox News. Though the redactions are in Dominion's filing, they are a result of confidentiality designations made by lawyers for Fox News, according to a Dominion filing.”
The New York Times / Neil Genzlinger
R.I.P. Bernadette Carey Smith, a Black reporter in mostly white newsrooms →
“She may well have been the newspaper's first Black woman reporter, although records are inconclusive; certainly she was one of only a handful of Black journalists, male or female, hired by The Times before the late 1960s.”
Digital Investigations / Craig Silverman
How to get the most out of the Wayback Machine as a reporter →
“Most journalists and researchers know about the WM and Internet Archive, but I think we fail to utilize the full range of customization and search options. I hope this helps you get more out of these incredibly useful services.”
Big Technology / Alex Kantrowitz
Social media is changing, and paid accounts are the response →
“Social media feeds, once filled with content from ordinary users, are now programmed primarily by professional creators…After long relying on ordinary users for content, social media companies are giving up on them. Regular people either post too infrequently, are too boring, or both. And now they're being pushed aside.”
BBC News
How fake copyright complaints are muzzling African journalists →
“Journalists have been forced to temporarily take down articles critical of powerful oil lobbyists due to the exploitation of US copyright law…The claims — which falsely assert ownership of the stories — have been made by mystery individuals under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law meant to protect copyright holders.”
The Verge / Emma Roth
Meet the companies trying to keep up with ChatGPT →
“The stakes are high, and technology's biggest players don't want to be left behind as breakthroughs in AI make it more accessible — and much more interesting — to users.”
The Guardian / Mark Townsend
Anger grows over Afghan journalists still stranded by U.K. inaction →
“Without clarification on progress for ACRS [the Afghan citizens' resettlement scheme], there is little if any support that can be provided, and this leaves the journalists vulnerable to threats of disappearance, violence, arrest, imprisonment and assassination.”
The Guardian / Rowena Mason
The U.K. will change a bill that put journalists covering protests at risk of arrest →
“It comes after a backlash against the arrests of LBC reporter Charlotte Lynch, the press photographer Tom Bowles, the film-maker Rich Felgate and another photographer, Ben Cawthra, by Hertfordshire police while they were covering climate protests on the M25.”
The Washington Post / Jeremy Barr
“News guys have to be careful”: Fox News bosses scolded reporters who challenged false election claims →
“The narrative should be this is a huge celebration of the president,” Lachlan Murdoch said after Fox News journalists pushed back against false election fraud claims at a November 2020 rally.
Ars Technica / Jon Brodkin
A (deeply unconstitutional) Florida bill would make bloggers who write about Ron DeSantis register with the state →
“And file monthly reports or face fines of $25 per day…The bill text defines bloggers as people who write for websites or webpages that are ‘frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or business content.’ Websites run by newspapers or ‘similar publications’ are excluded from the definition.”
Vox / Vox Communications
Vox will retire Recode and The Goods branding →
Vox says readers can find “the same great work by the same reporters you know and love via Vox's technology section for Recode, and Vox's culture and money sections for The Goods.”
Semafor / Shelby Talcott and Max Tani
Donald Trump faces a “soft ban” at Fox News →
“Trump hasn't been on Fox News since announcing his presidential bid in November. His last weekday appearance on the network was in September with host Sean Hannity. During that interview, Trump said a president could declassify documents ‘by thinking about it.'”
Politico / Jessica Piper
Two months after allowing political advertising again, Twitter has…zero political ads →
“Both Republican and Democratic digital operatives said they expect Twitter advertising will eventually pick up as campaigns seek to meet voters wherever they are, including on the Musk-owned platform. But the same concerns about Twitter's ‘brand safety’ driving the platform's overall advertising decline remain. Twitter's rollout of the new ad policy, including the use of Google Forms, is not exactly inspiring confidence.”
TechCrunch / Kyle Wiggers
Petals is creating a free, distributed network for running text-generating AI →
“With Petals, the code for which was released publicly last month, volunteers can donate their hardware power to tackle a portion of a text-generating workload and team up others to complete larger tasks, similar to Folding@home and other distributed compute setups…The costs involved with running cutting-edge text-generating AI have kept it relegated to startups and AI labs with substantial financial backing.”
The Verge / Alex Cranz
In its quest to make the metaverse happen, Meta seems to have forgotten people use VR mostly for games →
“New users are seeing ads for stuff like Horizon Worlds, which, again, is such a mess even the people who make it don't want to play it.”
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