I’m dating myself. I know that. But I used to get the kids magazine Highlights in the mail. I loved it. One of my favorite activities was finding all of the things wrong in the ‘spot the difference’ pages. Not bragging or anything…but I was pretty good.
So imagine my shock when I only guessed correctly on nine of the 17 images in the ‘can you tell the difference between what’s a real photo and what’s AI-generated?’ Yep. Nine right, eight wrong.
See how you do!
This week’s issue: 10 stories.
The AI anxiety meter: Low
How long to read: Let’s say a good 20 minutes, not including time needed if you watch the last story from Christopher Penn.
1. CNET’s AI…or not! As you look at these, just a friendly reminder – this is the worst AI will ever be at image generation.
2. Dr. AI will see you now. I’ve seen the future…and it looks like CarePods, a self-contained, AI-powered doctors office. You gotta see this.
3. YouTube is using AI to clone famous singers’ voices. With their permission. A small group of YouTube creators can tap into the likes of John Legend, Sia and more to ‘sing’ on their videos.
4. Microsoft is making custom chips. Guess what? They’re all about AI!
5. History is repeating itself. I remember when companies issued mandates to their employees that they were not to use social media. Then it was just use your personal account for personal info. Then it was no posting during company time. And then…well, you know how that all played out.
We’re on a similar track for GAI adoption, unless you put a company policy in place. (Remember – not having a policy is, by default, your policy.)
Let’s go ahead and call this the must read of the week. AI in the workplace is like the wild west: untamed.
6. Microsoft Teams is tired of looking at your cluttered, messy houses. Its Copilot will now ‘clean’ your room. This new function does a few other things but the whole clean your room thing is a little creepy.
7. The ‘what is this now?’ story of the week: So according to FTC chair Lina Kahn, we shouldn’t be that worried about AI taking us out.
She was recently a guest on the Hard Fork podcast from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose where she was asked if she was worried AI would take us out:
Kevin Roose: All right. Last question — this is something that we ask many podcast guests. What is your P doom, Lina Khan? What is your probability that AI will kill us all?
Lina Khan: Ah, I have to stay an optimist on this one. So I’m going to hedge on the side of lower risk there.
Roose: So are you zero?
Lina Khan: No, no, not zero. Maybe, like, 15%.
Casey Newton: And they say there are no techno-optimists in the government.
8. These lawyers used ChatGPT to save time. They got fired and fined.
9. The actors strike is over. But did they leave too big of a loophole with their GAI concessions?
10. Watch: Christopher Penn talk about/demonstrate the custom GPTs from OpenAI (that we talked about last week). Easier to see it than read it, so I’m including the YouTube version of his newsletter v. the actual read itself.
As a reminder, this is a round-up of the biggest stories, often hitting multiple newsletters I receive/review. The sources are many…which I’m happy to read on your behalf. If there’s one in particular you’d like me to track or have questions about a topic you’re not seeing here, let me know.
Thanks for reading!