WEBVTT - Tech News: X's Sign Becomes An Ex Sign 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.239 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:16.000 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:19.439 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.920 are you? It is time for the tech news for Tuesday, 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:28.560 August first, twenty twenty three. So let's start out with 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.960 the news that kind of happened and then unhappened. Since 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:34.479 the last time I did one of these episodes, and 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:38.760 that means starting with X you know, the service formerly 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.160 known as Twitter. I had mentioned that the San Francisco 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:46.280 Police had paid a little visit to x HQ when 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.760 a construction crew blocked off a couple of lanes of 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:53.400 traffic on a city street in San Francisco while removing 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:59.400 letters from the Twitter sign that hung on the headquarters building. Ultimately, 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:03.520 the cop did not charge anyone with a crime, but 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:06.120 it did mean that the removal process was interrupted and 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.760 for a while the er stayed up there. They had 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.200 removed the twit, but the er was still up. And 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.119 since a lot of us typically now we'll look at 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:19.039 the former Twitter and say er, I think it was 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:22.720 appropriate that the er was still there. But anyway, after 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:27.400 all that Musk's financial sinkhole of a company erected a 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:32.560 big ol X sign, an illuminated X sign on the 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:36.920 top of their HQ, so it lit up a lot, 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:40.520 and it was bright enough and lighting up and like 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.360 strobe effects and stuff that it prompted several people in 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:48.440 the neighborhood to lodge complaints, saying that it was garish 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:51.440 and disruptive and making it real difficult to get any 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:56.040 sleep if the X was flashing lights through bedroom windows 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:59.840 and stuff. This prompted the city to send a bill 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.480 inspector around to make sure that the news sign was 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:06.000 up to code, but the inspector says that they were 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:10.799 denied roof access multiple times, so the city took issue 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:14.560 with this as well as with musk erecting an quote 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:20.160 unquote illuminated structure without first securing a permit to do it. 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:23.200 There were also concerns that the sign itself was not 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:26.880 properly secured to the roof, which could be a truly 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:30.000 dangerous situation in the event of something like high winds 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:34.040 for example. Now the company is likely to face some 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:38.839 fines from the city. I haven't seen how much those 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:42.280 fines might be, But then if San Francisco wants to 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:45.160 get money out of x it's gonna probably have to 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:49.520 get in line behind the various landlords, vendors, and former 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:54.000 employees who are also awaiting payment. So I suppose one 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:57.640 of the big secrets to being rich is that you know, 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.040 you just don't pay your bills, then you get to 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:07.120 keep your money. It's genius. According to Casey Newton's Excellent 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:12.440 Tech newsletter, today marks a big day inside X SO. 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:16.639 Back when Musk bought Twitter, he famously did so at 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:21.040 fifty four dollars twenty cents per share. That's why I 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.640 ended up being more than forty billion dollars overall. And 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.720 a lot of Twitter employees had guaranteed stock grants, meaning 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.320 that they had vested shares with the company or shares 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:34.920 that were in the process of vesting, and that they 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.480 would then receive a payout for those shares that's part 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.040 of their compensation. They would get fifty four dollars twenty 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:45.600 cents per share vested with the company. According to Newton, 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:50.360 today marks the day when the remaining employees who were 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:55.000 still receiving stock grants will then be paid out. And 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:59.200 if that happens, it might mean we could see another 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:03.119 wave of resignations out of the company, because it's possible 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:06.120 that some folks at X stayed on really just so 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.800 that they could reach this moment to get that final payout, 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.240 and then potentially they could go skip off to find 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:17.000 greener or at least less chaotic pastures, though there is 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:18.880 still a concern that a lot of people would not 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.520 be able to find a job that pays, you know, 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.360 at the same level as what they're getting over at X. 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:28.280 And as we've already said, Musk has racked up a 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:32.840 pretty big history of refusing to pay bills, including to 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:37.719 former employees, So there is a fear that those who 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:41.279 should be receiving this compensation may be left waiting around 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:45.400 indefinitely and that worst case scenario, the payout might not 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.880 ever come. So maybe by the end of the day 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:51.279 we'll have more news about that, but that's how it 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.960 stands as I record the episode. In other awful news, 0:04:55.520 --> 0:05:00.920 the Center for Countering Digital Hate or CCDA, which is 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:04.880 now in Elon Musk's crosshairs for daring to you know, 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:09.880 chronicle the rise of hate speech on X now. Musk 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:13.120 has claimed that hate speech impressions are actually on the 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:18.200 decline on X, but the CCdh argue that the opposite 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:21.160 is true, that there's been an increase across the board 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:25.520 in hate speech as well as in disinformation. And if 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:27.920 you've been following the news, you know that Musk has 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:32.200 reinstated the Twitter accounts for people who previously had received 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.880 bans for spreading things like hate speech on the platform. 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:41.240 So at least you know, from that perspective, you could say, well, 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:44.120 it seems to be logical that you would find an 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:48.599 increase in hate speech. They are re platforming people who 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:52.720 were banned for spreading hate speech. So anyway, the CCdh 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:56.520 says that they found a two hundred to two percent 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:02.320 increase in messages on the platform that contain slurs. They 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:07.120 also said that Twitter Blue subscribers, which maybe they're called 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:12.000 X blue subscribers. Now the X makes everything really confusing 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.279 because you think that it means former as opposed to 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:20.479 subscribed to X. Anyway, people who have subscribed to the 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:24.479 platform and who have subsequently posted messages that violate the 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:29.479 platform's policies seem to suffer no consequences. Their messages don't 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:33.520 appear to be removed or anything like that. The company's 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:37.680 own Trust and Safety Council resigned ages ago, right, the 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.800 people who were actually in charge of formulating those policies 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:44.120 and to make sure that the platform was doing well 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:48.440 to adhere to them, they left, and the department as 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:52.000 a whole is reportedly in a bit of the shambles. 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:56.240 And now Musk is sending legal threats and is arguing 0:06:56.279 --> 0:07:01.080 that the CCdh has an agenda, that the cs intent 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:05.520 is to hurt X by spreading falsehoods in an attempt 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:10.400 to scare off advertisers. The CCDCH refutes those claims and 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:14.680 points out that the organization is neither government funded, so 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.600 it doesn't receive money from the government, nor is it 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.840 connected to any other competing social network, so it's not 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:26.440 like it's you know, conspiring with Meta to take down X. 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:29.640 In fact, the CDCH has also reported on issues like 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:34.320 hate speech and disinformation on other platforms besides X. The 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:38.000 CCDCH released a statement indicating that should X and Musk 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:41.080 actually pursue a legal case against the organization, because so 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:44.520 far it's just been threats about doing that, the organization 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:47.760 will fight back. So I'm sure we will have more 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:53.440 on this as it continues. And on a less dramatic 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:57.040 and less important side, of the whole x Twitter story, 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.680 one of the few remaining holdovers from the Twitter days 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:03.720 has actually changed. So it used to be that if 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.920 you wanted to post something on Twitter, you would hit 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:11.320 a little, you know, button that says tweet on there 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:13.560 after you've written your message, right, you would tweet and 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.800 that would post it. And now that icon no longer 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:21.280 says tweet. It now says host. It's changed back and 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.000 forth a couple of times over the last two days. 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:26.360 But as I record this, at least in my own 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:29.680 instance on the web based version of Twitter, I checked 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:33.480 and it says post now, not tweet. I guess we 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:38.480 should be thankful it's not X seat or you know, 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:40.599 because it's X is the name of the company. And 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:44.440 Musk said that tweets would now be called x eats 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:49.320 or zeats or skeets if you're pronouncing X like if 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:53.160 it were, you know, an anglicized Chinese word, then it 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.360 would mean we'd be using the sound, so it'd be 0:08:55.760 --> 0:09:00.000 sheets then. But I'm guessing Musk doesn't like that because 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:04.000 if you're using the X sound as sh then Twitter 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:09.239 would become well, I won't say it. Over in the Netherlands, 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.640 a court has ruled that Meta Ireland must reveal the 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:17.640 identity of an anonymous user as part of a defamation lawsuit. 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:21.600 This one gets really ugly, y'all. So the plaintiff in 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.200 this case is a man who says he has been 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:27.800 defamed by this anonymous user who has posted in a 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:31.160 couple of different Facebook groups that are dedicated to people 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:36.080 talking about their dating experiences and kind of like horror 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:39.679 stories with dating experiences in general, and that this anonymous 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:42.440 user has said that this man has done stuff like 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:46.520 secretly recorded the women he was dating, which would definitely 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:48.800 be a red flag if that's true. But the man 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:53.199 denies these charges and he wants to sue this anonymous 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:56.400 user for defamation. He says his reputation has been harmed 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:59.280 as a result of these posts. But here's the rub. 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.680 You can't sue someone if you don't know who they are. 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:05.760 So the man has brought this lawsuit to the Court 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:09.000 of the Hague in the Netherlands, and the court considered 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.319 the case and has now sent an order to Meta 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:15.040 Ireland to cough up the identity of the anonymous poster 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:19.520 who was behind these messages in these Facebook groups, and 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:23.080 Meta Ireland is going to comply because it's a legal 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:26.920 court order. And you might think, huh, that sounds like 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:29.520 a precedent that could potentially set the stage for a 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:32.000 lot of abuse and discourage people from coming forward as 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.199 whistleblowers and such. In this case, the argument is that 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:38.600 the posts could be illegal if in fact they are 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:42.960 defamatory and untrue. But the court also went beyond this. 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:48.160 The court said, quote, according to settled case law and 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:53.120 under certain circumstances, Meta has an obligation to provide identifying 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.679 data even if the content of the relevant messages is 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:02.760 not unmistakably unlawful. So, in other words, the government in 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:04.680 the EU, in the form of the court system, has 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:09.120 the right to force platforms to strip away anonymity even 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.240 if the posts at the center of the matter do 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:17.440 not contain any overtly illegal content within them, which is 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.840 a big ol' yikes, right, Like that is stripping away 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:25.880 security and privacy. Now, on the flip side, you could say, yeah, 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:29.280 but if this is a real case of defamation, if 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:33.520 these claims are untrue, and this person has had their 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.400 reputation suffer as a result of this, and it's and 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:38.320 through no fault of his own because he didn't do 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.800 the things that were claimed against him. There needs to 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:44.120 be recourse. So you can see that this is a 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.520 complicated issue. On the flip side, if the claims are 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:51.560 absolutely true, then ripping the anonymity away from the person 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:56.160 who came forward is a real potential threat to their safety. 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.480 So it's a very complex situation and I can't pretend 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:04.480 like I have the answer. Okay, we're gonna take a 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:06.480 quick break. When we come back, We've got some more 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:19.120 news stories to talk about. Okay, we're back, and now 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.920 let's get into the AI part of this news episode. 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:27.040 So Meta is reportedly preparing to launch its AI powered 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:32.240 chatbots pretty soon, perhaps as early as September, according to 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:36.160 the Financial Times. The chatbots will have different personalities, some 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:42.280 based off famous historical figures, others based off more stereotypes, 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.760 kind of like surfer dude. According to the Financial Times, 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.880 the pushes in part meant to stem the rise and 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:54.120 then fall of participation on Threads. So when Threads first launched, 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:56.960 it took off like a rocket, right. It hit one 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:01.320 hundred million users in less than a week, But since then, 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:05.880 more than half of those users haven't really been back 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:09.440 on Threads. They dropped off super quickly, and it suggested 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:11.640 that Threads was really more of a flash in the 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:15.120 pan moment and not the Twitter substitute that a lot 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:19.000 of people were kind of hoping for. Apparently, Meta is 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:23.480 going to lean on these chatbots to help drive engagement. 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.240 I guess I can see the logic behind that, because 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.199 if you're on a social platform and you're posting stuff 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.960 but no one ever engages with anything you post, then 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.320 really you just end up keeping a journal, and that 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:38.720 might be enough for some folks. There's nothing wrong with that, 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:42.320 but I think a lot of people feel that they 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.280 want others to treat the stuff they say as if 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.280 it matters, right, The reason you're on social is to 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:50.520 stay in touch with other people and to get some 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:54.199 validation that the stuff you're posting is interesting or funny 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:57.480 or relevant. You know that people care about what you 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.440 have to say, and if you're not getting that, you're 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:03.040 not likely to be very satisfied with your experience on 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:08.160 the social platform. Maybe an artificial reaction provided by a 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:12.599 chatbot that's imitating Abraham Lincoln is the answer. Though it 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.600 should point out that the official explanation for these chatbots 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:17.600 is that they're going to serve as a way to 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:21.240 answer things like search queries and to give recommendations for stuff, 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:24.960 and not necessarily to stand in as some sort of 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:30.920 surrogate follower or friend. So we'll see. I don't know 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.560 if this will actually be a useful tool, or you 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.240 can count on Abraham Lincoln to be your plastic pal 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:40.000 who's fun to be with. Shout out if you've got 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:44.360 that reference. Anyway, Meta isn't the only company putting AI 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:48.320 to a new use. According to The Verge, YouTube is 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:53.760 testing AI for the purposes of summarizing video content, so, 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.880 in other words, telling you what a video actually is 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.200 about before you click in on the video. So the 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:03.000 test only cover a quote limited number of English language 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.280 videos and will only be viewable by a limited number 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:09.120 of users end quote. That's according to John Porter of 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:13.640 The Verge. Porter also writes that while the intent is 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:18.440 to create a quick summary that ideally helps users decide 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.720 which videos to watch, those summaries are not going to 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:25.680 replace the human written video descriptions. Personally, I'm having a 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.760 bit of trouble imagining what this actually looks like in 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:32.280 practice when you're on YouTube. I mean, do the videos 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:35.400 have two separate descriptions one that was written by AI. 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.600 But anyway, it shows how companies are looking at this 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:42.960 crazy tool called artificial intelligence, and now they're scrambling to 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:47.960 find quote unquote problems that this tool can quote unquote fix. Obviously, 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.280 anything that leads to greater engagement on one of Alphabet's 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.240 many platforms is going to be counted as a win. 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.200 So I can understand the whole throw noodles at the 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:01.280 wall and see what sticks aproach that they're taking here. 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.880 I'm curious to see one of these summaries myself. I 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:07.880 want to see what it looks like. But as far 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:10.880 as I can tell, I haven't come across anything like 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.280 that yet. But it is in a limited test run, 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:16.720 so it is far more likely that I am just 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:18.880 not in the pool of folks who are included in 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.840 that test. I hold out hope that we'll get at 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.960 least a few hilariously weird video summaries out of this 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.840 that we're clearly written by a robot. So I'll just 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:33.280 have to wait and see. NewsCorp, the giant media company, 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:36.840 has been using artificial intelligence to generate news articles that 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:42.960 are publishing across seventy five hyper local publications across Australia. So, 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:46.120 according to the Guardian, the AI, which is kind of 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:50.960 like chat gpt, is writing around three thousand pieces a 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:55.200 week and the topics range from stuff like weather reports 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:58.840 to giving updates on fuel prices and specific cities and 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:01.440 that kind of thing. The company says that the articles 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:05.080 are written by AI, but they're overseen by journalists, which 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.600 kind of reminds me of what how stuffworks dot Com 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.880 said about its recent embrace of artificial intelligence generated articles. 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:15.280 As a reminder, the editorial staff was let go at 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.879 how stuffworks dot com and that means that folks that 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.880 I used to work with found themselves out of a job. 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.840 So I am definitely biased on this topic. I'm saying 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.920 that so that you understand that I have a very 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:30.360 particular point of view on this that is pretty darn negative, 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:36.000 but that I completely admit this is my own bias. Anyway, 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.119 I think you can make an argument that the types 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.639 of pieces the AI is said to be tackling are 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:44.960 ones that human writers actually wouldn't find interesting or rewarding 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:48.520 to write in the first place. They are tedious exercises 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.920 at best, and goodness knows, I would occasionally get assignments 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.720 at how stuff works. That definitely fell into the tedious category. 0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:59.360 You still had to do your best on those articles, 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.920 but you questioned the value of writing them in the 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:06.600 first place. You're like, this is a garbage article. Even 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:09.280 if I do my best work on it, it's just 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:14.119 the article itself is not very interesting. There is still 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:16.800 a need for a human person to oversee the work 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:19.760 that the AI is doing, because, as we know, AI 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:23.840 can sometimes get real loosey goosey with reality. And it 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.679 makes me wonder how much the companies and staff are 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.800 actually saving on time and effort, because if there's a 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:33.480 frequent enough need to do revisions and rewrites, really all 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.080 you're doing is just making more work for fewer people. 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:39.040 But it's hard to say, I bet there's a human 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:43.119 writer out there who really wants to essentially rewrite the 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.960 same article every day for the rest of their careers, 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:48.639 because if it's something like what are the current fuel 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:51.639 prices in your city, well, that's something you would have 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:56.199 to research and write every single day. That's probably not 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:58.639 a lot of fun to do. So maybe that is 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.840 a good use for AI. Right If the AI is 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:07.200 reasonably accurate and reliable, then it could mean that human 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:11.200 writer ideally could get a different assignment that's more interesting 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:16.639 and rewarding to work on. So I can see the 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:21.439 use for AI for specific versions of writing for stuff 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:25.880 that people genuinely need to know but is genuinely tedious 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:29.800 to research and write. The problem is I worry about 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:32.879 companies overstepping that and just saying, oh, wow, AI is 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:35.479 way cheaper than having humans, right, Let's just have them 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:39.200 write everything, and then we get an even bigger decline 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:44.639 in journalistic integrity and quality. California here in the United States, 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:48.680 has a new Department of Privacy regulators who are actually 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.879 authorized with power now, and this week they are hearing 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:57.240 their first case. They are looking at how auto manufacturers 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:01.960 are incorporating data gathering technology within the vehicles that they 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:05.560 make and sell, and how those companies then collect, use, 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:09.960 and protect that information because there are really no rules 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:14.040 in place to serve as a parameters for that. So 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:16.560 the agency is looking at the types of information that 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:20.600 are collected, which can include everything from geolocation data to 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:25.439 camera images depending on the vehicle. There's a concern that 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:28.600 data collection has become an important component in cars, but 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:31.960 there's such a lack of regulations and rules. Now companies 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:35.240 can use that information that it could lead to real problems. Now, 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:39.080 ideally manufacturers use this info to keep eyes on things 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:42.600 like vehicle performance and maybe even detect issues before they 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:45.240 become huge problems, and that could lead to a much 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:48.640 more effective method of dealing with stuff like recalls. For example, 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:53.919 maybe a company sees, oh, this isn't a critical problem yet, 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:56.120 but it's going to be if we don't do anything 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.520 about it, So let's do the recall earlier and save 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:01.880 ourselves a lot of green from the long run. That's 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:04.679 a legitimate use for that kind of data collection. But 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:07.840 if you go a step outside of the actual vehicle 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:10.880 and you think about what does the data say about 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:14.640 the driver who's inside that vehicle, that's where concerns start 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.159 to pop up. I mean that vehicle data could be 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:18.800 used to do a lot of things, like you might 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:23.080 be able to draw conclusions about the actual driver's life. 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:28.040 So imagine that you are having to seek regular medical 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:31.720 treatments for some condition you have, and that the car 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:35.280 is essentially gathering information about the fact that you're going 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:39.240 to a medical facility on a regular basis. That's information 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:43.320 you probably wouldn't just freely share with a car company 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:47.600 for no reason, right, I mean, that's private healthcare information. 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:53.240 And so this is really this regulation agency's first step 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:56.479 to get a full understanding of the scope and depth 0:21:56.560 --> 0:21:59.960 of data collection in the auto industry. And I hope 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:03.680 it's an indication of a seed change shift in how 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:08.040 the United States in particular approaches data collection and use, 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:12.920 because for too long it's just been open season for 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:17.840 information out there. Okay, I've got a few more stories 0:22:17.880 --> 0:22:20.520 to cover before we get to those. Let's take another 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:33.080 quick break. All right, we're back, and hey, let's head 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:38.480 back down to Australia. I got some bad news. So 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:42.600 Disney announced that after Guardians of the Galaxy Volume three 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:47.000 hits store shelves in DVD and Blu Ray formats this month, 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:52.480 the company is done producing physical media for the Australian market. 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:56.800 So moving forward, fans in Australia will have to use 0:22:56.800 --> 0:23:01.119 stuff like streaming services or cable or satellite or whatever 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:04.800 in order to watch future Disney properties. So there will 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:08.800 be no more Marvel, Star Wars, or Disney DVDs or 0:23:08.840 --> 0:23:12.280 Blu Rays. So why is that, Well, Disney says it's 0:23:12.280 --> 0:23:15.359 because the home media market in Australia has slowed to 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:18.600 a point where it's just no longer profitable to produce 0:23:18.680 --> 0:23:21.479 physical copies of stuff. And I get that a lot 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:25.639 of people have moved away from physical media, but personally, 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:28.760 as someone who has recently gotten back into that, I 0:23:28.800 --> 0:23:32.640 am bummed by this news. For one thing, we are 0:23:32.680 --> 0:23:36.560 now all aware that just because something is currently available 0:23:36.600 --> 0:23:39.360 on a streaming service today, it doesn't mean it's going 0:23:39.400 --> 0:23:43.360 to still be there tomorrow. We have seen dozens hundreds 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:47.960 of titles disappear off of streaming services, including Disney Plus, 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:52.600 and then become unavailable. A lot of streaming exclusive content 0:23:52.640 --> 0:23:54.960 never even makes it to physical home media at all, 0:23:55.160 --> 0:24:00.000 so once it goes, it just becomes inaccessible. It still exists, 0:24:00.240 --> 0:24:02.960 but there's no way for you to watch it. Well. 0:24:02.960 --> 0:24:06.359 With Disney making this move, it means for Australians everything 0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:09.280 Disney makes is potentially in that category of stuff that 0:24:09.320 --> 0:24:13.440 one day could just disappear. And there's an understandable concern 0:24:13.480 --> 0:24:16.160 that other studios are going to follow Disney's lead. In fact, 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:19.159 I'd be shocked if that doesn't happen. But from a 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:23.080 business perspective, it's hard to fault the decision. You don't 0:24:23.080 --> 0:24:26.520 get into the business to not make money. From a 0:24:26.560 --> 0:24:30.320 fan perspective or from an archives perspective, this is a 0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:33.199 huge blow, and I wouldn't be surprised to see similar 0:24:33.200 --> 0:24:36.200 stories play out in other regions as more people migrate 0:24:36.280 --> 0:24:39.679 away from physical media. Personally, I'm going to be buying 0:24:39.720 --> 0:24:42.120 Blu ray and DVD copies of the stuff I love 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:45.919 while I still can, because I've had plenty of experiences 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:48.959 where something I really enjoyed was on a platform and 0:24:49.000 --> 0:24:53.160 then an agreement expires and it's gone and there becomes 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:56.119 no legal way for me to access it anymore. And 0:24:56.160 --> 0:24:59.680 I'm not the type of person to lean on illegal 0:24:59.720 --> 0:25:02.400 MEAs means to get access to content if there are 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:06.000 legal alternatives. But when there are no legal alternatives, that 0:25:06.080 --> 0:25:09.200 really I mean, you either do without or you break 0:25:09.240 --> 0:25:12.920 the law. Those are really your only options. I guess 0:25:12.960 --> 0:25:15.080