Techmeme: Trying to shape AI tech to protect jobs is a bad idea since no one can predict which technologies will augment humans and which will simply replace their labor (Noah Smith/Noahpinion)

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June 12, 2023, 4:00 AM

Top News

Wes Davis / The Verge:

Reddark: thousands of subreddits are going dark in protest after Reddit CEO Steve Huffman's remarks on API changes in an AMA on June 9 — The version of Reddit we'll see over the next few days may be a shell of itself. More than 100 subreddits have already gone dark …

More: Reddark, The Guardian, MacRumors, Insider, Bloomberg, AppleInsider, Android Authority, MediaNama, Neowin, 9to5Mac, Daring Fireball, Mashable, and The Information

Bluesky: @anildash.com. Mastodon: @paul@tapbots.social, @codinghorror@infosec.exchange, @viticci@mastodon …, @jerry@infosec.exchange, @mainframed767@infosec …, @rmdes@mstdn.social, and @carnage4life@mas.to

Tweets: @rsgnl, @a85, @artemr, @shittyrainbow6, @luke_metro, @randfish, @twostraws, @randimason, @halidecamera, @frantzfries, @rohanirvine, and @arrington

Forums: Hacker News, r/apolloapp, r/Quebec, r/hackernews, r/nottheonion, r/madisonwi, r/apolloapp, r/technews, r/funny, r/gadgets, r/TrueAnon, r/NoShitSherlock, r/technology, r/gaming, r/pics, and r/Music

Dan Primack / Axios:

a16z to open a crypto-focused London office and is leading a $43M investment in UK-based Gensyn, which offers a decentralized compute network for training AI — America's largest investor in crypto startups believes that the industry's future may be across the pond, and is opening …

More: Bloomberg, Fortune, Decrypt, Cryptopolitan, CoinGape, a16z crypto, Andreessen Horowitz, Cointelegraph, CoinDesk, Financial Times, The Block, and Reuters

Tweets: @cdixon, @fintechfrank, @functi0nzer0, @prhillmann, @sriramk, @sarthakgh, @pmarca, @danprimack, @eladgil, @yugacohler, @cdixon, @joemccann, @rachaelrad, @rachaelrad, @mayazi, @packym, @cdixon, @axios, @adamscochran, @fiskantes, and @cdixon

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft will bring select games on PC Game Pass to Nvidia's GeForce Now in the coming months, letting subs stream games with RTX 4080 levels of performance — Microsoft is planning to bring PC Game Pass titles to Nvidia's GeForce Now streaming service. Sarah Bond, head of Xbox creator experience …

More: Xbox Wire, Neowin, 9to5Google, TweakTown, PC Gamer, IGN, Digital Trends, and VideoCardz.com

Bluesky: @dewittclinton.com. Tweets: @nextgenplayer, @deeketweak, and @tomwarren

Forums: r/Games and r/XboxSeriesX

Noah Smith / Noahpinion:

Trying to shape AI tech to protect jobs is a bad idea since no one can predict which technologies will augment humans and which will simply replace their labor — Instead, we should empower workers and create mechanisms for redistribution. — I've been to a number of meetings and panels recently …

Tweets: @psythor and @emmabgo

Sarah Kessler / New York Times:

Researchers of tech change and employment disagree on how many jobs AI will affect; one tricky factor is primarily tasks, not occupations, are being automated — The tally of how many jobs will be “affected by” world-changing technology is different depending on who you ask.

Tweets: @nytimesbusiness, @stevelohr, @evankirstel, @mrsethharris, @clevy_law, and @nytimesbusiness

Forums: r/singularity and r/Futurology

Matthias Bastian / The Decoder:

Meta launches MusicGen, an open-source AI model that can generate short pieces of music using text prompts that can optionally be aligned to an existing melody — Meta's MusicGen can generate short new pieces of music based on text prompts, which can optionally be aligned to an existing melody.

More: Github, Hugging Face, and arXiv.org

LinkedIn: Yann LeCun and Phillip Rather

Forums: Hacker News, r/ArtificialInteligence, and r/singularity

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:

A tech reporter on why he bought a 2023 World Book Encyclopedia printed set: nostalgia, permanence, and no AI or human tampering, link rot, or stealth edits — The still-updated World Book Encyclopedia is my antidote to the information apocalypse. — These days, many of us live online …

Tweets: @mattthomas, @marcportermagee, @harrymccracken, @kejca, and @harper. Forums: Ars OpenForum

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From Mediagazer

The Wrap:

The FCC votes to repeal the national broadcast ownership cap and replace it with a case-by-case review, approving the measure by a 2-1 margin

Hannah Miller / Bloomberg:

Source: Paramount and the NFL have paused negotiations over a potential increase of 50%+ on CBS's $2.1B/year deal amid legal challenges to its WBD acquisition

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Nielsen agrees to acquire DoubleVerify and take it private in an all-cash deal with an enterprise value of around $2.15B, expected to close by Q1 2027

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More News

Jo Constantz / Bloomberg:

LinkedIn, which launched a skills-matching feature in February 2023, says 45%+ of recruiters on the social network now search for candidates using skills data

Bluesky: @dogaker.bsky.social

Kirsten Grieshaber / Associated Press:

A University of Vienna philosopher used ChatGPT to create a 40-minute church service, including the sermon, prayers, and music, led by four AI-generated avatars

More: Newser, Tech News Outlet, and Techaeris

Tweets: @scobleizer. Forums: r/atheism, r/technology, and Slashdot

Natasha Singer / New York Times:

While US schools debate what to teach students about AI's promise and potential peril, universities, tech companies, and nonprofits offer ready-made curriculums

More: Washington Post, Digital Chosunilbo, and New York Post

Mastodon: @BenPatrickWill@mastodon …. Tweets: @nytimes, @danielladipaola, @kevinokeefe, @charleswlogan, @medialab, @nytimestech, @mitopenlearning, @codeorg, @cynthiabreazeal, @natashanyt, and @datasociety

Washington Post:

Verizon report: the median loss from business email compromise in recent years is $50K and the median ransomware damage over the past two years doubled to $26K

More: Dark Reading, Verizon, Verizon, Verizon, Verizon Business, SecurityWeek, Dark Reading, GitGuardian Blog, GovTech, Cequence Security, RCR Wireless News, and Help Net Security

LinkedIn: Dave Sampson. Tweets: @oknox

Emma Roth / The Verge:

The Apple Vision Pro's biggest potential advantage will be developers being able to easily plug their iOS and iPadOS apps into visionOS using familiar tools

Tweets: @thrilluwu, @skarredghost, @drasticactions, @drasticactions, @fgraillot, and @firt. Forums: r/apple

Earlier Picks

Guy Chazan / Financial Times:

Germany's finance minister says there is no money in the country's budget to meet Intel's demand for €10B in subsidies for its €17B plant in Magdeburg, Germany

More: Guru3D.com, Tom's Hardware, TechPowerUp, and Reuters

Thomas Germain / Gizmodo:

Researchers claim their model can detect academic writing from ChatGPT with 99%+ accuracy at the document level and 92% accuracy at the paragraph level

More: Cell and Android Headlines

Tweets: @cathleencrudden, @eikofried, @erictopol, and @kunews

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:

In a test, researchers find that 90%+ of 1,008 jokes generated by GPT-3.5 were not new but rather the same 25 jokes likely learned during the model's training

More: PCMag, The Decoder, Newser, Search Engine Journal, Insider, and arXiv.org

Bluesky: @dewittclinton.com. Tweets: @kerstingaiml, @chris2x, @niedakh, @iethics, @mikeelgan, and @quinnypig

Forums: r/technology, r/nottheonion, and Ars OpenForum

Sandali Handagama / CoinDesk:

Nigeria's SEC orders that Binance halt operations in the country, deeming them illegal as the local unit is “neither registered nor regulated by the Commission”