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While I focus on Technology, Innovation, and Publishing, because I have a platform, I also flag items that I think are important, which you might have missed, and try to include a bunch of resources & opportunities. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter!

Innovation

Google DeepMind’s new AI can model DNA, RNA, and ‘all life’s molecules’

AlphaFold 3 will help researchers in medicine, agriculture, materials science, + drug development test potential discoveries.Previous versions only predicted the structures of proteins

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/8/24152088/google-deepmind-ai-model-predict-molecular-structure-alphafold

Technology

OpenAI strikes licensing deal with the magazine giant behind People

Dotdash Meredith, publisher of People, Better Homes & Gardens, Investopedia, Food & Wine, and InStyle, signed a deal w OpenAI to use AI models for its ad-targeting product, D/Cipher. In turn, Dotdash Meredith will license its content to ChatGPT.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/7/24151171/openai-dotdash-meredith-people-instyle-licensing

Meet AdVon, the AI-Powered Content Monster Infecting the Media Industry

Remember that AI company behind Sports Illustrated’s fake writers? It’s got tendrils into other surprisingly prominent publications.

https://futurism.com/advon-ai-content

Leaked Deck Reveals How OpenAI Is Pitching Publisher Partnerships

The AI firm has courted publishers, like Dotdash Meredith, to partner by promising payment and greater visibility in search results.

https://www.adweek.com/media/openai-preferred-publisher-program-deck/

How One Author Pushed the Limits of AI Copyright

HT @JaneFriedman Elisa Shupe, a retired US Army vet who self-published her novel w extensive help from ChatGPT, got limited protection by the US Copyright Office. No one can copy the book without permission, but specific sentences/paras are not protected

https://www.wired.com/story/the-us-copyright-office-loosens-up-a-little-on-ai/

Randy Travis gets his voice back in a new Warner AI music experiment

For the first time since a 2013 stroke left country singer Randy Travis unable to speak or sing properly, he has released a new song. He didn’t sing it, though; instead, the vocals were created with AI software and a surrogate singer. The producers created it by training an unnamed AI model, starting with 42 of his vocal-isolated recordings. Then, under the supervision of Travis and his career-long producer Kyle Lehning, fellow country singer James DuPre laid down the vocals to be transformed into Travis’ by AI.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/5/24149685/randy-travis-ai-voice-clone-song-where-that-came-from

After AI beat them, professional Go players got better and more creative

For many decades, it seemed professional Go players had reached a hard limit on how well it is possible to play. They were not getting better. Decision quality was largely plateaued from 1950 to the mid-2010s. Then, in May 2016, DeepMind demonstrated AlphaGo, an AI that could beat the best human Go players. Were the moves getting better because some players cheated by using the AI? No.1 They really were getting better. And it wasn’t simply that they imitated the AI, in a mechanical way. They got more creative, too. There was an uptick in historically novel moves and sequences.

https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/go

OpenAI working on new AI image detection tools

OpenAI has a tool to detect if an image was made w DALL-E, as well as new watermarking methods to more clearly flag content it generates, incl if image is cropped, compressed, or the saturation is changed

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/7/24151482/openai-image-detection-ai-watermarking-audio

TikTok is adding an ‘AI-generated’ label to watermarked 3rd-party content

TikTok already automatically applies an “AI-generated” tag to content on its platform made using TikTok’s AI tools, & now will apply to content created on other platforms.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/9/24152667/tiktok-ai-generated-label-content-credentials-cai-c2pa

OpenAI’s New Tool Will Give Artists Control Over Their Data—but It’s Unclear How

ChatGPT developer OpenAI says that artists & content owners will be able to request that their work be excluded from use in AI development. Many details of this remain unclear

https://www.wired.com/story/openai-olive-branch-artists-ai-algorithms/

Burnout is pushing workers to use AI – Even if their boss doesn’t know

75% of people in desk jobs are already using AI at work, + the amount of people using AI has doubled over the past 6 months. The vast majority of workers using AI are “bringing their own AI tools” rather than waiting for their companies to guide them.

https://www.wired.com/story/ai-workers-burnout-microsoft-linkedin/

101 real-world gen AI use cases from the world’s leading organizations

I thought this was an interesting set of AI Use Cases from Google.

https://cloud.google.com/transform/101-real-world-generative-ai-use-cases-from-industry-leaders

Met Gala Deepfakes Are Flooding Social Media

AI-generated images of Katy Perry, Rihanna, and more celebrities in Met Gala refinement took over X and other platforms Monday night.

https://www.wired.com/story/met-gala-deepfakes-katy-perry-rihanna/

Publishing & Media

The Book You’re Reading Might Be Wrong

HT @KathMSchmidt Most nonfiction isn’t fact-checked. The Kristi Noem saga could change that—but it probably won’t.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/05/the-book-youre-reading-might-be-wrong/678345/

Check these 16 Freelance Rate Databases for a more transparent look into setting freelance rates

RT @kaitarford Wondering what to charge clients? I rounded up a few freelance rate databases, surveys, and resources to consult as a freelancer. Give it a read, and if you like it, please share.

https://kaitlynarford.com/2023/10/20/freelance-rate-databases/

Book Business AI Showcase: Hypnovels and Maven

MT @PublishersWkly In the first of an ongoing series of articles spotlighting book business–related AI startups, we take a look at Hypnovels, a book trailers and video generator, and Maven, a publisher that allows you to ask questions of books through WhatsApp.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/94981-book-business-ai-showcase-hypnovels-and-maven.html

Checking facts with players who are still in the game

Some insight from ⁦⁦@MikeShatzkin ⁩

https://www.idealog.com/blog/checking-facts-with-players-who-are-still-in-the-game/

Amazon Launches Massive Six-Day Book Sale

RT @PublishersWkly The inaugural Amazon Book Sale will run from May 15–20 and feature deep discounts on thousands of books. The e-retailer is touting the event as “The Book Sale of Your Dreams”—a characterization sure to draw the attention of all segments of the industry.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/94996-amazon-launches-massive-six-day-book-sale.html

Vice Media partners with Savage Ventures to relaunch digital brands

Vice Media will create a joint venture to relaunch its digital properties, including Vice.com, Munchies, Motherboard, and Noisey. Savage Ventures will invest “tens of millions of dollars” into it. Vice is officially a B2B biz now – it’s focusing efforts on making content for others (Vice Studios for distributors, Vice Virtue

for marketers). It sold its 2 consumer brands (ID, Refinery29) & now this joint venture will manage day-to-day operations for its remaining consumer sites, except Vice News.

https://www.axios.com/2024/05/09/vice-media-relaunch-savage-ventures