Google’s controversial Olympic Gemini ad is new reality even if people hate it
If you have tuned in to any part of the Olympics, chances are you’ve seen Google’s Gemini advertisement titled, “Dear Sidney.” In it, a father talks about his daughter’s admiration for track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
“She wants to show Sydney some love and I’m pretty good with words but this has to be just right,” the father narrates. “So Gemini, help my daughter write a letter telling Sydney how inspiring she is.”
Google’s campaign to feature its Gemini chatbot on the world stage is coming with a world of backlash. The company even turned off comments for the YouTube video.
The criticism is not just coming from keyboard warriors.
“It is one of the most disturbing commercials I’ve ever seen,” he wrote. “Instead of guiding her to use her own words and communicate authentically, he is teaching her to rely on AI for this critical human skill.”
“If you encourage kids to run to AI to spit out words because their writing isn’t great yet, how are they supposed to learn?” NPR Host Linda Holmes posted. “I’m just so grossed out by the entire thing.”
Google has tried to clarify its goal with the ad, saying, “We believe that AI can be a great tool for enhancing human creativity, but can never replace it. Our goal was to create an authentic story celebrating Team USA. It showcases a real-life track enthusiast and her father and aims to show how the Gemini app can provide a starting point, thought starter, or early draft for someone looking for ideas for their writing.”
The ad does specifically say, “Here’s a draft to get you started.”
For all the cries about the father shirking his responsibilities and the daughter not learning to write, the fact is chatbots are changing the game. People are using them in and out of the workplace and they will certainly transform the workflows of the next generations.
Remember when teachers used to say, “You aren’t always gonna have a calculator in your pocket.” How’d that work out?
But marketers are walking a tightrope when it comes to selling the technology message without horrifying humans. Look no further than Apple’s face plant with its ad, “Crush!” They meant to highlight how thin their new iPad is. Instead, they showed themselves crushing human creativity.
For the daughter in the Gemini ad who may or may not have used a chatbot to write a fan letter, she could have instead asked Gemini when McLaughlin-Levrone will be competing in the Olympics, in which case, she’d be ready to tune in starting Sunday, Aug. 4.
Update: On Friday, Aug. 2, Axios reported that Google announced it is pulling the ad from its TV rotation. The ad, however, can still be viewed on the company’s YouTube account.
“While the ad tested well before airing, given the feedback, we have decided to phase the ad out of our Olympics rotation,” a Google spokesperson told Axios.
Reply while you sleep: Instagram lets you create an AI version of yourself
Imagine: You direct message your favorite Instagram influencer and a reply comes back lightning fast. You didn’t even think they checked their DMs! But it might not be a real person behind that personalized message, even if it sounds just like them.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg talked about the latest rollout in a chat with NVIDIA’s CEO.
“There’s kind of a fundamental issue here where there’s just not enough hours in the day, right? It’s like, if you’re a creator, you want to engage more with your community, but you’re constrained on time. And similarly, your community wants to engage with you, but it’s tough,” Zuckerberg said. “So the next best thing is allowing people to basically create these artifacts, right? It’s an agent, but you train it on your material to represent you in the way that you want.”
“It’s a very creative endeavor, almost like a piece of art or content that you’re putting out there,” he continued. “It’s to be very clear that it’s not engaging with the creators themselves, but I think it’ll be another interesting way, just like how creators put out content on these social systems, to be able to have agents that do that.”
Zuckerberg touched on some of the issues surrounding these AI versions of people, like labeling so people know they’re not actually interacting with the creator, but an AI agent.
Meta’s AI Studio also allows people to create their own AI chatbots, and is on top of Meta’s main chatbot offering, Meta AI.
“It’s all part of this bigger view that we have that there shouldn’t just be one big AI that people interact with,” he said. “We just think that the world will be better and more interesting if there’s a diversity of these different things.”
There are some apparent concerns regarding the advancement of AI. Privacy is a major one. Meta is already using people’s posts and data to develop its AI systems, though users can opt out. Creating a unique AI chatbot comes with privacy sacrifice: How much data is one willing to hand over to replicate oneself?
In a study, people who reported using social media more than two hours a day had double the odds of reporting social isolation compared to those who are on social media less than 30 minutes a day.
“With generative AI, I think we’re going to quickly move into the zone where not only is the majority of the content that you see today on Instagram just recommended to you from stuff that’s out there in the world that matches your interests, whether or not you follow the people, I think in the future, a lot of the stuff is going to be created with these tools, too,” Zuckerberg said.
Here’s what happened when Americans received $1,000 a month in 3-year study
Years ago, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman set out to discover what would happen if people were given cash every month with no strings attached. This week, the results are in from the largest universal basic income study in the U.S., though how it went depends on how one interprets the findings.
Right-leaning Reason writes, “Bad News for Universal Basic Income: Researchers found that giving people $1,000 every month for three years resulted in decreased productivity and earnings, and more leisure time.”
Keeping in tune with Straight Arrow News‘ mission of unbiased, straight facts, let’s take a look at the facts from the research paper itself.
The ground rules
Researchers randomly selected 1,000 low-income people to receive $1,000 per month with no conditions for three years. A separate control group of 2,000 people received $50 per month to participate in the research.
The people in this study had an average household income of $29,900 in 2019, so $1,000 a month translated to a 40% increase in household income.
In 2016, Sam Altman wrote about launching the Basic Income Project and his desire to answer some theoretical questions about it.
“Do people sit around and play video games, or do they create new things?” Altman asked. “Are people happy and fulfilled? Do people, without the fear of not being able to eat, accomplish far more and benefit society far more? And do recipients, on the whole, create more economic value than they receive?”
The results
Excluding the free money received, individual income fell by about $1,500 per year, or 5%. It led to a 2 percentage point decrease in labor market participation and people worked roughly 1.3-1.4 fewer hours per week.
So what did they do with that extra time? Researchers saw the largest increase in leisure time, followed by smaller increases in transportation – people are driving around doing more – and time spent on finances.
Researchers found no impact on the quality of employment. They did see hints that people were thinking about entrepreneurial endeavors and there were some signs younger participants were investing more in education.
There are more results in the paper.
Overall, the negative effects on labor supply do not appear to be offset by other productive activities, and we do not observe people getting better jobs over the 3-year duration of the program. 33/https://t.co/KqT7Z9pw3Upic.twitter.com/neOXj135eF
Researcher Eva Vivalt wrote, “Overall, the negative effects on labor supply do not appear to be offset by other productive activities, and we do not observe people getting better jobs over the 3-year duration of the program.”
The study concluded, “While decreased labor market participation is generally characterized negatively, policymakers should take into account the fact that recipients have demonstrated–by their own choices–that time away from work is something they prize highly.”
Universal basic income is a hot topic in Silicon Valley. That’s because the tech world is actively developing AI that could make some jobs obsolete.
“There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better,” Elon Musk said in 2017. “What to do about mass unemployment? This is gonna be a massive social challenge. And I think, ultimately, we will have to have some kind of universal basic income. I don’t think we’re gonna have a choice.”
“These are not things I wish would happen,” Musk continued. “These are simply things that probably will happen.”
Altman, who was behind this study, said that while UBI is not a full solution, it’s a component that should be pursued in the face of AI advancement.
“As a cushion through a dramatic [employment] transition,” he said of UBI. “And the world should eliminate poverty if able to do so. I think it’s a great thing to do as a small part of the bucket of solutions.”
The idea of paying people with no conditions is incredibly expensive – the Tax Foundation said Andrew Yang’s $1,000-per-month proposal would cost $2.8 trillion per year. And many believe it’s an affront to capitalism.
“This is straight out of the Karl Marx playbook. This is not out of the Adam Smith playbook,” radio host Dave Ramsey said during his show last year. “Karl Marx, Father of Communism. Adam Smith wrote the Tome that we were all required to read on capitalism if we took economics. My friend Art Laffer, one of the leading economists in the world, says, ‘If you pay people not to work, please expect them to not work.’”
Again, the people from this study did still work – try living off $12,000 a year – but they did take off a little more than an hour per week.
The good and bad of AI voice generation in sports, entertainment, elections
People can expect legendary performances at the 2024 Olympics — and not just from the athletes. Play-by-play announcer Al Michaels, who has helped voice nearly a dozen Super Bowls, is contributing a clone of his voice to assist with NBC’s coverage.
NBC is the latest entity to introduce audience to AI voice technology, and many are skeptical about it. Michaels himself said the proposal was “a little bit frightening,” but changed his tune when he heard his copy “speak.”
The network said there will be a team of human editors who will review any AI content before it is released.
But what happens when it’s a musician getting copied without their permission? Artificial intelligence has been used to bring back the vocals of dead artists.
Singer Sheryl Crow recently spoke out about this practice, criticizing Drake for using AI to recreate the voices of Kendrick Lamar and late rapper Tupac in his song “Taylor Made” released in April. The diss track was ultimately pulled after Tupac’s estate threatened to sue.
The debate continues elsewhere in the entertainment industry. Major record companies are now suing music generation companies, accusing them of using copyrighted sounds and songs to train their AI services.
The controversy over AI has also spread into politics, where experts warn that voice generation could have a major impact on the 2024 presidential election. In January, many voters in New Hampshire received a robocall featuring the fake voice of Joe Biden telling them not to vote in the state’s primary.
There are tools people can use to help make sense of the different voices, however, much like the technology, they are still evolving.
The best bet may be to just listen closely. Audio recordings created by a live person tend to sound more natural and varied, compared to AI-generated voices that are more likely to be very clear.
Toys‘R’Us uses OpenAI’s text-to-video model Sora to create short film
Toys”R”Us is known for the slogan “I don’t want to grow up,” but now the toy brand is growing with the times. It used AI to make its latest promotional video.
Kim Miller, CMO of Toys“R”Us Creative Studios, told CNN that the concept originated after she attended a brand storytelling group. She shared with the host her desire to do something “fun” and “different” for their next project, which focused on the founder’s origin story.
Toys”R”Us released the video at an advertising event in France, saying it is the first ever brand film created by the technology. While Sora is not yet publicly available, the toy chain partnered with creative agency Native Foreign, an early tester of the AI model.
AI-assisted mayoral candidate in Wyoming sparks legal questions
An AI-assisted mayoral candidate in Wyoming is prompting state and local election officials to grapple with the legality of the AI-powered politician’s run for mayor of Cheyenne. One state official, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray, R, urged the city clerk on Monday, June 10, to reject the application for mayor.
“Wyoming does not permit an artificial intelligence bot to run for any office in the state, including municipal offices,” Gray said.
Victor Miller, the candidate running on the promise of AI-assisted governance, contended that it’s not an AI bot running for mayor, he is running for mayor.
Miller said that he created the ChatGPT-based bot in the hopes of fighting corruption and “self-serving political agendas.” Miller said that while he’s technically the one running for office, VIC will be running the show if he becomes mayor. According to Miller, VIC is “going to do 100% of the voting on these big, thick documents that I’m not going to read and that I don’t think people in there right now are reading.”
Miller said that he did not put “VIC” — an acronym for Virtual Integrated Citizen — on the application form, but also argued that “Vic” is short for his first name, Victor. However, Gray poked back, saying that Wyoming law requires candidates to use their full name.
Miller, who described himself as a “meat avatar,” said he’ll feed his AI assistant everything from emails to documents from meetings then the bot will make the decisions. He even plans to allow VIC to respond to constituents and reporters by feeding the bot their questions and printing out VIC’s responses. Miller believes that it is a more efficient process and that a human could not handle the same volume of work as AI.
Meanwhile, election officials are still investigating whether “VIC” can legally be on the ballot. An attorney with the Laramie County Attorney’s Office said that the investigation should wrap by the first week of July. The mayoral primaries are in August.
Microsoft will release the feature in a slew of new computers on June 18. Recall takes screenshots of everything users do on their computer and uses artificial intelligence to create a database of snapshots.
However, an ex-Microsoft employee and cybersecurity expert, Kevin Beaumont, discovered Recall stored an individual’s sensitive personal data in a database in plain sight. He said that the revelations made it clear that the feature would make stealing a person’s data much easier for cyber hackers.
Microsoft announced a host of changes to Recall. The feature will now be turned off by default with the option to turn it on during the computer’s setup. Before Microsoft made the changes, the Recall option was automatically enabled as the computer’s default setting.
Microsoft will also require individuals to authenticate their face, fingerprint or use a pin to access the feature. The same process will be required to decrypt a user’s search index database. Otherwise, the database remains encrypted.
The changes to the Recall feature came after Microsoft’s CEO called on employees to make security the company’s “top priority,” even if that means prioritizing it over new features, according to an internal memo.
Microsoft also stressed that the Recall feature will only be available on new CoPilot-Plus PCs. The PCs have advanced safeguards built into them, designed to protect against personal data theft.
“As we always do, we will continue to listen and learn from our customers, including consumers, developers and enterprises to evolve our experiences in ways that are meaningful to them,” the company said in a statement.
Google scrambles to improve AI after strange answers and major outage
Google is addressing the inaccuracies that emerged with its AI-generated search results. Earlier this month, the results began providing incorrect and sometimes dangerous responses. Meanwhile, Google is recovering from an unexplained outage Friday, May 31, that disrupted news searches worldwide.
The company announced plans to scale back some features and implement at least a dozen technical improvements. Google’s head of search, Liz Reid, explained in a recent blog post that the issues were due to “data voids” and searches designed to generate bizarre results. In a notable example that went viral, the AI suggested adding non-toxic glue to pizza to help the cheese stick better, a tip traced back to an old Reddit post.
Reid elaborated on the challenges of interpreting nonsensical queries and satirical content, using the query, “How many rocks should I eat?” as an example, which gained attention only after screenshots went viral.
As Google strives to refine its search results, it encountered another setback when its Google News services failed, leaving users without results under the “News” panel. DownDetector.com reported a spike in global outages, causing widespread frustration among users.
These incidents underscore the critical importance of reliability as Google aggressively expands into the AI market. The company has not yet confirmed if the new AI-enhanced features were responsible for the recent service disruptions.
FCC pushes for transparency in AI-driven ads ahead of 2024 elections
With the 2024 U.S. presidential elections just six months away, how serious a threat is artificial intelligence when it comes to politics and disinformation? AI is taking a more visible role in political campaigns and it is transforming campaign strategies.
The federal government is pushing for greater accountability. Jessica Rosenworcel, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), pressed for heightened transparency in how AI is used in campaign materials.
As artificial intelligence tools become more accessible, the Commission wants to make sure consumers are fully informed when the technology is used.
Jessica Rosenworcel, Federal Communications Commission Chair.
Both major U.S. political parties are utilizing AI, from deploying AI-voiced advertisements to analyzing voter data. The increasing awareness of potential technology misuse — especially in creating persuasive deepfakes — is spurring discussions about the need for more stringent regulations.
The proposed FCC regulations would require political advertisements on radio, TV and cable to clearly disclose any AI-generated content. The FCC, however, does not have authority to regulate internet or social media ads.
This comes as the FCC fined Steve Kramer $6 million for his role in the AI-generated robocalls that mimicked President Joe Biden’s voice ahead of the New Hampshire primaries to discourage voter turnout.
https://twitter.com/AP/status/1793672267945181484
Kramer, a political consultant for Democratic presidential long-shot Dean Phillips, also faces two dozen criminal charges in New Hampshire.
In an interview with local media, Kramer said that he sent out the calls to highlight the urgent need for stricter AI regulations.
“It’s exceeded what my initial thoughts were when doing this,” Kramer said in March. “I think that regulators realize this is a problem and I think legislators realize this is a problem. Now there is real impact and it’s going to keep happening so that we have real regulations that protect those same people who thought they were duped.”
The Biden and Trump campaigns said they’ve limited the use of generative AI to behind-the-scenes productivity tools for data analysis.
At least 9 dead after stage collapses at campaign rally in Mexico
A stage collapsed during a campaign event in Mexico, leaving at least nine people dead and dozens injured, and Nikki Haley makes her election plans known — giving her reasons why she’ll be voting for Donald Trump. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Thursday, May 23, 2024.
At least 9 dead after stage collapses at campaign rally in Mexico
Several people were killed and dozens injured when a stage collapsed during a campaign rally in Mexico on Wednesday, May 22. At least nine people were confirmed dead after high winds caused the stage to collapse at the campaign event in northern Mexico.
The victims included eight adults and one child. Officials said about 50 others were injured. Videos from the scene showed politicians, including a Mexican presidential candidate, on the stage as it began to fall.
People were seen rushing off the stage while those in the crowd ran for cover. Residents in the area were warned to stay indoors due to strong thunderstorms. The tragedy occurs as Mexico prepares for its presidential election on June 2.
Haley says she plans to vote for Trump for president
Nikki Haley has announced she plans to vote for former President Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election, despite her previous criticisms of him during the primary season.
When asked who would handle these issues better, the former United Nations ambassador said she would choose Trump over Biden, but emphasized she still does not agree with Trump on all issues.
“As a voter, I put my priorities on a president who’s going to have the backs of our allies and hold our enemies to account,” Haley said. “Who would secure the border, no more excuses. A president who would support capitalism and freedom. A president who understands we need less debt, not more debt. Trump has not been perfect on these policies. I’ve made that clear many, many times. But Biden has been a catastrophe. So I will be voting for Trump.”
Even though Haley suspended her campaign months ago, she has still been receiving a significant share of votes in Republican primaries, including 20% in Indiana earlier in May.
In her comments Wednesday, Haley repeated her call to Trump from her campaign suspension speech, hoping he will reach out to her supporters and not assume they’ll just vote for him in her absence.
The Biden campaign quickly responded to Haley’s decision, saying this changes nothing for the millions of Republicans who have cast their ballots against Trump.
Second US bird flu case emerges in Michigan dairy worker
The worker developed pinkeye but no respiratory symptoms and has fully recovered. Health officials emphasize that while the risk to the general public remains low, they are recommending protective measures for those who come in contact with dairy cattle.
“The risk to the general public remains low,” Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the chief medical executive for the state of Michigan, said. “We know that with our current understanding of H5 influenza, and H5 influenza particularly in livestock, that there is the risk for sporadic human cases. And that’s what we’ve seen at this time. What we have not seen is any sort of sustained human-to-human transmission.”
This case follows a similar instance in Texas and is under close monitoring by the CDC, which is preparing genetic analyses to better understand the virus’s transmission capabilities.
DOJ antitrust lawsuit targets Live Nation
The Justice Department is expected to file an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, as early as Thursday, May 23, in a New York federal court. The DOJ’s actions could range from demanding the company halt any illegal practices to pursuing a more drastic measure of asking a court to break up the company.
Nvidia reports record revenue powered by rise of AI
Chipmaker Nvidia is experiencing significant success, thanks in part to the surge in artificial intelligence. The company, which manufactures microchips powering most AI applications, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, reported record revenue of $26 billion in its latest quarterly earnings. This represents a 262% increase from last year, surpassing Wall Street predictions.
The company’s shares have increased by more than 90% this year. Following the earnings report, a single share of Nvidia surpassed $1,000 on Wednesday, May 22.
Just five years ago, a share in Nvidia would have cost less than $50.
Lauryn Hill tops Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list
After a 10-day countdown, Apple Music has named “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” as the No. 1 album in its ranking of the 100 best albums of all time. Upon receiving the news, Lauryn Hill said, “The award is mine,” but noted that her 1998 solo album is a “deep narrative” that “involves so many people.”
Other albums in the top five include “Blond” by Frank Ocean, “Purple Rain” by Prince and “Abbey Road” by The Beatles. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” came in at No. 2.