Idea theft normalized; library funding cut; AI citation screwups: Newsletter 19 March 2025
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Idea theft normalized; library funding cut; AI citation screwups: Newsletter 19 March 2025

Newsletter 86: Insisting on crediting idea creators, AI can’t cite articles properly, a new business hybrid publisher, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Fight the rip-off culture I recently accepted a job to write a book chapter. The clients were expert business thinkers. The topic was a business discipline that should…

Automating LGBTQ erasure; AI’s copyright loss; words worth avoiding: Newsletter 12 February 2025
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Automating LGBTQ erasure; AI’s copyright loss; words worth avoiding: Newsletter 12 February 2025

Newsletter 81. Using machines to enforce prejudice backfires, don’t use AI to apply to AI companies, a copyright legal shocker, and a list of words to avoid. Plus, three people to follow and three books to read. Machines can’t make trans people disappear — but they can sure do a lot of damage when they…

The US Copyright Office’s new report on AI is great for creators, AI tool developers . . . and lawyers
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The US Copyright Office’s new report on AI is great for creators, AI tool developers . . . and lawyers

After a year of study and more than 10,000 comments, the US Copyright Office issued its second report on AI and copyright. This report attempts to address the question of when works created with AI tools can be copyrighted. (A third report, to be released later, will address the contentious issue of the legality of…

What is AI good for; The Onion swallows InfoWars; fake bear damage: Newsletter 20 November 2024
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What is AI good for; The Onion swallows InfoWars; fake bear damage: Newsletter 20 November 2024

Newsletter 71. Why technology’s long-term impact is unknowable, HarperCollins pays you to train AI on your books, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s imaginary world, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Everyone predicting the AI future is wrong I spent last Friday at MIT, attending a conference called “BIG.AI@MIT” (Business Implications of Generative…

AI in the creator economy; the state of publishing; a rubric for storytelling: Newsletter 13 November 2024
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AI in the creator economy; the state of publishing; a rubric for storytelling: Newsletter 13 November 2024

Newsletter 70. When artists should (or mustn’t) use AI; standing desks aren’t worth it; low satisfaction for publishing workers. Plus three people to follow and three books to read. Should you use AI to create? Many of us make our living by creating. This includes both freelancers in the so-called creator economy and people who…

I asked Google Gemini to write that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone fan letter. It sucked.

I asked Google Gemini to write that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone fan letter. It sucked.

If you’re watching the Olympics, you’ve probably seen this sad Google commercial about a father who wants his daughter to use the Google Gemini AI assistant to write a fan letter to her favorite athlete, hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Here’s the commercial: Let’s put it to the test Ok, Google, let’s see what you’ve got. Here’s…