#519: Talking to Dead People
Midjourney Prompts, Generative AI For Creatives
📣 In this issue:
Stop motion people, little bigheads, Ai pollution, emulating cinematic styles, and a film starring Elon Musk.
📰 News-To-Know
1
In a guest essay, The New York Times compares AI ‘garbage’ as a culture pollutant, highlighting the increasing reliance on AI-generated content across different platforms and the potential consequences of this trend. The situation is likened to environmental pollution, framing the unchecked spread of AI-generated content as a new form of the tragedy of the commons. Just as environmental pollution required regulatory intervention, the author argues for legislative action to manage the proliferation of AI content.
Scientific Research: A study cited observes a marked increase in the use of certain adjectives in peer reviews for AI conference papers, suggesting a growing reliance on AI assistance in writing these reviews.
Daily Life: This proliferation of AI content is critiqued for its potential to dilute the quality and reliability of information available online, as well as for the bizarre and sometimes nonsensical outputs it can produce.
Cultural and Cognitive Implications: The author expresses concern over the cultural and cognitive effects of widespread exposure to AI-generated content, particularly on developing minds. The analogy of "AI runoff" polluting the cultural landscape is used to underscore nature of this influence.
2
In other news, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed into law HB 3, significantly impacting how social media platforms operate with respect to users under 16. This new legislation mandates that children under 14 cannot create social media accounts, and existing accounts for this age group must be deleted. For 14- and 15-year-olds, creating or maintaining social media accounts requires parental or guardian consent. Additionally, these platforms are required to delete accounts and personal information upon request from the teen or parent, with potential legal penalties for non-compliance.
3
Around 200 top artists raised an alarm on artificial intelligence producing vocal “copycats” that threaten to replace popular artists and creators. In an pen letterm artists, including Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry and Camila Cabello, said:
“Make no mistake: we believe that, when used responsibly, AI has enormous potential to advance human creativity and in a manner that enables the development and growth of new and exciting experiences for music fans everywhere. Unfortunately, some platforms and developers are employing AI to sabotage creativity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians and rightsholders,”