Scroll down for the latest on The Bulwark, Chelsea Handler, The Economist, America PAC, 538, Facebook, and more. But I'd like to start with something completely different... |
On a recent episode of the "Hard Fork" podcast, reporter Casey Newton said "you talk to folks who live in San Francisco, and there's this bone deep feeling that, within a year or two years, we're just going to be living in a world that has been transformed by AI."
Indeed, in tech circles, the vibe shift is very real. There is a growing belief that some form of ultra-powerful artificial general intelligence that comprehends human speech and replaces human tasks is within sight. On "Hard Fork," Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said he is 70 to 80 percent confident that "we'll get a very large number of AI systems that are much smarter than humans at almost everything... before the end of the decade, and my guess is 2026 or 2027."
And yet, as Newton said, there are disconnects – geographic and otherwise – between the technologists and everyone else. After the recent AI Action Summit in Paris, Newton's co-host Kevin Roose wrote that policymakers "can't seem to grasp how soon powerful A.I. systems could arrive, or how disruptive they could be."
That brings me to the latest episode of "The Ezra Klein Show." Klein is influential in policy circles, and he is making a bold statement: He believes we really are on the cusp of an AGI revolution.
"They thought it would take somewhere from five to 15 years to develop," Klein said on the pod. But now they believe it's coming in two to three years, during Donald Trump's second term."
"While there is so much else going on in the world to cover," Klein said, "I do think there's a good chance that, when we look back on this era in human history, A.I. will have been the thing that matters."
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Asking the right questions |
If you listen to Klein's podcast, or read the transcript, you'll notice that there are more questions than answers. That's an honest assessment of this moment in time. Asking the right questions is crucial.
Too few people are "thinking seriously about what would happen if smarter-than-human A.I. systems were to arrive in a matter of months, or asking the right follow-up questions," Roose wrote recently. "What would it mean for workers if powerful A.I. agents capable of replacing millions of white-collar jobs were not a far-off fantasy but an imminent reality? What kinds of regulations would be necessary in a world where A.I. systems were capable of recursive self-improvement, or carrying out autonomous cyberattacks? And if you're an A.G.I. optimist, how should institutions get ready for rapid improvements in areas like scientific research and drug discovery?"
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> Google is testing an experimental version of its search engine "that completely eliminates its classic 10 blue links in favor of an AI-generated summary." (Reuters)
>> Google Cloud is unveiling "AI-powered weather predictions." (Axios)
>> Amazon Prime Video "is beginning an AI dubbing pilot program for select movies and series." (Engadget)
>> Liam Reilly wrote more about Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong's efforts to integrate AI tools to win readers and subscribers. (CNN)
>> "Parents in tech want their kids to go into the arts instead," Callum Borchers wrote, because "hands-on jobs that demand creativity are seen as less vulnerable" to AI. (WSJ)
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YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST... |
Will Sommer joins The Bulwark |
Washington Post media reporter Will Sommer has been poached by The Bulwark, where he will report on "the forces driving today's far-right," the site says. Sommer has been a standout reporter on the conspiracy theory beat for years, and published a book about the rise of QAnon in 2023. At The Bulwark, he'll publish a twice-a-week newsletter, appear in videos, and file dispatches from the field.
Sommer told me, "The online world that I've been following my whole career is no longer a side show of conspiracists, castoffs and rabble-rousers. It is now the main driver of our daily conversations. In many respects, it is the backbone of our current government. I look forward to reporting on this community and telling these stories for an outlet that is growing rapidly and meeting news consumers where they are."
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New this morning: The Economist's cover portrays Trump lighting dollar bills on fire. The publication says "Trump’s tariff turbulence is worse than anyone imagined." The markets are poised to fall again this morning... |
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'All offense, all the time' |
Drew Harwell and Sarah Ellison's new Washington Post story explores the Trump administration's strategy of dominating the news and "pushing a parallel information universe of social media feeds and right-wing firebrands to sell the country on his expansionist approach to presidential power."
The press shop has become a rapid-response influencer operation, and it's "all offense, all the time," Steve Bannon told them...
>> Related: NYMag's Charlotte Klein says White House reporters are "divided, squabbling, and unsure whether they even want to present a united front." Some are "keeping their heads down and hoping the situation won't get worse."
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Reviewing Trump's ratings |
Nielsen says about 36.6 million Americans watched Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday — up a whole lot from the 26.9 million who watched Joe Biden's equivalent speech in 2021, but down from the 47.7 million who watched Trump's equivalent speech in 2017. (Of course, viewership habits have changed drastically in eight years' time.) As expected, Fox News "attracted the largest TV audience of any network on Tuesday, with 10.7 million viewers."
>> Wash Post reporter Drew Harwell made one of the sharpest observations about the commentary around the speech. The "criticism that Trump's speech was too long" is an "outdated concept," he wrote: "People wanting to watch the whole thing will; most will just see the highlights. Influencer 101: If viewers like the content, 'too long' doesn't exist. Most popular podcast (Rogan) is three hours long!"
>> Trump's real-time TV feedback loop: During yesterday's press briefing, Karoline Leavitt said the president "just passed me a note" that instructed her to tout the CBS-YouGov poll of speech-watchers.
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'Hamilton' cancels 'Trump Kennedy Center' shows |
"The hit musical show 'Hamilton' announced Wednesday that it will cancel its upcoming shows at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, citing President Donald Trump’s firing of the center’s former president and board members," CNN's Kaanita Iyer reports.
>> "This latest action by Trump means it's not the Kennedy Center as we knew it," Lin-Manuel Miranda told the NYT's Michael Paulson, calling it the "Trump Kennedy Center."
>> Paulson says "most of this season’s theater programming appears to be intact," but "next season’s programming could be at risk..."
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> "Pentagon deputy press secretary Kingsley Wilson is a prolific purveyor of antisemitic conspiracy theories," Jewish Insider's Matthew Kassel reported yesterday. Wilson "has a long history of bigoted and xenophobic posts," Anna Merlan of Mother Jones reported. By the end of the day, some Republicans were denouncing Wilson and raising questions about vetting. (Politico)
>> State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce is scheduled to hold her first press briefing this afternoon. (CNN)
>> Elon Musk's America PAC "launched its first ever television ad on Wednesday" to promote Trump's message to Congress. (The Hill)
>> Lauren Watson points out that "the DOGE cuts are a local news story, too." (CJR)
>> "A team of volunteer archivists has recreated the Centers for Disease Control website exactly as it was the day Donald Trump was inaugurated," Jason Koebler reports. (404 Media)
>> The Post's opinion section "is still taking an overwhelmingly critical approach" toward Trump, Musk and other Republicans, Sarah Rumpf notes. (Mediaite)
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'Cancel culture' comes for a romance novel |
This is a fascinating, frustrating story by the NYT's Alexandra Alter: "A forthcoming romance novel by the writer Sophie Lark was pulled by her publisher," Bloom Books, "after drawing criticism from readers over dialogue that some found racist or that praised Elon Musk."
Alter says "the blowup over the book, and Bloom's decision to drop the series, reflects how politics has infused almost every aspect of culture, even the often-escapist world of romance fiction. It's also the latest example of the influence that readers can exert over authors and publishers, and how negative campaigns on social media can torpedo a book before it hits stores..."
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Liam Reilly writes: NBC News made it official yesterday, announcing that Tom Llamas will take the "NBC Nightly News" reins from Lester Holt this summer. Llamas will continue to anchor his weeknight newscast for NBC News Now. NBC noted that "Llamas will become the first Latino journalist to host the weeknight edition of Nightly News."
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>> Financial Times Group CEO John Ridding is stepping down after two decades in the role. (FT)
>> CNN alum Chris Cillizza is joining NewsNation as a contributor. (Deadline)
>> “Sesame Workshop is cutting staff, as the fate of its flagship TV program 'Sesame Street' remains in limbo." (THR)
>> Speaking of "Sesame," advocates for PBS and other taxpayer-supported media outlets are calling today Protect My Public Media Day. Local news sources like LAist are getting the word out. (LAist)
>> A+E Networks (the home of Lifetime, the History Channel, etc) "is dialing back its connection to traditional TV by rechristening itself A+E Global Media." (Variety)
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Following up on our lead story yesterday: The entire staff of ABC's 538 was laid off yesterday, and the site was taken offline by the end of the day. Some employees said they had been working on articles that will never be published. Others worked on ways to archive the site's data. Observers wondered why ABC didn't sell off the asset. The site's founder Nate Silver blogged about the sudden shutdown and said his site Silver Bulletin "will begin publishing some new features soon..."
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Coming next week: An 'explosive' book about Facebook |
"An insider account being billed as an 'explosive dispatch' about 'seven critical years' at Facebook/Meta will be published next week," The AP's Hillel Italie reports. The memoir, "Careless People," is by Meta's former director of global public policy, Sarah Wynn-Williams. Flatiron Books says she depicts top execs as "callously indifferent to the price others would pay for their own enrichment."
>> A Meta spokesperson responded by saying "we haven't seen the book, but this former employee was terminated in 2017 and an investigation at that time found she made false claims."
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YouTube's latest pitch for subscribers |
YouTube celebrated its subscriber gains yesterday and announced a "less expensive tier of its 'Premium' subscription service" to win more sign-ups.
The Information's Martin Peers put it into context this way: "YouTube, the goliath of online video, has become Netflix's biggest rival for viewers. Until recently, they stayed out of each other's way in how they made money — but that's increasingly changing. Netflix is the largest video-streaming subscription service trying to become a player in advertising, and YouTube is the biggest video ad outlet trying to build a subscription business." Read on...
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>> The Emmys will air on September 14 on CBS and Paramount+. (TheWrap)
>> Chelsea Handler's new book of essays, "I'll Have What She's Having," has debuted at #1 on the NYT best seller list. (NYT)
>> Pixar's "Win or Lose" is again making headlines, this time over a distinctly Christian character who prays before a game, Lisa Respers France reports. (CNN)
>> Marvel's Daredevil revival, "Daredevil: Born Again," launched on Disney+ earlier this week. While the show is pulling in mixed reviews, it has nabbed a respectable 82% Tomatometer rating. (RT)
>> Conor Dougherty says "Paradise" and "Silo" left him wondering: "After the Apocalypse, Will We Decamp to a Suburb or a High-Rise?" (NYT)
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