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Good Friday Morning! That’s especially true for disgraced former House Member George Santos, who was expelled from Congress. But he’s doing just fine making a living off of Cameo. He’s really hitting that 15 minutes of fame. He’s charging $400 per video on the site and making six figures. He’s already booked enough video time to make more cash at that than he ever did in Congress. These are estimates from Cameo, too, not Santos.
In related news of various shenanigans in Congress, it was revealed this week that the gold bars found in Senator Bob Menendez’s house as part of an FBI sting were also found in a previous crime. News reports say, “At least four gold bars tied to the FBI search of Sen. Robert Menendez’s home had been directly linked to a New Jersey businessman now accused of bribing the state’s senior senator, Bergen County prosecutor records from a 2013 robbery case show.”
You can’t make this stuff up. You also can’t make up the topic I’m hitting on today, the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) across multiple industries. I’ve written a few pieces over the year documenting how I’m seeing it spread, and this is an end-of-the-year view of how far the tech has come in a very short time – links to follow.
Quick hits:
- With George Santos expelled and Kevin McCarthy resigning at the end of the year, the GOP House majority is shrinking fast. They already had a razor-thin margin of five. That will officially be down to three at the beginning of the year. Majorie Taylor Greene said she “hoped no one died.” More broadly, seven Senators and 30 Representatives have announced retirement ahead of 2024. That there’s an exodus ahead of a major election isn’t surprising. There’s always turnover in Congress. What’s making this moment unique is the names involved: GOP House leadership has completely changed from a year ago, and several are retiring. None of them were planning on that 12 months ago. In 2024, House leadership will be wholly different. We’ve seen a complete generational change there with McCarthy and his team out. Whether Johnson lasts is unknown at this stage. The Senate is on the verge of seeing the same. McConnell and Schumer will have to turn over the reins soon.
- The White House has decided “Bidenomics” has failed. Biden believed they could sell Americans on the economy being better for them, so they rolled out the Bidenomics pitch. Instead, the opposite occurred. Americans directly blamed the economy on Biden, and Bidenomics became an attack word for Republicans. Undeterred, the White House is rolling out a new slogan: “MAGAnomics. … But while the use of Bidenomics has been ebbing, the use of MAGAnomics is on the upswing, including in a new memo the White House will release today attacking the GOP’s health care proposals: “By the numbers: the growing MAGAnomics threat of skyrocketing healthcare costs.” Our own by the numbers tally: Three mentions of MAGAnomics and only one mention of Bidenomics. Read the memo.” Here’s why this will backfire: it’ll remind voters that the economy was better under Trump.
- If you haven’t followed it, the DOJ arrest of alleged Cuban spy Victor Manuel Rocha is absolutely bonkers. The complaint says, “Since 1981, a criminal complaint against Rocha says, he worked for the State Department, National Security Council, and U.S. military—even serving from 1999 until 2002 as the American ambassador to Bolivia—while surreptitiously working to advance the interests of Fidel Castro’s communist Cuban regime.” He worked and survived across multiple administrations and allegedly supported the Cuban government throughout his career. The DOJ didn’t catch him until this guy started confessing what he did, bragging really, to an undercover FBI agent.
Where you can find me this week
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Universal Healthcare Is Really Death-For-All – Conservative Institute
An Older Generation Is Passing Away – We Should Honor Them Now – Conservative Institute
The AI Revolution Is Speeding Up.
Over the summer, I wrote a newsletter focused on the surge in artificial intelligence in everyday society, focusing on ChatGPT. At the time, people used ChatGPT to design various programs and as an assistant. There were even stories of lawyers getting disciplined for letting ChatGPT write the answers to their motions and briefs. Some places like Hardees rolled out ChatGPT-powered systems at the drive-thru to take customer orders.
Since then, ChatGPT has rolled out new interactions and given their AI program access to the internet. And a wide array of companies have jumped on the bandwagon to use these programs to power new programs. I recently met with some people in the sales and decision-making process for AI in their respective companies. They expect even more advancements in 2024, with more custom-made AI programs being rolled out to target specific issues. One of those would be to have AI research a medical patient’s records and provide a summary for legal teams (very helpful in large mass tort cases where you’re evaluating possible class members).
I’m returning to the topic of AI because I’ve gotten the sense, talking to everyday people, that they think AI has drifted into the background. It’s not making headlines in the news, so it’s not top of mind. I’d disagree with that. It’s even more advanced and used now than when I wrote about it here.
In fact, you’re likely reading news and social media posts written by AI.
There was a fascinating piece in Futurism about Sports Illustrated. After examining the posts and author profiles on Sports Illustrated, it appeared that several of the writers didn’t exist. Here’s Futurism:
According to a second person involved in the creation of the Sports Illustrated content who also asked to be kept anonymous, that’s because it’s not just the authors’ headshots that are AI-generated. At least some of the articles themselves, they said, were churned out using AI as well.
“The content is absolutely AI-generated,” the second source said, “no matter how much they say that it’s not.”
After we reached out with questions to the magazine’s publisher, The Arena Group, all the AI-generated authors disappeared from Sports Illustrated’s site without explanation.
And although Sports Illustrated was the lead for the story, because they deleted authors and potential evidence of AI-generated content, they aren’t alone. Futurism went further:
The undisclosed AI content is a direct affront to the fabric of media ethics, in other words, not to mention a perfect recipe for eroding reader trust. And at the end of the day, it’s just remarkably irresponsible behavior that we shouldn’t see anywhere — let alone normalized by a high-visibility publisher.
The Arena Group is also hardly alone, either. As powerful generative AI tools have debuted over the past few years, many publishers have quickly attempted to use the tech to churn out monetizable content.
In almost every case, though, these efforts to cut out human journalists have backfired embarrassingly.
We caught CNET and Bankrate, both owned by Red Ventures, publishing barely-disclosed AI content that was filled with factual mistakes and even plagiarism; in the ensuing storm of criticism, CNET issued corrections to more than half its AI-generated articles. G/O Media also published AI-generated material on its portfolio of sites, resulting in embarrassing bungles at Gizmodo and The AV Club. We caught BuzzFeed publishing slapdash AI-generated travel guides. And USA Today and other Gannett newspapers were busted publishing hilariously garbled AI-generated sports roundups that one of the company’s own sports journalists described as “embarrassing,” saying they “shouldn’t ever” have been published.
That Buzzfeed mention doesn’t shock me. In January, there was a story that Buzzfeed was laying off staff and replacing them with AI. It’s not much of a coincidence that the major writers and Hollywood actors strike hit soon after this. I get that the contract lined up, but for creatives/content creators, AI-generated content directly threatens their livelihoods. They had to answer with studios looking at AI as a replacement.
When I left Instagram for good several months ago, I noticed the creation of influencer-like accounts with perfect pictures in every pane. They were AI-generated but were being set up as models and other things. At the time, I wasn’t 100% sure how they’d get commodified, but that’s since become apparent.
Content companies are building large portfolios of fake people to sell to companies needing “staff.” What’s better than a public-facing employee that doesn’t exist? You can appear much larger than you need and get access to networks of bot influencer accounts that will sell whatever you want. They’re also building writer and content creator profiles to sell to companies like Sports Illustrated and more.
I personally know of several entrepreneurs who are using AI to build content networks and are generating great profits from it. This isn’t just a fantastical internet tale; I’m listening to the stories and seeing the success first-hand. Six to eight months ago, people laughed at me when I mentioned the various use cases for AI. They didn’t believe it was possible.
Well, I’m in the legal field. I recently listened to a future sales pitch for a product that would do one of the primary tasks of paralegals in a large-scale case.
A friend sent me a video of Google’s new AI program, Gemini. They allege it can beat ChatGPT in a variety of benchmarks. As an aside, Google is in a bind here because this tech was under their nose for a decade, and Microsoft managed to scoop it. You can watch the video here, and I recommend it. As part of the tests, they’re running Gemini through field tests where it has to identify what the person is drawing, saying, suggesting, and responding on the fly. These aren’t typed responses; it’s real-time camera action and response.
This advancement was something I thought was a few years away, and we got there in less than six months. These upgrades are breathtaking in nature and scope. In 2008, I watched Tony Stark as Iron Man with his personal AI assistant named “JARVIS.” I thought it was a fancy tech I wouldn’t see in my lifetime. And I hadn’t really changed my mind on that in the years since, until now. I’ve seen AI fail in many ways, especially in legal technology, where everyone is looking for a competitive and cost-effective edge. This tech isn’t failing. It’s succeeding massively.
The irony is that the technology is advancing at warp speed, but commercial product uses are lagging. Everyone has to rush products out to respond to consumer demand – businesses are actively seeking ways to use AI to cut down on employee tasks.
But on the internet content front, there’s been an explosion of AI-generated content. In November, Google issued new rules to its content creators over AI-generated content. “One of the changes that will roll out involves the creation of new disclosure requirements for YouTube creators. Now, they’ll have to disclose when they’ve created altered or synthetic content that appears realistic, including videos made with AI tools. For instance, this disclosure would be used if a creator uploads a video that appears to depict a real-world event that never happened, or shows someone saying something they never said or doing something they never did.”
The DC Press ran several puff pieces, lauding both Obama and Biden for their seriousness in taking on AI regulation. What’s their concern? “The White House is particularly worried about the role AI could play in amplifying misinformation around key elections.”
In other words, they’re focused on the last battles they fought. Not the future. I’m not really concerned about AI interacting with the elections. Most of the video-generated content is easy to spot as fake. That hasn’t been the issue. What is the problem is AI-generated content around war zones.
For instance, Hamas/Palestinian activists are generating AI images of bombed-out buildings and dead Palestinians as evidence on social media of misdeeds by Israel. I saw one floating around earlier this week of a bloodied child holding an injured cat. When you looked at it closely, the kid had six fingers, and the cat had five legs. It’s a common mistake when using some of the more popular AI image creation sites. I haven’t seen many fake videos, though they do exist. Social media activists pretending they’re being injured is a significant thing you’ll see.
These kinds of fake pictures matter less in the West, where we’re somewhat inoculated against this nonsense for now. The Palestinian activists have a different audience: they’re trying to whip up anger and protests in the streets of other Arab countries.
What’s the answer here? I’m not sure. No one else knows, either. Any rule – including those by Biden- is useless the moment they hit the paper. Every major tech company in the United States is laser-focused on developing killer AI applications. OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Facebook are the big guns. But even Elon Musk has released one, and niche AI products that service a variety of problems are coming to the market.
AI is everywhere and spreading. But the idea put out by ethicists several months ago that a “pause” was needed was hilarious then and even more funny now. We never had a pause. No one stopped. What tech companies wanted was a pause from OpenAI so they could catch up. In 2024, we will see the AI war open up even more broadly as more products hit the market.
It’s the new technological revolution, changing every business out there, whether you realize it or not.
Links of the week
This Video Is So Shocking I Can’t Even Believe It. The Deans of Harvard, Penn, and MIT Refuse To Agree That Calling For the Murder Of All Jews Is Against Their Code of Conduct – Dave Portnoy, Barstool Sports
Penn loses $100 million donation over antisemitism hearing – Axios
Targeting costly meds, Biden admin asserts authority to seize certain drug patents – Politico
US Sen. Kevin Cramer’s son charged with manslaughter in crash that killed North Dakota deputy – AP
Locusts swarm skies of Mexico leaving people fearing the world is ending – The Metro
X/Twitter Thread(s) of the week
Hamas gave drugs to their hostage victims to make them appear more peaceful and relaxed.
Elderly Palestinian woman blasts Hamas on al-Jazeera.
Satire of the week
Secret Service Finds Biden Attempting To Dig Own Grave On White House Lawn – Onion
The Babylon Bee Writers Stand In Solidarity With Our Fellow Fake News Writers Going On Strike At The Washington Post – Babylon Bee
DoD asks Israel, Hamas to move Intifada to Pacific: Austin: “Look, we’ve put a lot of time and money into this.” – Duffel Blog
Winter Activities Ranked By How Well You Can Hide The Fact That You Haven’t Showered In A Week – The Hard Times
How I Used ChatGPT to Write an Apology for Using ChatGPT to Write My Wedding Vows – Reductress
Relief For US As All Future Shootings Can Now Be Blamed On GTA VI Trailer – Waterford Whispers News
Thanks for reading!