Mediagazer: Google DeepMind details how its visual language model Flamingo generates descriptions for YouTube Shorts, stored as metadata and helping improve discoverability (Jay Peters/The Verge)

2:25 PM ET, May 25, 2023

Top News:

An in-depth look at Vice's downfall, as private equity's ill-fated bet on the future of media fell apart; some shareholders blame TPG, which invested $450M — The evaporation of TPG's $450mn investment shows what can happen when Wall Street collides with an uncontrollable creative industry

Discussion: @maxseddon, @mattgarrahan, @hamzajahanzeb, @johnreedwrites, @oliverbullough, @paleofuture, @fd, @tonytassell, @sallyhayd, @tariqpanja, @rafat, @ftopinion, @birdyword, @hayekmg and @annaknicolaou

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign announcement on Twitter Spaces was delayed by ~25 minutes of crashes, feedback glitches, and audio failures — - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign announcement plans evening were derailed by massive technical glitches …

Discussion: New York Times, @alexeheath, @elonmusk, @rmac18, @ike_saul, Mediaite, Insider, @benjysarlin, @karaswisher, @joebiden, The Verge, @davidsacks, Semafor, Reason, The Register, @karaswisher, @mehdirhasan, The Nation, CNN, @kylegriffin1, The Guardian, @oneunderscore__, Axios, @wakeup2politics, New Republic, TechCrunch, The Week, The Atlantic, Gizmodo, @ike_saul, @bcmerchant, @briannawu, @andreasharsono, @karaswisher, @mollypriddy, @rolandsmartin, @tedlieu, Poynter, @sherman4949, @futureshift, @andrewkimmel, The Hill, @shutupamanda, @briannawu, @mattnavarra, @jayrosen_nyu, @brianstelter, @benjysarlin, @aidnmclaughlin, @oneunderscore__, @mattbinder, @_kxdyn, @oliverdarcy, @mattgertz, @karaswisher, @oneunderscore__, @jason_kint, @jonathanvswan, @karaswisher, @justinbaragona, @chrislhayes, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, NBC News, El País, The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Times, Quartz, Fox News, The Wrap, Slate, The Information, Forbes, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Reuters, Florida Politics, TMZ.com, TechCrunch, Associated Press, Bloomberg, New York Post, Mercury News, Al Jazeera, Variety and Politico, more at Techmeme »

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Elon Musk's intent in buying Twitter wasn't only to dismantle a tool he perceived as empowering the media but also to turn the app into a right-wing heavyweight

Discussion: New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, Axios, Insider, Vox, The Atlantic, NPR, Al Jazeera, Free Press, CBS News, Reason, @johnjharwood, @cwarzel, Associated Press, The Guardian, @jayrosen_nyu, @scalzi, Gizmodo, @pbump, @jordanbpeterson, @danprimack, @zaleskiluke, @zaleskiluke, @digiphile, New York Times, Fast Company, Bloomberg, @stollmeyereu, @pbump, @penamerica, @stillgray, @pbump, Mediaite and BGR

Wall Street Journal:

A look at Disney and Comcast's Hulu fight; sources say their Hulu valuations vary by tens of billions, they're in arbitration, and Comcast stopped funding Hulu — Parent companies are in final phase of battle marked by legal threats, broken promises and secret arbitration

Discussion: The Wrap, @great_katzby, @loudmouthjulia, @great_katzby, @aagave, @rwhelanwsj, @jtoonkel, @sherman4949, @edmundlee, @jtoonkel, @edmundlee and @loudmouthjulia, more at Techmeme »

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Memo: CNN shifts production for CNN en Español to Mexico City, trimming linear TV work and expanding mobile video; source: Atlanta and Miami may see job cuts — CNN will shift the bulk of its operations behind its Spanish-language efforts to Mexico City, scaling back production …

Discussion: Talking Biz News, @variety and @jason

Access Now:

Pegasus was used in the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict to target at least five journalists, among others, in 2021 and 2022, the first documented use in a war — The Armenia spyware victims include a former Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia (the Ombudsperson) …

Discussion: TASS, @natynettle, Bloomberg, Politico, Committee to Protect …, AppleInsider, @rferlpress, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, @pressfreedom, @cpj_eurasia, @naghdalyan, The Guardian and Wired, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

YouTube plans to shut down Stories on June 26, 2023, as the company focuses on other key areas, like Shorts, Community posts, and live videos — Stories are over — at least on YouTube, that is. The Google-owned video site announced today that YouTube Stories will be shutting down on June 26 …

Discussion: The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Jay Peters / The Verge:

Google DeepMind details how its visual language model Flamingo generates descriptions for YouTube Shorts, stored as metadata and helping improve discoverability — Google just combined DeepMind and Google Brain into one big AI team, and on Wednesday, the new Google DeepMind shared details …

Discussion: DeepMind Blog and The Messenger

Financial Times:

Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe says AI can help authors generate content; Bertelsmann is using AI to analyze character emotions on shows to help place fitting ads — Thomas Rabe says that despite copyright challenges machine-generated content could be ‘very positive’

Discussion: @baldwinre

Emily Steel / New York Times:

US Interior Department report: two Park Police officers used excessive force against two Australian journalists covering a George Floyd protest in 2020 — The Interior Department concluded that U.S. Park Police officers exceeded the “minimum level of reasonable force” during a George Floyd protest in 2020.

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

Washington Post:

Washington Post Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan announces two AI teams: the AI Taskforce, working on strategy and priorities, and the AI Hub, an operational team — Announcement from Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan on The Post's next steps in AI innovation: — Dear Washington Post colleagues,

Discussion: @steven_aquino, @ndiakopoulos, @ethangach, @pressgazette and MediaPost

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:

MoviePass relaunches in the US with four credit-based tiers, starting at $10/month for one to three movies; showtimes determine how many credits a film “costs” — As promised, MoviePass is returning. After last year's Labor Day beta/waiting list launch, the movie theater subscription service …

Discussion: Variety, MoviePass Inc., The Verge and The Hollywood Reporter

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

In an email, Wall Street Journal EIC Emma Tucker says Deputy EICs Neal Lipschutz and Jason Anders are leaving the paper — Wall Street Journal editor in chief Emma Tucker sent out the following on Thursday: — Dear All, — I am writing to share the news that Neal Lipschutz and Jason Anders …

Discussion: New York Times, @katie_robertson, @bgrueskin, @bgrueskin and @froomkin

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More News:

Kate Knibbs / Wired:
A look at AI-generated podcasts, like “The Joe Rogan AI Experience” and “Myself, I Am and That”, created using AI voice tools from ElevenLabs and other startups

Discussion: Mediaite, @knibbs, @ellensheng, @mckinneykelsey and @arjunbasu, more at Techmeme »

Joe Coscarelli / New York Times:
Q&A with Grimes, who invited anyone to make Grimes songs using AI tools, on “open-sourcing” her voice, her obsession with AI, and five GrimesAI-created tracks

Discussion: @nxthompson and @ravisparikh, more at Techmeme »

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Gray Television sues the FCC over a $500K+ fine imposed last year for Gray's alleged violation of a ban on owning two of the top four TV stations in a market

Discussion: Radio & Television … and Next TV, Thanks:@thedeskdotnet

Tom Kludt / Vanity Fair:
A look at the NFL's widening streaming portfolio, including YouTube, Peacock, and Amazon, signaling that the future of live sports is outside the cable bundle

Discussion: New York Post, @vanityfair, Observer, @jkosner and Billboard

Blake Brittain / Reuters:
Filing: the Biden administration says SCOTUS should let stand a 2022 appeals court ruling favoring Google in its alleged copying of Genius' lyric transcriptions

Discussion: Plagiarism Today and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Peter Kafka / Vox:
Both The Messenger and CNN promise down-the-middle news and try to sell themselves as antidotes to “biased media”, but there's little evidence people want that

Discussion: @benmullin, @richarddeitsch, @mzhemingway, @rehaballstar, @letitflytom, @brooklynmarie and @scottnover

The NewsGuild of New York:
The Insider Union says 94% of its members voted to authorize a strike while the union negotiates its first contract over wages, layoffs, health care, and more

Discussion: @metzgov, @insiderunion and @metzgov

Andrew Fedorov / The Fine Print:
A Forbes contributor sent two story drafts to his source “first for approval and changes”; other writers are criticizing the practice as damaging to journalism

Discussion: @thefineprintnyc, @hernameisjae, @hernameisjae, @dariccott, @kathmschmidt, @dancow, @andrewfed, @imgarysuarez, @justicar, @parismartineau, @lisaofu, @chashomans, @gerrickkennedy, @jbenton, @jbenton, @thefineprintnyc and Debate Me

Todd Spangler / Variety:
After backlash, Max will change back film credit listings to break out directors and writers, blaming a technical “oversight” for grouping them under “creators”

Discussion: @jfrankensteiner, @anoushasakoui, The Verge, @empirestatebldg, Los Angeles Times, @snoodit, Quartz, @ed_solomon, @joeytainment, @benjamindictor, @zackbornstein, @benmullin, @davidaugust, @kelleent, @emtothea, @terri_white, @kavehtaherian, @mikeisaac, @mikeisaac, @itsmecarolamptp, @pattymo, @jfruh, @peterapeel, @fb_bmb, @jayhasrajani, @mjmckean, @glenmazzara, @vincenzo_natali, @megjameslat, @janefriedman, @jeffjarvis, @sautterdays, @kabirakhtar, @jcampanellinyc, @jbflint, @cwarzel, @norazuckerman, Comic Book, Dark Horizons, @kirkwrites79, @jakelawler42, @imohumoren, @carolinerenard_, @jasondashbailey, @kaludiasays, @alishagrauso, @agraybee, @brennancaldwell, @johnlevenstein, @trulyrick, @nkulw, @nycsouthpaw, @justysilverman, @johnsemley3000, @scottemovienerd, @kimmasters, @scottderrickson, @imjohnleary, @derrific, @jfkenney, @acuna_mattata, @fb_bmb, @jamessabata, @nicksharafinski, @mileskahn, @zachsilberberg, @geoffwilt, @jfrankensteiner, TVLine, The Messenger, The A.V. Club, IGN, Rolling Stone, The Wrap, IndieWire, Dark Horizons, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

Kent Walker / The Keyword:
Google says the DOJ's “wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision”, would hurt US consumers, and jeopardize the US' global tech leadership

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