Top News:
New York Times:
Sources: OpenAI transcribed 1M+ hours of YouTube videos through Whisper and used the text to train GPT-4; Google also transcribed YouTube videos to harvest text — OpenAI, Google and Meta ignored corporate policies, altered their own rules and discussed skirting copyright law …
Discussion:
The Verge, Siri Agrell on LinkedIn, @dm_cooper, Nigel Caplan on LinkedIn, @mikeisaac, @jcpxdesigns, @mikeisaac, Timo Kämäräinen on LinkedIn, @gavatron, @dschatsky, @markandrejevic, @_leobriceno, Ali Manning on LinkedIn, @glenngabe@threads.net, @edsu@social.coop, @clive@saturation.social, @rosenzweigjane, Engadget, @Dhmspector@mastodon.social, Milton Pedraza on LinkedIn, The Information and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »
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New York Times:
Sources: Meta debated buying a publisher like Simon & Schuster for AI training data and weighed using copyrighted online data even if that meant facing lawsuits — To make artificial intelligence systems more powerful, tech companies need online data to feed the technology. Here's what to know.
Reuters:
A look at tech giants' AI training data deals; Defined.ai: some are ready to pay $1-$2 per image, $2-$4 per short video, and $100-$300 per hour of long video — At its peak in the early 2000s, Photobucket was the world's top image-hosting site. The media backbone for once-hot services …
Bloomberg:
FTC lawsuit filings: Instagram had ad revenues of $22B in 2020, or 26% of Meta's total revenue, and $16.5B in H1 2022 — - Sales figures for the app released in FTC's antitrust lawsuit — Meta Platforms Inc. brought in almost 30% of its revenue from Instagram in the first half of 2022 …
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Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
Filings from FTC lawsuit against Meta: Instagram had $32.4B in ad revenue in 2021, 27% of Meta's revenue and more than YouTube's $28.8B ad revenue in 2021 — - Instagram generated $32.4 billion in ad revenue in 2021, making up 27% of Meta's total revenue. — Instagram's ad revenue …
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: Skydance's bid for Paramount, backed by RedBird and KKR, would keep Paramount publicly traded; David Ellison and Jeff Shell would have leadership roles — WATCH NOW — Skydance's offer for Paramount would give it a significant stake while keeping the company public
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Matt Binder / Mashable:
X promoted a fake headline about Iran attacking Israel on its Explore page, after Elon Musk promised “real-time customized news for you created by Grok AI” — The AI-generated false headline was promoted by X in its official trending news section.
Discussion:
@zaleskiluke, @edzitron, The Present Age, TechCrunch, The Information, @hasanthehun, @mattbinder, @brettredacted, @elonmusk, @renee.diresta@threads.net, @ampersine@mastodon.online, @infosec_jcp@infosec.exchange, @hankgreen@threads.net, Wall Street Journal and r/Twitter, more at Techmeme »
Sherman Smith / Kansas Reflector:
A day after apologizing for blocking Kansas Reflector posts, Meta temporarily blocked links to two sites reposting a Reflector item; Meta cites a security error — Social media posts reflect Facebook's actions to block news sites that published Dave Kendall's column, which was critical of Facebook.
Discussion:
The Handbasket, Little Green Footballs, Media Nation, Mashable, The Handbasket, @mark_ohe@mastodon.energy, @kansasreflector, @sherman_news, @chrisgeidner, @andymstone, @andymstone, @andymstone, @kseconomist, @joelmmathis, @sherman_news, @sherman_news, PCMag, @mrhunterwalker@threads.net, @simondowens@threads.net, @dkiesow@threads.net, @deanbetz@threads.net, @sherman.smith.journalist …, @michaeljstern1@threads.net, @naughtfollowers@threads.net, @marisakabas@threads.net, @mosseri@threads.net, Mercury News, @marisakabas@threads.net, @nycsouthpaw@threads.net, @nycsouthpaw@threads.net, @moskov@threads.net, @barzinlotfabadi@threads.net, @moskov@threads.net, @marisakabas@threads.net, @darby.lyons@threads.net, @nycsouthpaw@threads.net, Wichita Eagle, The Wrap, @kenpopehat@threads.net, @kenpopehat@threads.net, @kenpopehat@threads.net, @marisakabas@threads.net, @clancyny.bsky.social, Kansas City Star, Kansas Reflector, @kalihays1@threads.net and @robpegoraro@threads.net
Amanda Christovich / Front Office Sports:
Nielsen: the UConn-Iowa women's Final Four match drew 14.2M viewers, a record for women's college basketball and ESPN's most-watched basketball game ever — Even with the men's Final Four about to tip off Saturday, the focus of the national college basketball world turned, again, to the women's tournament.
Cameron Joseph / Columbia Journalism Review:
A look at States Newsroom, a nonprofit network in all 50 US states focused on state politics and policy, with 220 full-time staff and a $22M+ annual budget — In late January, after wrapping up his annual State of the State speech, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum (R) headed out to meet the press.
Discussion:
Poynter, Adam Kealoha Causey on LinkedIn and @thestalwart
Benjamin Bathke / Reuters Institute:
A look at Correctiv, Germany's first nonprofit investigative outlet, which has 100 full-time staff and published a bombshell investigation into the far right — We take a deep dive into Correctiv's investigation, its mission and its funding — Imagine you're an investigative reporter.
Discussion:
@eduardosuarez, @jpmarthoz, Anping Richter on LinkedIn, Daniel Drepper on LinkedIn and JURIST
Ernie Smith / Fast Company:
A look at The Santa Barbara News-Press' tentative deal to sell its assets to Weyaweya, whose principal Max Noremo has ties to Malta's online gambling industry — For 155 years, the Santa Barbara News-Press and its predecessors played a fundamental role in the California coastal city as its primary broadsheet newspaper.
Discussion:
@shortformernie and @harrymccracken@mastodon …
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