A bill to ban TikTok is suddenly moving through Congress, and TikTok is helping to make the case. The big question is if ByteDane is willing — or able — to ultimately go along with it.
India and Gemini, Ten Blue Links, The Complicity Framework
Gemini got all of AI into trouble in India; how did this particular mistake happen? Then, Google may have been more dependent on 10 blue links than anyone realized, and a proposal for solving “AI Safety” issues through product decisions.
Substack and Platformer, Moderation and Infrastructure, Bars and Culture
Substack appeared to back down after its latest controversy, which was probably inevitable in the current climate. That makes it even more important to protect infrastructure.
An Interview with Bill Bishop and Andrew Sharp Checking In on China
An interview with Bill Bishop and Andrew Sharp about one year of Sharp China, the chip ban, AI in China, TikTok, and the Biden-Xi visit in San Francisco.
Microsoft-Activision Updates; Reader Follow-Up; Free Speech, the Government, and Scale
An update on Microsoft-Activision, and then a response to a reader upset at my take, weaved in with commentary about free speech in the context of last week’s ruling about social media moderation.
An Interview with Marc Andreessen about AI and How You Change the World
An interview with Marc Andreessen about COVID, AI opportunities and risk, and a16z’s approach to the future.
Reddit Revolt, Apollo and Reddit’s Changes, Complement Complaints
Reddit is facing a revolt, which is in part due to an issue with 3rd-party app developers, but ultimately an issue downstream from Reddit’s reliance on unpaid workers.
Meta’s Low E.U. ARPU, The Supreme Court and Section 230
Meta makes a surprisingly small amount of money in the E.U., particularly on an ARPU basis; then, the Supreme Court signals strong support for Section 230
Fair Use and Model Training, Getty Images vs. Stable Diffusion, Adobe’s Regulatory Capture Bet
One of the biggest questions facing AI is if the ingestion of copyrighted material into model training is or is not fair use; Getty Images is suing to get an answer, and Adobe is trying to benefit in the meantime.
Section 230 in the Supreme Court, Reach and Speech, The First Amendment and U.S. Speech Controls
Section 230 is going before the Supreme Court: are content recommendations covered like moderation? A loss for Google would be an opportunity for Congress to protect essential rights.