In this issue: Disney plus Disney+ plus Hulu / Ubisoft slammed for Midjourney ads / GenAI Eric Adams + more!
Welcome to Context Collapse, the world’s best comms newsletter. I’m Neal Ungerleider. I run Ungerleider Works and used to work as a reporter for Fast Company, write op-eds for the LA Times, and work as a senior copywriter for R/GA. This newsletter helps readers navigate the weird new world of media and gleefully ignores all the conventional wisdom about journalism, public relations, marketing, and advertising.
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”The tug of war over Hulu is over.
The Walt Disney Company said on Wednesday that it would take full control of Hulu, one of the most popular streaming services, by paying at least $8.61 billion to buy out Comcast, which owned a 33 percent stake. Comcast triggered the deal as part of a “put-call” agreement between the companies in 2019. The ultimate price will be determined by an appraisal process that will drag into next year.
Comcast, which recently stopped supplying Hulu with shows like “Saturday Night Live” and “The Voice,” rerouting them instead to its Peacock streaming service, said in September that it had sped up negotiations to sell Hulu to Disney.”
”I’d say the overrated “New Yorker” is, even though every time they write about something I’m familiar with they’re a step behind. Even worse, it’s a club, and most of us are not in it. I’ve got no problem with David Remnick, but these are the kids in school who think they’re better than the rest of us, whose sh*t doesn’t stink, and don’t know what they don’t know, and that’s key in today’s society.”
”Ubisoft has recently come under fire after creating a promotional poster for Assassin's Creed created using an AI generator. The questionable creation was made using Midjourney, and fans were quick to voice their strong opinions on the piece, pointing out a number of design flaws. […] Ubisoft Latam launched the poster to unsuspecting fans, captioning the post with the hashtags "#IA" "#MIDJOURNEY", in the hopes of maintaining some transparency with its fans. While at a glance the poster appears fairly inoffensive, on closer inspection Ezio's right hand looks a little warped and an examination of the background reveals a suspiciously misshapen-looking flailing character riding a horse.”
“LinkedIn has announced an update to its profile verification offering, which will now see LinkedIn working with more third-party verification partners to expand access to the option. […] LinkedIn has announced an update to its profile verification offering, which will now see LinkedIn working with more third-party verification partners to expand access to the option.”
“Social media does, however, allow the information chaos to expand and fold back in on itself more quickly than ever before. It also lends itself to familiar vices: sarcasm and self-satisfaction. Human lives get remixed as trolley-problem hypotheticals, or as memes to make a point.”
“Some quick thoughts on why large parts of the mainstream media keep slipping up on Gaza/Israel (and why it was the same at times with Covid).”
“On any given day, the account serves its 1.3 million followers scandalous, charming and ridiculous videos of everyday life in South Florida: A shirtless guy showing off the faux six-pack he shaved into his furry stomach. A park employee lovingly beseeching swimmers in half-broken Spanish to exit the water — “Calabaza, calabaza, todo el mundo para su casa!” (Sort of the Spanish equivalent of, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”) Shocking cellphone video of the rapper Tekashi69 getting beaten bloody in a fitness center restroom. A pod of dolphins gleefully playing in a boat’s wake. And many, many crazy, crazy nights out at the clubs.”
“Mayor Eric Adams is using artificial intelligence to turn himself into a polyglot: sending out robocalls with his voice to New Yorkers in a slew of languages he does not speak — and spooking out ethics and privacy advocates.
The mayor mentioned his multilingual calls at a press conference Monday announcing the new “MyCity Chatbot,” which uses AI to connect small business owners with city resources.”
“BBC staff in London say they fear walking outside alone after being harassed by the Iranian authorities, with British counter-terrorism police warning of an increased security threat.
The Guardian has been told that journalists at the BBC’s Persian language news outlet are being targeted with offensive messages and threats of sexual assault, with reports of family members based in Iran being arbitrarily detained.
In one message, an Iranian-British journalist working for the BBC says she was told: “On Westminster Bridge is a very deep river. It doesn’t matter that you don’t live in Iran – we can also do whatever we want in London.”
”The chair of the SEC has warned that AI could trigger a financial crisis, as Wall Street rushes to adopt the new technology.
Gary Gensler told the Financial Times that it was "nearly unavoidable" that AI would cause a financial crash as soon as the late 2020s or early 2030s, and said that reliance on models developed by tech companies could lead to economic chaos.
"I do think we will in the future have a financial crisis . . .[and] in the after action reports people will say 'Aha! There was either one data aggregator or one model . . . we've relied on.' Maybe it's in the mortgage market. Maybe it's in some sector of the equity market," he said.”
“HBO Bosses Used ‘Secret’ Fake Accounts to Troll TV Critics: Casey Bloys ordered staffers to create fake accounts to fire back at critics, according to text conversations reviewed by Rolling Stone as part of a new lawsuit.”
Colin & Samir & Ali Abdaal on How To Make It In YouTube In 2023.
