🔗Links etc. 02/08/23

SEO for AIs oh my: Context Collapse #196

Photo by kevin laminto on Unsplash

Here’s what’s on my radar:

Microsoft kickstarts the AI arms race (Casey Newton / Platformer)

“Unlike ChatGPT, which wasn’t able to answer questions about current events, the updated Bing uses newer technology tailored for search engines. It will have access to the latest information such as news stories, train schedules and product pricing. It will also be able to provide links to demonstrate where its answers are coming from, another feature that wasn’t part of ChatGPT.” (Tom Dotan / WSJ)

Boring but important: Microsoft Edge will switch to Adobe Acrobat’s PDF rendering engine (Lawrence Abrams / Bleeping Computer)

“If an A.I. arms race within social has turned every platform into a video platform and is turning our search engines into chatbots, how do you get people to look at your website?” (Ryan Broderick / Garbage Day)

“The one time I served as a sensitivity reader, as a favour to a male writer who wanted his manuscript vetted for potential offences, it was not my “lived experience” as a woman that proved useful. It was my embarrassingly deep knowledge of the toxic dynamics and idiotic slap fights that periodically roil the world of young adult literature; indeed, anyone who shared a similar fascination with extremely online bullshit could have done the job.” (Kat Rosenfield / Unherd)

Warner Bros. Discovery will keep Discovery+ as a standalone service; Discovery+ content will still be folded into HBO Max (Jessica Toonkel & Joe Flint / WSJ)

“Voice actors are increasingly being asked to sign rights to their voices away so clients can use artificial intelligence to generate synthetic versions that could eventually replace them, and sometimes without additional compensation, according to advocacy organizations and actors who spoke to Motherboard.” (Joseph Cox / Vice)

The archives of the East Village Eye go to the New York Public Library (Hannah Gold / TNY)

“More recently, multiple sources say that Roiland, other than voice work, has not had any meaningful creative presence on any of the series that bear his name. In fact, many of his former colleagues say they haven’t heard from him in years, and when they have, it’s been unpleasant. They note, too, that he hasn’t been on speaking terms with his Rick and Morty co-creator, Dan Harmon, for multiple seasons, and a substantial number of staffers on that show as well as Solar Opposites and Koala Man have never actually met Roiland, even over Zoom.” (Lacey Rose & Katie Kilkenny / THR)

Apple’s ad targeting mechanics revealed in recent French privacy case (Eric Benjamin Seufert / Mobile Dev Memo)

Penske Media invests $100 million in Vox Media (Benjamin Mullin & Katherine Rosman / NYT)

A behind-the-scenes look at how Ask a Manager runs (Ask a Manager)

AI-generated Seinfeld show “Nothing, Forever” banned from Twitch for 14 days after AI generates transgender-themed jokes (Jason Koebler / Vice)

Elon Musk backtracks on Twitter API mega-price increases (Lauren Leffer / Gizmodo)

Best Twitter meme about lost value time of non-necessary meetings ever (@0xgaut / Twitter)

gaut @0xgaut

Google Calendar, but it shows the cost of the meeting

Terrible online advertising isn’t going anywhere (Paul Graham / Twitter)

Paul Graham @paulg

If you want to imagine the future accurately, don't just imagine sleek technology. Imagine sleek technology combined with revolting, intrusive advertising. Because people love free.

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