In 2006, marking the launch of the Guardian's Comment is free reader participation experiment, editor Alan Rusbridger gave a public speech on the shifting economics of print journalism in western countries. He described how skillfully Craig Newmark and other innovators had scraped big parts of the advertising income of newspapers away for their own web-based projects. Rusbridger did not hold his foot on the damper pedal, I'd say, during this performance -- the stakes for print journalism in 2006 were a melody clearly and brightly struck by the right hand. No less clear, in the left hand, came the somber implications for civil society of a greatly damaged and diminished Fourth Estate.#
Newspapers, usually slow to innovate, may look back to the early 2000s with much regret. In 2006, Comment is free was, however, a bold experiment.#
Nevertheless, the innovators who with their creativity trashed the economic model of print journalism were free to do so, and our society has found no way to replace much of what has been lost. Responding to a parallel moment of far-reaching innovation and shattering economic threat, the Screen Actors Guild recently struck, shutting down production of a great many entertainments. In part, the strike highlighted the fact that that the new AI tools can scrape away the images, movements, and voices of actors, perhaps with little or no payment. The new innovations threaten the livelihood of a huge portion of the entertainment industry. Thanks to the model of union activism, with a new contract some protections may now be in place.#
Citizens and readers in small cities and towns that have now been stripped of their local newspapers, or have been handed slender versions composed largely of wire service copy and a smattering of locally reported pieces -- these citizens and readers do not have a union, and they almost never organize. Whatever an innovative figure backed by big capital wants to do to the civic life of their community has gone through in many places largely unchallenged.#
The same sort of thing threatens us more widely now with AI tools that may very well disrupt in domino fashion any number of other industries. The economics of something will be disrupted, jobs will disappear probably on a brief timeline, and only the innovators and capital markets folks will stand to gain in the sort run. As in the Hamilton show, decisions will be happening over dinner, not in a functioning legislative chamber (if we had one) and not scrutinized by the public with the help of strong journalism. As in 2006, if anyone is around to perform the piece properly, the finale will be a composition played on both the right and left hand.#
When I asked about the steps for dealing with a flat tire, Bing's 4.0 chat tool recently advised me late in the process to put the car jack away before completing the final tightening of the lug nuts. What could go wrong?#
In 2006, marking the launch of the Guardian's Comment is free reader participation experiment, editor Alan Rusbridger gave a public speech on the shifting economics of print journalism in western countries. He described how skillfully Craig Newmark and other innovators had scraped big parts of the advertising income of newspapers away for their own web-based projects. Rusbridger did not hold his foot on the damper pedal, I'd say, during this performance -- the stakes for print journalism in 2006 were a melody clearly and brightly struck by the right hand. No less clear, in the left hand, came the somber implications for civil society of a greatly damaged and diminished Fourth Estate.#
Newspapers, usually slow to innovate, may look back to the early 2000s with much regret. In 2006, Comment is free was, however, a bold experiment.#
Nevertheless, the innovators who with their creativity trashed the economic model of print journalism were free to do so, and our society has found no way to replace much of what has been lost. Responding to a parallel moment of far-reaching innovation and shattering economic threat, the Screen Actors Guild recently struck, shutting down production of a great many entertainments. In part, the strike highlighted the fact that that the new AI tools can scrape away the images, movements, and voices of actors, perhaps with little or no payment. The new innovations threaten the livelihood of a huge portion of the entertainment industry. Thanks to the model of union activism, with a new contract some protections may now be in place.#
Citizens and readers in small cities and towns that have now been stripped of their local newspapers, or have been handed slender versions composed largely of wire service copy and a smattering of locally reported pieces -- these citizens and readers do not have a union, and they almost never organize. Whatever an innovative figure backed by big capital wants to do to the civic life of their community has gone through in many places largely unchallenged.#
The same sort of thing threatens us more widely now with AI tools that may very well disrupt in domino fashion any number of other industries. The economics of something will be disrupted, jobs will disappear probably on a brief timeline, and only the innovators and capital markets folks will stand to gain in the sort run. As in the Hamilton show, decisions will be happening over dinner, not in a functioning legislative chamber (if we had one) and not scrutinized by the public with the help of strong journalism. As in 2006, if anyone is around to perform the piece properly, the finale will be a composition played on both the right and left hand.#
When I asked about the steps for dealing with a flat tire, Bing's 4.0 chat tool recently advised me late in the process to put the car jack away before completing the final tightening of the lug nuts. What could go wrong?#