A month ago, Meta unveiled a set of generative AI tools for advertisers. “We believe that these features will unlock a new era of creativity that maximizes productivity, personalization and performance for all advertisers,” enthused monetization infrastructure VP Matt Steiner at the time.
Well, not all advertisers, as it turns out. The social giant is now banning the tools’ use in making ads related to “housing, employment or credit or social issues, elections, or politics, or related to health, pharmaceuticals or financial services.” This is so Meta can work on building “the right safeguards for the use of generative AI in ads that relate to potentially sensitive topics in regulated industries.”
We’re probably going to see more sharp course corrections of this sort, as tech conglomerates start to spot problems churned up by their frantic race for AI relevance. I’m not sure why the proprietor of Facebook and Instagram, which are constantly struggling to rein in political disinformation, took a moment to figure out that this task would not be made easier by giving everyone tools to generate convincing fakes—but here we are. I can only imagine the cognitive dissonance going on within Google, which is giving people the means to generate faux copy while also trying to maintain a search engine that points users to useful, original content.
Google, of course, has also offered advertisers a set of genAI tools. And like Meta, it’s trying to avoid their use by propagandists—per Reuters, a list of “political keywords” will be banned as prompts, and election-related ads will have to disclose “synthetic content that inauthentically depicts real or realistic-looking people or events.” Good luck enforcing that in the massive election year of 2024, if the enormous progress made by image generators in the last 12 months is anything to go by.
Meanwhile, Meta and Google will soon face stricter limits on their political advertising businesses in Europe—though perhaps not soon enough.
Next year, voters will usher in a new European Parliament and possibly new governments in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Lithuania, and Romania. These will be the last of these elections that won’t be covered by a new EU regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising, which is currently nearing the end of the EU’s legislative process—EU lawmakers and national representatives announced today that they have reached a provisional agreement on the final version.
The law will ban the use of personal data for online political-ad targeting unless the data comes straight from the data subject, who must give “explicit and separate consent” for this use. The use of “data revealing racial or ethnic origin or political opinions” to target political ads will be strictly forbidden. All this will apply 18 months after the bill becomes law, so let’s just say European elections taking place from late 2025 won’t be such big money-spinners.
More news below.
David Meyer
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NEWSWORTHY
OpenAI’s bag of treats. OpenAI yesterday unveiled GPT-4 Turbo, a successor to GPT-4 that’s much cheaper to use. As TechCrunch reports, it also said it would this year launch a GPT Store in which people will be able to share and charge for their own “GPTs,” based on OpenAI’s large language model but tailored to perform specific tasks. Enterprises will also be able to make Custom Models at an “expensive” price, with OpenAI promising to cover any legal costs stemming from copyright infringement suits.
Cruise van hits pothole. GM is pausing the development of its autonomous Cruise Origin van. Forbes reports that the decision is linked to Cruise’s suspension of all its driverless operations, which followed regulatory concern over accidents involving its cars. The Intercept also reports that Cruise’s vehicles have serious problems recognizing children “in certain scenarios,” and also struggle to recognize big potholes.
DouYu CEO disappeared. Chinese authorities appear to have snatched Chen Shaojie, the CEO of Nasdaq-listed, Tencent-backed game-streamer DouYu. “We have been unable to contact him since October,” a source told the Financial Times. “He was taken away by the public security department for investigation related to the pornographic and gambling content on the site.”
ON OUR FEED
“I thought we were going to have to strike for this to happen, so I was pleasantly surprised that the mediation worked well. And that we managed to get an agreement relatively quickly I would say.”
—Unionized Klarna employee Sen Kanner celebrates the Swedish fintech’s new collective bargaining agreement, which Tech.eu reports could lead to similar moves at Spotify. The deal averted a Klarna strike that would have begun today.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Bored Ape NFT creators downplay complaints that harmful UV light at their ‘Apefest’ party seared owners’ eyeballs, by Christiaan Hetzner
WeWork’s rapid collapse comes to a close as the once high-flying startup declares bankruptcy with nearly $19 billion in debt, by Bloomberg
Fortnite maker Epic Games accuses Google of using a ‘bribe and block’ strategy to thwart competition, by the Associated Press
Vivek Wadhwa is building the AI-powered anti-Theranos. Now he’s moving it to the anti-Silicon Valley–India, by Vivek Wadhwa (Commentary)
TikTok is killing its $2 billion Creator Fund that paid viral stars pennies for hit short videos, by Alexandra Sternlicht
Bumble undergoes a CEO shakeup as recession fears make singles forego pricey dating apps and the company’s stock tanks 80% in 2 years, by Paolo Confino
BEFORE YOU GO
Superspeed semiconductor. U.S. researchers accidentally discovered what may be the fastest semiconductor yet, reports IEEE Spectrum. Semiconductors are materials that can conduct an electrical current under some but not all circumstances, and they’re the basis of electronics. The new molecule is called Re6Se8Cl2 (that’s rhenium, selenium, and chlorine) and it seems to overcome speed-limiting issues resulting from atomic vibrations.
Problem is, rhenium is one of the rarest elements out there, crimping any plans to make widespread Re6Se8Cl2 production a thing. However, the researchers are pretty confident that they can find alternatives that have similar properties. Get ready for much faster chips…at some point.
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