Chaos & Amazement #2324 Reddit Goes Dark, Meta Launches AI Music Generator, and My Favorite AI Tools

Jun 17, 2023

The recent blackout on Reddit has caused major disruptions and threatens advertising strategies. https://digiday.com/marketing/reddits-recent-blackout-could-be-a-real-problem-for-advertisers/
- As of this writing, more than 8,400 subreddits have gone private or into a restricted mode. The blackouts caused Reddit to briefly crash on Monday.
  Reddit communities with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely
Reuters' 2023 Digital News Report: despite fragmentation, users' dependence on social media platforms for news keeps growing; Facebook declines and TikTok gains.
Overview and key findings of the 2023 Digital News Report
The European Commission sends Statement of Objections to Google, accusing the company of abusive practices in online advertising technology. The EC alleges that Google favored its own adtech services, harming competitors, advertisers, and publishers. Highlights, press releases and speeches
- Using AI for loans and mortgages is big risk, warns EU boss ⁦Margrethe
  @Vestager . The warning comes ahead of the European Parliament voting on rules to regulate artificial intelligence.
- Margarethe Vestager is a Danish politician who is currently serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age and European Commissioner for Competition. She is known for her tough stance on regulating big tech companies and enforcing EU competition rules^.

The @huggingface hub now has the first QR code AI art generator. You only need the QR Code content and a text-to-image prompt idea, or you can upload your image! https://huggingface.co/spaces/huggingface-projects/QR-code-AI-art-generator

Meta just released its own AI music generator. Unlike Google's version, this one is open to the public. With the tool MusicGen, you can create 12 seconds of audio from text or upload audio files as reference for the melody. #AI #music
MusicGen - a Hugging Face Space by facebook
Curious about your future appearance? Upload a photo and explore with Extrapolate! See how you'll look in 10, 20, or even 90 years. https://extrapolate.app

My Favorite AI Tools Earlier this week I was one of the speakers during the 25th get-together of VLCM, the community for Flemish Community Members. I talked about how I use AI and did a live demo with Annie and my now steady boyfriend, the Bing app in Creative Mode.

The most stereotypical person to drive a....... (part 1). Laugh along with the most stereotypical person to drive different cars, including a hilarious take on Tesla owners. https://www.reddit.com/r/midjourney/comments/13lq6tj/the_most_stereotypical_person_to_drive_a_part_1/
Ready for a real challenge? This maze is not for the faint of heart! With its complex paths and challenging puzzles, it will test your wits and perseverance like never before. https://maze.toys/mazes/mighty/
Slide to unlock (mobile only) Unlock the challenge: Brace yourself for a mind-bending maze experience that will put your wits to the test. Can you conquer it? Slide to unlock and find out! https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/slide/