Chaos & Amazement #2421 Scarlett Johansson, Disappearing Internet, and 7 Hours of Midsommar Analysis
Hey there! And welcome to my new subscribers. Love you!
Join me at TNW Conference 2024 - 20-21 June in Zaandam 🇳🇱! Claim 30% discount on your Business Pass by using this exclusive link: https://earlybird.thenextweb.com/tnw2024/share/A1vx7Zld
Tech News
Scarlett Johansson says OpenAI copied her voice for Sky, its new AI avatar. Internet users had noticed an eerie resemblance, but OpenAI says it's a different actress. Johansson says they tried to hire her and might sue. Johansson’s conflict with OpenAI opens a new front in the battle between the content industry and the AI leader. https://www.reuters.com/technology/scarlett-johanssons-openai-feud-rekindles-hollywood-fear-artificial-intelligence-2024-05-23/
A new study found a surprising amount of webpages disappear over time. Almost 40% of webpages from 2013 are gone and even 8% of pages from 2023 are missing. This means a lot of information online, including news and government websites, may be unreliable. https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/internet-dead-links-webpages-online-content-b2549215.html
Cory Doctorow wrote an article about the impermanence of the internet. Many websites disappear over time, which can lead to loss of important information. @doctorow suggests that people and institutions should do more to preserve information. https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/21/noway-back-machine/
Ethical hacker Inti De Ceukelaire bought 107 expired domains from Belgian institutions, effortlessly accessing confidential emails and cloud accounts. He urges better domain management and using multifactor authentication.
From my blog
The Elusive Goal of Achieving AGI https://bnox.be/2024/05/the-elusive-goal-of-achieving-agi.html
Despite the advancements in AI technology, the elusive goal of achieving AGI, where machines can perform tasks as humans do, seems distant. Nevertheless, Ray Kurzweil's prediction that AGI could emerge by 2045 looms in the background. https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.10313
Do Chatbots Dream of AI Poetry? https://bnox.be/2024/05/do-chatbots-dream-of-ai-poetry.html
On a side note: what is the impact of our past couple of decades on the internet?
A large study suggests internet use may be linked to increased well-being, including life satisfaction and purpose. This challenges the idea that internet use solely has negative effects. https://tmb.apaopen.org/pub/a2exdqgg
And then there’s Andrew Chen, who writes that every product on the Internet is either a time sink or a money sink.
Weird and wonderful
A detailed breakdown of Ari Aster's 2019 film "Midsommar" is available on YouTube from Novum. This 7-hour video explores the folk horror film in its entirety.