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Business Insider
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
The best way to celebrate 'AI Appreciation Day'
I'm not sure there are any days left in the year, but according to public relations professionals, July 16 is AI Appreciation day. Every year, we are supposed to gather to celebrate the amazing things that this new technology is bringing to society. Something like that, anyway. I thought I'd mark the occasion this year by asking ChatGPT to suggest some amusing ways to show our gratitude to the machines, software, and giant energy-sucking data centers that are powering this technological revolution, for better or worse. Before we dive in, I should thank the Enterprise version of ChatGPT that OpenAI provides to Business Insider. Full disclosure: BI's owner, Axel Springer, has a financial relationship with OpenAI. You can read about that here. OK, here we go. ChatGPT came up with this "AI Appreciation Day celebration guide," with "extra snark and a side of sarcasm." It also offered to generate an image to go along with this, and noted that, "after all, it's my day too." Of course, I said yes. Here's the image: And here's the guide. Enjoy: Get your friends together to answer questions about AI breakthroughs, sci-fi robots, and tech buzzwords you pretend to understand on LinkedIn. Bonus points if someone confuses "machine learning" with "microwave settings." 2. Make AI-Generated Art or Music, Pretend You're a Visionary Why develop talent when you can outsource your creativity to an algorithm? Use tools like DALL-E to spit out some surreal images or generate a song that sounds like it came from a karaoke machine in the uncanny valley. Display it proudly. You're an "AI-curated artist" now. Ask an AI to write with you and watch as it churns out eerily competent fiction, making you question your years of schooling and fragile human ego. Add your name at the top and call it a "collaboration." "Her"? Too romantic. "Ex Machina"? Too stabby. "Imitation Game"? Not enough explosions. But hey, you're here to appreciate AI, not critique Hollywood's inability to get it right. Popcorn optional, snark mandatory. 5. Interrogate an AI with Deep Questions Like You're Oprah Ask your favorite chatbot weird questions: "If you had a body, would you skip leg day?" "Do you dream of electric sheep or just sarcastic humans?" Screenshot the responses. Frame them. They're art now. Nothing says "I read Wired once" like a t-shirt with a neural net diagram. Or better yet, "My other assistant is an algorithm." Wear it. Strut. Pretend you understand it. Books like "AI 2041" or "Life 3.0" look great on shelves and make you sound smart at parties. Will you finish them? Unlikely. But recommending them? That's peak intellectual flex. 8. Thank an AI Engineer (Because Someone Had to Code the Magic Box) Drop a line to that open-source contributor or Google Brain intern who accidentally created Skynet-lite. Bonus points if you send a cookie emoji instead of actual appreciation. 9. Post an #AIAppreciationDay Selfie and Farm Those Likes Take a selfie with your phone's AI-enhanced camera, slap on a "thank you, Skynet" caption, and bask in your performative digital gratitude. Don't forget hashtags: #Blessed #RobotOverlords Fire up AI Dungeon or some game that procedurally generates chaos, then complain loudly about how "AI is ruining games" when it outsmarts you. Classic.
Wall Street Journal
23-06-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Axel Springer Aims to Boost Value With AI, Calls Time on Clicks-and-Ads Model
Axel Springer said it plans to double its value within five years supported by artificial intelligence, calling time on the business model of maximizing clicks and advertising. The German media group behind Politico and Business Insider outlined the goal of doubling its value on Monday, as part of a strategic update following a split of its publishing and classified-advertising businesses.
Reuters
23-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Axel Springer looking for third business pillar in bid to double value
BERLIN, June 23 (Reuters) - German unlisted news and media marketing company Axel Springer SE said on Monday it is looking for a third pillar of business as a strategic hedge, part of a bid to double the group's value over five years. In the search for the new area, the company will look for businesses that are related to the company's main competencies "content, subscription, advertising, mass markets, technology", Axel Springer said in a statement.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New York Becomes First State to Require Employers Disclose When Layoffs Are Due to AI
If you lose your job as part of mass layoffs at your company because your boss believes an artificial intelligence model can do your work instead, they will have to start filing more paperwork disclosing the decision. That is according to a new law in New York state that requires employers to disclose if mass layoffs — which is defined as 50 or more workers — were due to AI. The change to New York's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) system went into effect in March, but has received little coverage since then; Bloomberg was the first major outlet to report on the change on Thursday. Now, employers have to fill out a form at least 90 days before a mass layoff round, according to New York law, and check a box if the cuts are due to 'technological innovation or automation.' If that box is checked, the employers then go to another screen on the WARN website where they have to specify whether AI or another technology is the reason for the cuts. New York is the first state with such a law. Other states have looked to put safeguards in place against AI replacing workers, including in California, which had a law go into effect at the start of 2025 which protects actors from having their likeness used by AI models without informed consent; California also passed a similar law last year that requires the estates of dead actors and performers to give clearance for AI models to use their likeness. The new law in New York comes as AI's rapid rise has led to questions over which jobs are safe in a number of fields. This has been an issue in the media world as of late, where a number of outlets, like Axel Springer and News Corp. have signed content licensing deals with OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT. Editorial staff at some outlets have said they are concerned about newsrooms growing too cozy with AI models; the Vox Media Union, for example, called for protections to be put in place for writers at outlets like New York Magazine and The Verge so that their jobs would not be taken by AI bots. That concern is a common one in the U.S. A Pew Research Center survey earlier this year found 52% of Americans were 'worried' about AI in the workplace, compared to 36% who said they were 'hopeful' about it. The post New York Becomes First State to Require Employers Disclose When Layoffs Are Due to AI appeared first on TheWrap.
Business Insider
11-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Disney says these images show how Midjourney steals its characters
Disney and NBCUniversal sued the AI company Midjourney, alleging copyright infringement. The lawsuit claims the tech creates unauthorized copies of works ranging from Star Wars to The Simpsons. Hollywood has been cautious about AI, fearing its misuse, but investors see cost-cutting potential. Hollywood is taking aim at the AI image generator Midjourney. On Wednesday, Disney and NBCUniversal's movie studios sued Midjourney, alleging its product ripped off their famous characters in properties ranging from Star Wars to The Simpsons. The media companies use colorful language in their 110-page copyright infringement lawsuit. They argue that Midjourney's tech amounts to a "virtual vending machine, generating endless unauthorized copies of Disney's and Universal's copyrighted works." They call Midjourney "the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism." Midjourney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Many news media companies, including Business Insider's parent Axel Springer, have struck deals with AI companies to help train their models. The film and TV industry, however, has been slower to follow because of worries that the nascent tech will be used to replace their IP and talent. AI has also been a battleground between Hollywood companies and the industry's labor unions. Despite this, investors have poured money into AI companies that are aimed at Hollywood. These startups see the opportunity to use the tech to cut time and costs for making filmed entertainment. This new lawsuit could throw a wrench in some of those plans. Of particular note, Disney and Universal included examples of images created by Midjourney's tools in their suit, side by side with the original source material, to show how close Midjourney's versions are to their characters. The suit describes how when a user gave it a prompt like "Chewbacca, screenshot from movie," Midjourney generated images copying the movie companies' famous characters. According to the suit, a user doesn't have to request a specific Disney character for Midjourney to create one that copies its copyrighted work, giving the example of the prompt "Superhero fight scene" that produced an image that resembled Disney's Spider-Man. Below are some examples they share in the lawsuit. What do you think?
