Received this email from a friend? Subscribe here.

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Hello again from Laguna Niguel, where Linda Yaccarino just exited a stunned room at the Code Conference. Plus, ChatGPT learns how to browse the web, CNN launches on the Max platform, Wolf Blitzer is honored with a lifetime achievement award, Fox News reportedly sees debate ad rates drop, and Comedy Central reportedly moves past Hasan Minhaj as a candidate for hosting "The Daily Show." But first, the A1.

THE A1

Man vs. Machine

CNN Photo Illustration/Mario Tama/Getty Images

The dawn of the A.I. labor dispute era has begun.

The Writers Guild of America this week became the first major labor union to secure a contract guaranteeing its members protections from the rapidly developing technology, which is poised to displace innumerable jobs in the coming years.

After nearly 150 days on strike, the screenwriters secured a number of groundbreaking wins in their new contract with the major film and television studios. The terms, shared by the guild, prevent the studios from using A.I. to write or rewrite material, from forcing writers to use A.I. software when producing scripts, and crediting A.I. for screenwriting, among other things.

"Guild reserves right to assert that exploitation of writers' material to train A.I. is prohibited by [the contract] or other law," the WGA's summary of the terms added, though it was not a total victory for the writers and the studios did retain some rights to use A.I.

Arriving at that point was not easy. Negotiating terms around the use of A.I. was, in fact, one of the final sticking points in the talks between the studios and screenwriters, people familiar with the matter have told me.

But it was a seminal moment — not only for the screenwriters, but because it is likely to set precedent as labor unions representing other trades negotiate terms for their members in the near future. Until now, there had not yet been a major labor dispute that hinged so heavily on the growing threat to livelihood brought by A.I.

That is sure to change. The sudden rise of the disruptive technology poses an existential threat to workers in a wide array of industries. Other writing-centric professions, such as journalism, will certainly be impacted by the technology. But it's difficult to see how every industry will not be dramatically affected by the spate of ever-learning machines that have been unleashed upon the world.

As more workplaces are threatened, employees will demand that guardrails be erected. And the pioneering deal the WGA struck with the studios will help — at least in the short term — serve as a template.

Whether those guardrails prove to be enough to tame the unprecedented new technology and protect jobs (nevermind, humanity) far into the future remains to be seen. Can you lock up A.I. in a cage and prevent it from biting the hand that raised it? There are certainly plenty of reasons to be alarmed.

Regardless of what ultimately happens, history will mark this moment as a milestone in A.I. labor disputes. The man versus machine wars have, effectively, arrived. Buckle up.

HOLLYWOOD HELL

Jake Coyle: "In Hollywood writers' battle against A.I., humans win (for now)." (AP)
The laughter is coming back to late night. All the major shows are set to return to air with fresh episodes next week. (Guardian)
"Now that the writers' strike is over, Hollywood studios are gearing up to get production rolling again," Brent Lang, Jennifer Maas, and Joe Otterson report. (Variety)
"We caused them pain": Cynthia Littleton, Matt Donnelly, and Kate Arthur have the "inside story of how the WGA and AMPTP negotiated" their deal. (Variety)
Coming soon: SAG-AFTRA and the studios will resume negotiations on Monday. (CNN)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/Sipa USA/AP

ChatGPT's Growing Capabilities: Earlier this week, ChatGPT gained ears and eyes. Now it also has an internet connection. OpenAI announced Wednesday that its popular — and semi-frightening — chatbot can now browse the web, giving the already powerful tool access to real-time information. Prior to the upgrade, ChatGPT relied on information it had been trained on from years ago. "Browsing is particularly useful for tasks that require up-to-date information, such as helping you with technical research, trying to choose a bike, or planning a vacation," OpenAI boasted in its announcement. The Verge's Wes Davis has more here.

🔎 Zooming in: The move means that news outlets that have not yet blocked ChatGPT from ingesting their content should expect to see their reporting regurgitated by the chatbot. While more than a dozen news outlets, including CNN, The NYT, ESPN, and others have already inserted code into their websites to block OpenAI's web crawler, w e noticed the The Wall Street Journal had also erected such a wall Wednesday ahead of the announcement.

THE VALLEY

Jon Passantino/CNN Photo Illustration

Yaccarino the Yakker: Linda Yaccarino faced a number of pointed questions about Elon Musk's X on stage at the Code Conference — but instead of directly answering the questions, which came from CNBC's Julia Boorstin, the one-time respected executive dodged and filibustered the serious subject matter at hand. Yaccarino, who appeared totally untethered from reality throughout the astonishing interview, even faced laughter from the audience as she made a number of absurd claims pertaining to the platform she supposedly runs. At one point, Yaccarino asked the crowd to raise their hand if they would not want Musk working alongside them on product development. The question backfired, eliciting several hand raisers, which Yaccarino then dismissed amid laughter. Yaccarino, I'm told, was the only executive at the conference not to take questions from the audience. After watching her inability to answer questions, it's no telling why.

COVERING CODE

Prior to Yaccarino's appearance, Kara Swisher interviewed former Twitter Trust and Safety head Yoel Roth. Roth, who was harshly critical of X, urged Yaccarino to "look at what [her] boss did" to him. Roth advised her to think "about those risks" as she works for Musk.
HBO boss Casey Bloys said he doesn't "see a world" where A.I. supplants human writers. "I know this sounds old-fashioned, but I am holding out hope for, especially in an artistic endeavor, the need for soul and human stories," Bloys said. (THR)
Bloys notably declined to comment when The Verge's Jay Peters asked about Max striking a deal for a forthcoming "Harry Potter" series, amid controversy around J.K. Rowling.
Byron Allen spoke about bidding $10 billion for Disney's linear television assets, saying he believes broadcast is "a great business." He said "D.C. is not impressed by the way private equity and hedge funds handled newspapers and accelerated their demise" and described itself as the "prettiest girl at the dance" to acquire the networks. (Variety)

TOO MANY TABS

Linda Yaccarino also reflected to Hannah Murphy on the first 100 days of her tenure at the helm of Elon Musk's social media platform. (FT)
X is still placing ads next to hate content. The latest example? Placing NFL ads on the accounts of prominent white nationalists, according to research from the watchdog Media Matters. (MMFA)
X no longer allows users to flag election misinformation. (Guardian)
Kate Conger reported Yaccarino has hired her son, Matt Madrazo, to "work on sales for political advertisers." (X)
Alexandra Levine reported on how TikTok and ByteDance staff "around the world have been able to freely access the friend lists of the First Family, top internet stars and other public figures, creating national security risks in a heated election year and endangering the privacy of some of the most powerful people on the planet." (Forbes)
Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a suite of new A.I. tools that are going to be infused in Meta's various products. (CNBC)
Zuckerberg talked about his Threads strategy with Alex Heath: "Step one: spark; step two: retention; step three: growth and scaling the community. And then only at that point is step four, which is monetization. We take a while to go through all those." (The Verge)
Indonesia banned e-commerce transactions across social media platforms, a major blow to TikTok which three months ago said it would invest $1 billion in Southeast Asia to beef up its TikTok Shop. (Reuters)
Snap is closing its AR division for enterprises mere months after launching it. (Reuters)
Google's search engine can sometimes offer misinformation inspired by A.I. — no, Google, you can't melt eggs. (Futurism)
A.I. data centers, including those from Microsoft, require colossal quantities of water, as some endure a drought. (Futurism)

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration

CNN's Max Moment: CNN is now streaming live, 24/7, on Max. The network officially launched the beta version of its streaming offering on the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streaming platform Wednesday. It includes a mix of new daytime newscasts, while also featuring a healthy dose of the network's most prominent programs, such as "Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer," "Erin Burnett Outfront," and "Anderson Cooper 360." (You can see the schedule via Deadline's Ted Johnson right here.) "September 27th is a big day for this company as we begin the streaming journey in full force," CNN's four person interim executive team — made up of Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling, and David Leavy — said in a memo to staffers. The Quad added, "The sprint to get CNN Max off the ground was a truly company wide effort across multiple business functions at CNN."

THE FOURTH ESTATE

The News Emmy Awards took place on Wednesday evening. Wolf Blitzer was honored at the ceremony with a Lifetime Achievement Emmy. Accepting the award, Blitzer said, "I am humbled to receive this extraordinary honor tonight. Now, there's more work to do at a time when journalism and truth are more important than ever. There is more information to share. More challenges to face. For me. And for all of us who believe the news comes first."
See all the News Emmy Awards winners on their X account. (X)
Patty Stonesifer is "nearing her final decision" to identify a new chief executive of The WaPo, Dylan Byers reports. Byers adds that she "has whittled down the shortlist to about five candidates." (Puck)
GB News suspended hosts Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton over sexist comments in which Fox asked which "self-respecting man" would "climb into bed" with Ava Evans, a female reporter. (Guardian)
A.I. is accelerating media's metamorphosis in real-time, and spelling cable's doom, writes Peter Csathy. (TheWrap)
"Watch out New York Times: Apple wants a piece of the puzzle pie," Alex Weprin writes. "The tech giant has quietly rolled out a puzzles section of the Apple News app, featuring a daily crossword puzzle, as well as a daily mini-puzzle." (THR)
A new Pew Research Center study shows that four in five Black adults see either racist or racially insensitive depictions of Black people in the news often or sometimes. (Pew)
First in Reliable | Vice has released the trailer for the second season of its award-winning "Transnational." (YouTube)

IN THE MARKET

Peter Kiefer reports that CAA agents are "agenting for a bigger slice of the sale." Per Kiefer, "Some of the firm's most senior members, shocked at how little cash they're rumored to be making off the Artemis acquisition, are attempting to negotiate." (The Ankler)

MEDIA MOVES

The WSJ hired David Crow as executive editor.
Guardian named Blake Montgomery as its U.S. tech editor. (X)
Amazon announced Panos Panay will lead its Alexa division. (Reuters)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Debate Decline: The Donald Trump-boycotted second GOP melee is underway as I am hitting publish on this newsletter — and it appears Fox is preparing for a smaller audience this time around. Fox News Media has slashed advertising prices for the affair, according to a report by Semafor's Max Tani. "The drop-off in debate ad rates reflects the drop-off in drama during the 2024 primary," Tani wrote. It will be interesting to see on Thursday how many viewers ultimately tuned in. Read Tani's full story here.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

The actual debate was off the rails, with moderators Stuart Varney, Dana Perino, and Ilia Calderón repeatedly losing control of the affair.
One advertiser that paid for spots during the Fox Business debate: The Biden campaign, Justin Baragona reports. (Daily Beast)
The pro-Trump media also agree with Tani's analysis, declaring the primary to be already over, Bobby Lewis reports. (MMFA)
Cassidy Hutchinson alleges in her book that Mark Meadows leaked classified Crossfire Hurricane documents to pro-Trump MAGA Media personalities Mollie Hemingway and John Solomon. (Raw Story)
Meadows argues the documents had been declassified. But Hutchinson told Jake Tapper, "There's a reason those documents were brought back, and I would — that's a very dubious response, in my opinion, because, one, we got those documents back for a reason. And, two, those documents still have not been fully declassified by the Justice Department." (CNN)
Joe Scarborough highlighted what he believes are continuing failures in the news media's coverage of Trump's re-election bid. (Raw Story)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Moving Past Minhaj?: Comedy Central is "going back to square one in its efforts to find a new host" for "The Daily Show," Variety's Brian Steinberg reported. The news that the Paramount-owned channel is looking for a hosting option outside Hasan Minhaj comes amid controversy around the comedian's admission that he fabricated stories used in standup routines about his experience as a Muslim and Asian American. Steinberg said Comedy Central declined to comment, as well as a representative for Minhaj. Read his story here.

OFF STAGE

Taylor Swift is expected to attend another NFL game this Sunday, in what could be a ratings boost for NBC's "Sunday Night Football." (Front Office Sports)
Cher has been accused of hiring four men to kidnap her son, Elijah Blue Allman. The legendary singer has not yet commented. (Variety)
The all-nude dating show "Naked Attraction" soared to the top spot on Max's Most Popular list. (THR)
HBO boss Casey Bloys defended putting the show on the Max platform. (TheWrap)
HBO said season four of "True Detective" will launch Jan. 14. (Variety)
Joe Manganiello will host "Deal or No Deal Island," a spinoff of the original game show. (Deadline)
Lacey Rose profiled "Community" and "Rick and Morty" creator Dan Harmon. (THR)
The trailer for "Obliterated," a new Netflix series from the creators of "Cobra Cai," has dropped. (YouTube)
Netflix released a first look at its upcoming animated content, including "Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft," "Devil May Cry," and "Blue Eye Samurai." (YouTube/YouTube/YouTube)

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino and produced with the assistance of Liam Reilly. Have feedback? Send us an email here. You can follow us on Instagram and Threads. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.