#81 - The Rise of EU News Deserts

Europe is increasingly struggling with news deserts – areas starved of reliable, diverse information from trustworthy sources. Many Europeans think that this is mainly an American issue but a new study reveals it's a significant problem in Europe too. Despite many local and regional media outlets available, financial struggles and quality concerns are real.

Rural areas suffer the most, with fewer journalists on the ground and newsrooms moving to bigger cities. This shift leaves remote areas underreported. Public service media are crucial in filling these gaps, but the overall decline in local journalism across Europe signals a pressing need for action to ensure communities have access to reliable news.

AI/NEWS

The BBC has outlined its plans for exploring Generative AI, launching 12 pilot projects across three key themes. These projects aim to uncover areas where Generative AI could notably benefit both audiences and staff by:

• Enhancing the value of existing content,
• Creating new experiences for audiences,
• Streamlining processes to make operations more efficient and user-friendly.

Adweek reveals that Google is paying a chosen group of publishers to discreetly experiment with a set of new AI tools aimed at creating news pieces. According to Adweek the publishers have agreed to create a set amount of content annually, getting paid a monthly amount that adds up to a five-figure total each year.

Elon Musk sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for betraying the agreement from Open AI's founding to remain a non-profit company. Open AI is also facing a fresh round of lawsuits from news publishers.

AI/TOOLS & RESOURCES

An analysis of 5 million freelancing jobs post-ChatGPT launch shows a surge in video editing/production (39%), graphic design (8%), and web design (10%), while writing (-33%), translation (-19%), and customer service jobs (-16%) declined.

Related: Early insights on the impact of AI on knowledge work.

Short:

• Genie is a new AI model that can generate 2D video games. Link
• French AI-firm Mistral launches multilingual conversational assistant “Le Chat” & announces a “multi-year partnership” with Microsoft. Link & Link
• Google releases a new AI feature that can help you write on the web. Link
• Alibaba brings portraits to live with AI. Link
• LTX studio: a new AI video generation tool aims to be a complete suite for creative video productions. Link

And the dark web is home to a growing array of artificial-intelligence chatbots similar to ChatGPT, but designed to help hackers.

VIDEO

Inside TikTok’s money machine. As publishers search for new revenue models, TikTok is thriving financially, driven by influencers monetizing their lifestyle content. Fans purchase virtual 'gifts' during live streams, with TikTok claiming over half of the transaction revenue.

The problem of deepfake porn is getting worse: Every day more than 100,000 sexually explicit fabricated images and videos are spread across the web.

Short:

• Meta is working on a pair of augmented reality smart glasses. Link
• Inside The Washington Post TikTok multiverse. Link
• How AI will pump new blood into the film industry. Link
• YouTube’s video editing app, YouTube Create, is now available in 21 countries. Link
• YouTube for kids is quickly becoming a stream of synthetic content. Link

AUDIO

Perplexity dropped a new podcast, Discover Daily, that recaps the news in 3-4 minutes. The podcast uses ElevenLabs to transform trending news on Perplexity into fully-produced podcasts with synthetic voices.

The number of AI tools for making music continues to grow. MusicFX is a new experimental tool powered by Google to generate music. And Adobe released a new AI music tool that lets people customize tunes via text prompts.

NEWS

The Guardian launched a new feature this week called "Deeply Read," a feature that highlights engaging articles based on how long readers spend with them and the article's length. The new recipe focuses on attention rather than clicks, meaning the journalism surfaced is interesting, different, but not out of date or irrelevant.

• The New York Times wonders if the idea of news can survive in a digital world. Link
• With elections looming worldwide, here’s how to identify and investigate AI audio deepfakes. Link
• How Vice lost the future - an analysis. Link
• 52 data journalism projects from 22 countries made it to this year’s Sigma 2024 shortlist. Link

SHORT

• Reddit is going to the stock market
• TikTok is aging more than you think.
• Meta’s replaces account team members with AI.
• Google hit with $2.3 bln lawsuit by Axel Springer, other media groups.
• Former Twitter engineers are building Particle, an AI-powered news reader.

TRENDS

Gen Zers are more likely to use social networks than search engines when looking up brands, products, or services, according to GWI.

Apple’s future roadmap for wearables may include AI-powered smart glasses, as well as AirPods with cameras. 

KPMG Australia released a Futuresphere foresight report looking at how we work and live will change in the future.

And my top find for this week: The Beterverse: These games will facilitate you to think critically and imaginatively about the future of society, and collectively imagine brighter tomorrows.

That's it for this week! Wayfinder is made to circulate. Feel free to share with friends and colleagues.

Ezra