Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 02/22 – ChatGPT Hits A Chinese Wall

Episode Date: February 22, 2023

This chatbot AI revolution has hit a major roadblock in China. What does it mean if science fiction publications are up in arms about AI generated content? Spotify has a new AI powered DJ. Uber has a redesigned version of its App. And why is Microsoft showing you ads for its products on other people’s websites? Links: China tells big tech companies not to offer ChatGPT services (NikkeiAsia) ChatGPT launches boom in AI-written e-books on Amazon (Reuters) Sci-Fi Mag Pauses Submissions Amid Flood of AI-Generated Short Stories (PCMag) Spotify launches ‘DJ,’ a new feature offering personalized music with AI-powered commentary (TechCrunch) Uber redesigns app for simpler, more personalized experience (TechCrunch) Microsoft aggressively trying to keep Chrome downloaders using Edge (9to5Google) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the TechMeme right home for Wednesday, February 22nd, 2020. I'm Brian McCullough today. This chatbot AI revolution has hit a major roadblock in China.

What does it mean if science fiction publications are all up in arms about AI-generated content as well? Spotify has a new AI-powered DJ. Uber has a redesigned version of its app. And why is Microsoft showing you ads for its products on other people's websites? Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. Forgive me for not having thought of this sooner. but now that I see it, it's pretty obvious. This new generative AI revolution, it's not going to fly in China. Sources are telling Niki Asia that Chinese regulators have told Tencent, Ant Group, and others

not to offer public chat GPT-like services after state media has been criticizing these chatbots over misinformation in recent days. Quote, tech companies will also need to report to regulators before they launch their own chat GPT-like services, the sources added. ChatGPT, developed by Microsoft-backed startup OpenAI, is not officially available in China, but some internet users have been able to access it using a virtual private network. There have also been dozens of mini programs released by third-party developers on Tencent's Wii chat social media app that claim to offer services from chat GPT. Under regulatory pressure, Tencent has suspended several such third-party services,

regardless of whether they were connected to chat GPT or were in fact copycats, people familiar with the matter told Niki. The latest move by regulators comes amid an official backlash against chat GPT. On Monday, state-owned media outlet China Daily said in a post on Weibo, China's heavily censored equivalent of Twitter, that the chatbot, quote, could provide a helping hand to the U.S. government in its spread of disinformation and its manipulation of global narratives for its own geopolitical interests, end quote. sources in the tech industry say they are not surprised by such a clampdown quote. Our understanding from the beginning is that chat GPT can never enter China due to issues with censorship and China will need its own versions of chat GPT said one executive from a leading tech

company. An executive from another leading Chinese tech player said that even without a direct warning, his company would not make use of chat GPT. We have already been a target of the Chinese regulator amid the tech industry crackdown in recent years, so even if there were no such ban, we would never take the initiative to add chat GPT to our platforms because its responses are uncontrollable, the person said. There will inevitably be some users who ask the chatbot politically sensitive questions, but the platform would be held accountable for the results, end quote. Yeah, it's funny. Here in the West, the big criticism of these AI bots

is that they're not always accurate. They don't always tell the truth. So yeah, in retrospect, the Chinese government would be doubly skeptical of anything that might not tell the truth, at least as approved by the Chinese government. Well, since we're here, several more AI stories for you. The AI stories, du jour, if you will, over 200 e-books in Amazon's Kindle store are already listed as having ChatGPT as an author or co-author as of mid-February, leading some to worry that generative AI could commoditize book writing itself, quoting Reuters. ChatGPT appears ready to upend the state book industry as would-be novelists and self-help gurus

looking to make a quick buck are turning to the software to help create bot-made e-books and publish them through Amazon's Kindle Direct publishing arm. Illustrated children's books are a favorite for such first-time authors. On YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit, hundreds of tutorials have sprung up demonstrating how to make a book in just a few hours. Subjects include get-rich-quick schemes, dating advice, dieting advice, software coding tips, and recipes. This is something we really need to be worried about. These books will flood the market and a lot of authors are going to be out of work, said Mary Razenberger, executive director of writers group, the Authors Guild. Ghostwriting by humans

has a long tradition, she said, but the ability to automate through AI could turn bookwriting from a craft into a commodity. There needs to be transparency from the authors and the platforms about how these books are created, or you're going to end up with a lot of low-quality books, she said. One author who goes by Frank White showed in a YouTube video how in less than a day, he created a 119-page novella called Galactic Pimp Volume 1, about alien factions in a far-off galaxy warring over a human-staffed brothel. The book can be had for just $1 on Amazon's Kindle e-book store, In the video, White says anyone with the wherewithal and time could create 300 such books a year,

all using AI. Many authors like White feel no duty to disclose in the Kindle store that their great American novel was written wholesale by a computer, in part because Amazon's policies do not require it, end quote. But wait, I've got more along these lines. Sci-fi outlet Clark's World has stopped accepting short story submissions citing a surge in AI-generated stories from people who only care about in their words again, making a quick buck, quoting PC mag. The magazine announced the suspension days after Clark's World editor Neil Clark warned about AI written works posing a threat to the entire short story ecosystem. At the end of last year, the sci-fi publication encountered a rise in plagiarism as

AI-powered chatbots gained the public's attention, Clark wrote in a blog post. Since then, Clark's world has seen a massive spike in short story submissions, but much of the writing appears to come from humans relying on AI tools to pump out the text. In his post, Clark declined to specify how he detected the AI-generated writing, saying he had, quote, no intention of helping those people become less likely to be caught. Nevertheless, he said, the alleged AI-based works show some very obvious patterns. What I can say is that the number of spam submissions resulting in bans has hit 38% this month, he said. While rejecting and banning these submissions has been simple, it's growing at a rate that will necessitate changes. To make matters

worse, the technology is only going to get better, so detection will become more challenging, end quote. Hence, the AI-generated writing threatens to hinder legitimate human written works from reaching the prestigious sci-fi publication. Currently, Clark's World has a policy against any stories co-written, written, or assisted by AI at this time, end quote. AI-generated writing is likely flooding the magazine because it pays 12 cents a word for each short story accepted. From what I can tell, it's not about credibility, it's about the possibility of making a quick buck. That's all they care about, Clark wrote in a tweet, end quote. The idea that science fiction writing would be at the bleeding edge of disruption. Disruption by

artificial intelligence is almost two on the nose for a 2023 headline, don't you think? One more. Ahead of its annual stream-on event, Spotify has launched an AI-powered feature called DJ, offering curated music and spoken commentary in a, quote, stunningly realistic voice. choice, quoting TechCrunch. The idea explains the company is for Spotify to get to know users so well that the new DJ can choose what to play for you when you hit the button, or as Spotify says, it's putting an AI DJ in your pocket. More broadly, the feature has the potential to turn Spotify into a lean-back, passive experience for those times users don't feel like dictating to Spotify what to stream next or fumbling around with its interface to find a playlist they like.

The Open AI powered feature is still in beta testing as of the time of today's launch and is only available in English for Spotify premium subscribers in the U.S. and Canada for the time being. The company says its new DJ feature is a combination of its existing personalization technology, an AI voice from its 2022 Sinantic acquisition and generative AI through the use of Open AI technology. Spotify tells us it has a business relationship with OpenAI but did not refer to the company as a partner. As listeners engage with the new DJ feature, they'll be presented with a personalized stream of songs that will include both newer tracks and old favorites. This stream will be continually refreshed, we understand. As they listen, they'll also hear commentary directly followed by the song it's referring to. For example, the AI may share commentary like, this week, Chicago rapper Polo G teams up with Atlanta's future for his first release of the year.

This also marks the pair's first collaboration, but they're united by production from South Side, who has worked extensively with both and is said to be responsible for most of the music on Polo's upcoming project. If the DJ fires a miss in terms of what someone wants to hear, the user will be able to just tap the DJ button again to shift to a different genre, artist, or mood. The more the feature is used, the more accurate its suggestions will become, similar to how song skips or liking a track would otherwise inform an algorithm of your interests. To access the DJ, you'll head to the music feed on the homepage of Spotify's iOS or Android app, then tap play on the DJ card to begin. The DJ will then begin to play a lineup of music and short commentary. In brief tests of the feature

ahead of the launch, we can confirm the voice did sound authentic, even as it inserted the personalized content during its introduction, like references to the names of bands you regularly stream. However, it didn't immediately seem to be more remarkable than one of Spotify's personalized playlists in terms of music selection, but in theory, DJ's improvements would come in time, end quote. This is not AI. It's just good old-fashioned reading. design. Uber has launched a redesigned version of its app globally, including adding a simpler home screen, a services tab, and live tracking on iOS 16, quoting TechCrunch. With the redesign, Uber wants to make the user experience so effortless and intuitive that more customers see Uber

as the one-stop shop for going anywhere and getting anything. According to Jan Yu, head of products for rides at Uber, the release will go out Wednesday to tens of millions of customers in 1,200 cities around the world, according to Uber. Customers will need to make sure their devices and Uber app have been updated to see the new app. The new home screen includes carousels that prompt a user with more ways to use Uber, ways to plan with Uber, or ways to save with Uber that provide options for services like adding a stop along a route, connecting with public transit, taking a Lyme e-scooter, or choosing a more comfortable ride. A new services tab at the bottom of the screen provides the user with

all the ride and delivery offerings available in that city like e-scooters, dinner options, car rentals, package delivery, and bus charter services. Also along the bottom of the screen is a new activity tab that helps users keep track of past and upcoming rides and eats orders. When a customer taps where to on the new app, saved places will appear, as well as a suggestion of destinations and ride types based on a customer's preferences, past trips, and most likely destinations. The app will continue to learn about the customers so it can share more personalized recommendations in the future. For example, if a user typically rides Uber green, meaning with drivers who drive hybrid or electric vehicles, then that'll be the first option they see when they open the app.

This type of preference would also prompt the app to offer other zero emission rides, or if a user is likely to reserve rides in advance, the new Uber app will display other pre-planned options on the home screen, the company said. iPhone users running iOS 16 or later can track their rides all on the lock screen without having to open the Uber app via a dynamic Island, which is basically a little bubble that displays content that's running in the background. Today, users get notifications on their lock screen when a driver is on their way or close to a pickup. The Dynamic Island will continuously run information like vehicle details, including driver photo, vehicle license plate, vehicle model, and vehicle image, latest ETA information,

and trip status. iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max users will also be able to access the dynamic island, but only when the phone is unlocked. It'll show up across the top of the phone's screen and remain there even when a user is engaged with other apps. Uber said live tracking and dynamic functionality will be available in the Uber Eats app as well in the coming months, and that the company plans to roll out a similar feature for Android customers in the coming weeks, end quote. Finally today, as we said yesterday, Microsoft wants everyone to know it swears to play nice so that their Activision acquisition gets approved. There's even been word today that Microsoft plans to bring its Xbox PC games to Nvidia, G4N,

now and promises to offer Activision Blizzard games on the cloud service if the acquisition closes. This has been enough to get Nvidia to drop any of its opposition to the merger, so Microsoft got them on board by doing that. But in other areas, seems like Microsoft is up to its old tricks. Microsoft appears to be injecting ads for Edge on a Google.com website when users download Chrome using the latest Edge Canary Preview on Windows. Quoting 9 to 5 Google, After downloading Chrome, Microsoft Edge Canary for Windows users today noticed a Microsoft Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome with the added trust of Microsoft message. The banner appears underneath the address bar and critically, looks to be part of the Google.com slash Chrome address. There's also a tiny advert when the Chrome page initially loads, with many finding this ad injection to be egregious.

This behavior looks limited to Windows. We couldn't replicate it on Edge for Mac, and is currently only only, on Edge's preview channel. It's possible that the current backlash will mean Microsoft won't release it to stable. For its part, Google also tries to get people to use Chrome, but it's not as aggressive. If you open Google search in Safari for Mac, you'll see a corner pop-up that says Google recommends using Chrome. The key difference is that this advertisement is occurring on a website Google owns, end quote. Quoting Jake Archibald on Twitter, appearing to inject content into other company's sites doesn't really sell the trust of Microsoft. soft angle in my opinion.

Remember when this show was literally the ride home show, like before COVID times, I would release this show at 4 p.m. Eastern every day. Well, we're briefly going to return to those days, at least tomorrow. I have a doctor's appointment late in the morning tomorrow that I couldn't reschedule, so I'll try to do what I can before I leave for that, but I don't expect to really get started working on the show in earnest and certainly not recording. until at least noon, which is when I've usually been dropping the show these last few years. So, tomorrow at least, expect the show to drop several hours later than normal,

but we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming on Friday.