Today’s AJ Highlights

Good morning: One of the most likely impacts of AI will be a massive explosion of new art — books, music, images, video. This will be brought about by AI tools making it easier to create work. Here’s a good early example: A new company called Spines, automates the process of getting a book into print. “The platform can reduce the time it takes to publish a book from six to 18 months, to two to three weeks. He [the company CEO] claimed authors are willing to pay “tens of thousands” on publishing services for self-published books, but Spines costs $1,200 to $5,000 to automate proofreading, cover design, metadata optimisation and limited translation services, starting with Spanish.” Spines says it will publish 8000 books this way next year. Flooding the zone with “content” only figures to make it more difficult for human artists to get an audience.

Here are more highlights from the past day:

  1. Lessons the Art World is Learning at Auction, Post-Election
    “Some analysts expected that Donald J. Trump’s victory in the presidential election would cast a glow over the art market after seeing the prices of some stocks, cryptocurrencies, and the dollar lift shortly after his win. And yet, no.” The New York Times
  2. Comcast Unloading Its Cable Channels Signals a Major Shift in the TV Business
    “This is a very clear, direct statement by Comcast that they are exiting the cable network business. This is them saying, ‘We don’t want to be in this business. This is no longer a growth business.’” CNN
  3. Study: UK Artists Earn Average of £12,500 Per Year
    “Visual artists in the UK take home a median annual salary of only £12,500 a year, a 40% decrease since 2010, a new survey commissioned by the Design & Artists Copyright Society (DACS) has found.” The Art Newspaper
  4. The Circus That Bought an Old West Town in the Desert
    “Spiegelworld, an entertainment and circus company based in Las Vegas, bought the entire town in 2022 for $2.5 million. This isolated plot of land, roughly an hour’s drive from Vegas and the same distance from the nearest grocery store, is now known as Spiegelworld’s ‘global headquarters’ or, more simply, the ‘circus town.'” The Guardian
  5. Evaluating Wunderkind Conductor Klaus Mäkelä
    “It is safe to say that no conductor in modern history has been entrusted with so much at such a young age. Does he deserve it?” The New York Times

Jump down to see all the stories we collected, organized by genre. See you tomorrow.

Doug

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