Stories

Readers Prefer AI-Generated Stories To Human-Written Ones — As Long As They Don’t Know About The AI Part: Study

“Readers gave AI-generated stories they believed to be written by humans the highest ratings in a new study published by Cambridge University Press, … with researchers noting that ‘participants generally seemed to have poor instincts about how to tell which story was AI-generated’.” - The Bookseller (UK)

Uffizi Galleries In Florence Reveal Plans For Two-Year, $57 Million Renovation

“The (€50 million) revamp includes dozens of projects in the Gallery of Statues and Paintings, the nearby Palazzo Pitti, and the Boboli Gardens, some of which have already begun, while others are scheduled to start in the coming months, allowing the museum to remain open.” - ARTnews

Simon & Schuster Will Go Ahead With Embattled Academic Jason Arday’s Memoir

Arday is the sociologist who just resigned from Cambridge after accusations of plagiarism and of being, basically, the British George Santos. Despite the possibility that some of what he recounts in his book is untrue, S&S is “proceeding with the publication of Great and Unfortunate Things by Jason Arday as planned.” - The Guardian

Seven Smithsonian Museums Closed Due To HVAC Issue

The museums, all on the south side of the National Mall, share one of the General Service Administration’s HVAC plants; the chilled water supply at that facility was disrupted on Thursday, leaving the museums without air conditioning during a heat wave. The buildings will reopen once the issue is resolved. - Washington City Paper

Britain Declines To Intervene In Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

“The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority cleared the pending acquisition, ruling that a Paramount-Warner tie up does not pose a ‘substantial lessening of competition’ in the country. Meanwhile, Britain’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said it also wouldn’t intervene — on the basis of several ‘legally-binding commitments’ from Paramount.” - AP

A Kinetic, Slightly Goofy New Form Of Competitive Dance Develops In Côte d’Ivoire

“There is some debate over exactly when biama emerged, but it exploded in popularity after the coronavirus pandemic as young people turned to TikTok to post and respond to dance challenges that fused acrobatics with goofiness that pushed bodies to their limits.” - The Guardian

Why Are Theatres Still Ignoring (Mostly) The Deaf Audience?

Most films are distributed with caption tracks, but cinemas, on average, caption only 1% of all showings. This is despite statistics showing that in the UK, one in seven people – approximately 14% of the population – are deaf or have hearing loss. - The Conversation

The Mystic Poet-Saints Of Kashmir, One Hindu And One Muslim

The 14th-century Hindu poetess Lal Ded and the 15th-century Sufi Muslim poet Nund Rishi wrote not in the elegant, aristocratic court language, Persian, but with simple words and phrases in Kashmiri, the everyday language of ordinary people These mystics are seen by many Kashmiris as spiritual grandmother and grandfather, even today. - The Conversation

Rise Of The Neo-Luddites

The label of “neo-Luddism” or “digital Luddite” is also being reclaimed by people concerned about labour conditions, society and democracy in an era of AI expansion twinned with personal profit. - The Conversation

Company Turns AI On Art Fraud

In practical terms, that means a knowledge graph representing thousands of artworks, with billions of nodes detailing the complex relationships its algorithms have identified between them. - Didginomica

How A Grassroots Seattle Theatre Built Itself From The Ground Up

As Taproot’s current and founding artistic team members chat in the theater’s comfortable lobby, with its welcoming windows looking out onto North 85th Street in Greenwood, it’s hard to believe that the company’s permanent space was once an X-rated movie theater with a dirt floor basement. - Seattle Times

Do The People Of This Slovakian Village Really Want To Lose UNESCO World Heritage Status?

That’s what all the headlines said, but the people of the well-preserved medieval village of Vlkolínec say it’s not that simple. They want to protect their small, still-living community from the pressures of overtourism, which could easily overwhelm it. - Deutsche Welle

Two Pittsburgh Theatres Merge

Pittsburgh's theater community is betting that a business deal of its own — the merger of the Pittsburgh CLO and the Pittsburgh Public Theater — will pay off. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When Superfans Go Too Far

In recent years, celebrities have attempted to set boundaries for their adoring, sometimes obsessive fans.  - The New York Times

Theatre That Hadn’t Shown A Movie In 35 Years Has Highest Ticket Sales In The Country For “Odyssey”

The venue, which hadn’t shown a first-run movie for 35 years, has announced it’s the highest grossing theatre in the country for Christopher Nolan’s mythological epic on the film format. - The Hollywood Reporter

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss