"These AI ad-generation products are less visible to regular users than, for example, an Instagram bot pretending to be Tom Brady. ... But they’re also clearer in purpose and tell us a lot about what sorts of problems these companies think generative AI can solve — for them, anyway." - MSN (New York Magazine)
Acts of disengagement are routinely met with scepticism, judgment and pushback in public discourse. What if we were to treat them instead as opportunities for open enquiry and ask what is to be gained by them? - Aeon
That's the gambit being tried with a new adaptation, co-directed by Tony Goldwyn and Savion Glover, that's getting a five-day run in New York this week. (Another change: the addition of tap-dancing ancestral spirits called the Griots.) - The New York Times
Misinformation is most commonly defined as anything that is factually inaccurate, but not intended to deceive: in other words, people being wrong. However, it is often talked about in the same breath as disinformation — inaccurate information spread maliciously — and propaganda. - UnDark
"The story of the Bubon bronzes, though, is more than just a tale of looters’ remorse, investigative zeal, art market intrigue and antiquities repatriation. It’s also a lesson in history, one that presents a more nuanced view of ancient Rome than that popularized by Hollywood epics." - The New York Times
After a long and initially contentious process, a panel has selected a winner from the five finalist designs for a Tubman memorial to be installed near City Hall. (The mayor is one of many who think that the best option won.) - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
"Scientific research has begun to explore why music appears to have such a strong effect on health and wellness, particularly mental health, where sounds can serve as a conduit to lift someone’s mood, help them reflect and reduce stress, anxiety and depression." - The New York Times
The disgraced ex-prime minister has been hired as a presenter and commentator on the UK's right-leaning network GB News. "I’m going to be giving this remarkable new TV channel my unvarnished views on everything," he says, "… (and) why I believe our best days are yet to come." - Press Gazette (UK)
It all stems from a conflict between the now-former CEO, Janice Price, and now-former board chair Adam Waterous over her involvement in the choice of her successor — and in questions about how Waterous handled that conflict. - CBC
"It is one of the great classical repertory companies, but I would like to have a company that lives in the present and looks to the future. What is clear is that it has to be a glamorous company, that reflects its history and the city." - The New York Times
"A forbiddingly erudite theorist who was also an in-the-arena practitioner, ... he had an uncompromising vision of what theater should be and no shortage of platforms to promote that vision. He used them all with gusto, making waves, careers, and more than a few enemies in the process." - MSN (The Boston Globe)
"About a dozen protesters of 'Dernière Rénovation' (Final Renovation) threw balloons filled with paint on the iconic glass-and-metal structure, while another scaled it and doused it with paint." In this case (unusually), they had specific, actionable demands to make of the government. - RTÉ (Ireland)
Since the 1980s, a subset of cognitive scientists have argued that neural networks, a type of artificial intelligence (AI), aren't viable models of the mind because their architecture fails to capture a key feature of how humans think. But with training, neural networks can now gain this human-like ability. - Live Science
That comic, which has gone on to be the most reprinted in the magazine’s history, proves so enduringly popular that it recently sold at auction for a whopping $175,000, the highest price for a single cartoon on record. - Artnet
