The ban on AI regulation proposed by the Big Beautiful Bill would give tech companies carte blanche to control how AI will shape our lives, decimating local journalism in the process.
Another truly important column -- and btw, wouldn't it be cool if our high schools taught these pieces of legislation in class -- provision by provision -- then the sometimes awful truth of them would be understood. Won't happen, but what a tool to learn how to be citizens of our precious democracy!
Christ, I really can’t see how anyone can be optimistic about that section about AI. Let’s say that these companies decide to have staff journalists that go out and do all the work and then feed their work to the horror machine. There is no writing anymore, no passion, no storytelling, just events. No art, no credit, just the machine, and I highly doubt any of them will be paid very much. In fact it’ll probably be an aggressive form of what’s already happening in journalism. A race to the bottom in terms of quality and wages started by the bosses who do not care about their staff and completed by an apathetic population. I mean, am I wrong here? Compromise does not work here because the compromise requires the LLM to eat you slightly less than it already would’ve. Is there even any point to journalism after this? Will anyone even notice us gone?
Another truly important column -- and btw, wouldn't it be cool if our high schools taught these pieces of legislation in class -- provision by provision -- then the sometimes awful truth of them would be understood. Won't happen, but what a tool to learn how to be citizens of our precious democracy!
Christ, I really can’t see how anyone can be optimistic about that section about AI. Let’s say that these companies decide to have staff journalists that go out and do all the work and then feed their work to the horror machine. There is no writing anymore, no passion, no storytelling, just events. No art, no credit, just the machine, and I highly doubt any of them will be paid very much. In fact it’ll probably be an aggressive form of what’s already happening in journalism. A race to the bottom in terms of quality and wages started by the bosses who do not care about their staff and completed by an apathetic population. I mean, am I wrong here? Compromise does not work here because the compromise requires the LLM to eat you slightly less than it already would’ve. Is there even any point to journalism after this? Will anyone even notice us gone?