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Mainstream and tech media alike have filled their pages with headlines about disastrous demos, worrisome uses, fleeing users, and evaporating investments. Is it all true? Or is it a combination of clickbait and a failure to understand what’s really happening? In the February long-form episode of the “For Immediate Release” podcast, Neville and Shel look at generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) developments, mostly having to do with ChatGPT and Microsoft’s integration of it into limited-release versions of Bing and Edge. Also in this episode:

• With all the AI coverage and some media still paying attention to the Metaverse, reporting on NFTs and other aspects of Web3 seem to have fallen off the radar, but there was a big Web3 development when the world’s largest pharmaceutical company invested big money in a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that was launched to circumvent big pharmaceutical companies.
• To read the coverage, you would think that all those people who signed up for Mastodon when Twitter became a less desirable platform are fleeing faster than high school students when the bell rings after the last class before summer vacation. But are they really?
• Most of the metaverse reporting that suggests investment is drying up and business interest has cratered is based on a false premise. There’s plenty of movement and investment in the metaverse, assuming you understand that it’s a network, not a place.
• New research finds that a fast-growing number of podcast fans would rather watch a podcast than just listen to one.
• In his tech report, Dan York also looks at third-party Mastodon apps, how Roblox plans to use generative AI, the opening of a new Federal Trade Commission Office of Technology to fight “AI snake oil,” and the upcoming Supreme Court hearing that could have a profound impact on communicators and our ability to publish information online.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, March 20.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s Asides blog is also available.

Links from this report:

Artificial Intelligence

• Opera’s building ChatGPT into its sidebar
• Reddit thinks AI chatbots will “complement” human connection, not replace it
• The accelerating use of generative AI may prompt U.S. action
• Generative AI is here: How tools like ChatGPT could change your business
• Google employees criticize CEO Sundar Pichai for ‘rushed, botched’ announcement of GPT competitor Bard
• How to Use ChatGPT to Save Time and Make Work Easier
• 4chan users embrace AI voice clone tool to generate celebrity hate speech
• 11 Disadvantages Of ChatGPT Content
• Real estate agents say they can’t imagine working without ChatGPT now | CNN Business
• Chatting with Bing Chat, codenamed Sydney and sometimes Riley, feels like crossing the Rubicon because the AI is attempting to communicate emotions, not facts
• Microsoft’s new ChatGPT AI starts sending ‘unhinged’ messages to people
• You can jump the waitlist for Microsoft’s AI Bing chat. Here’s how.
• Why is ChatGPT sending Bing users ‘unhinged’ messages?
• AI image generator hit by $1.8 trillion lawsuit from Getty Images
• How Nestlé is using AI to set creative rules for its 15,000 marketers
• The new Bing & Edge – Learning from our first week
• Generative AI Can Help You Tailor Messaging to Specific Audiences
• How PR agencies are using AI
• Exclusive: Microsoft’s Bing plans AI ads in early pitch to advertisers
• Microsoft says Bing chats will now be capped at 50 questions per day and five per session; after five questions, Bing will prompt users to start a new topic

Web3 and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)

• VitaDAO: Pfizer-Invested Longevity Research, A New Paradigm for Decentralized Science?
• What are the applications of NFTs in supply chains?

Mastodon Update

• We tried to run a social media site and it was awful

Metaverse Update

• Will metaverse and tech make people lazy? Experts respond at Dubai summit
• Whatever happened to the metaverse?

Podcasting Update

• New podcast creation has fallen off a cliff
• Podcasting could be in for a rocky 2023
• Podcasters First Wanted Your Ears. Now They Want Your Eyes Too
• Riverside.fm twitter thread featuring infographics

Links from Dan York’s Tech Report

• Analytodon, service for Mastodon engagement statistics
• Generative AI on Roblox: Our Vision for the Future of Creation
• Generative AI on Roblox (YouTube video)
• A Century of Technological Evolution at the Federal Trade Commission

About Shel Holtz

Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), is director of Internal Communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor headquartered in San Francisco. Before joining Webcor, Shel spent 21 years as principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, business initiatives and communications research. Full bio

About Neville Hobson

Neville Hobson is a communicator, social strategist, consultant, digital change agent, writer, and podcaster. He is co-founder and co-host of the 'For Immediate Release' podcast. Since 2000, his career has focused on working with organisations globally to help them leverage his experiences, knowledge and subject-matter expertise of social networks, social media marketing, analytics and insights reporting, to create and build foundations for authentic engagement and to expand online reach and influence. Full bio