For Immediate Release

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Coca-Cola is one of the first companies to demonstrate a big commitment to generative AI, launching a contest that requires contestants to use both of OpenAI’s public tools: ChatGPT and DALL-E 2. Neville and Shel discuss the contest and some other brand experiments with generative AI tools in this short midweek episode.
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Some PR pros think you should withhold original research, infographics, and other original content from a pitch to a journalist. Others think you can share it, but only under some circumstances. Still others think it best to give reporters what you have. Neville and Shel explore the various recommendations in this short, mid-week episode.
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All generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) works fundamentally the same: AI neural networks learn from large training sets, gleaning patterns from the contents of those training sets in order to create original content based on their understanding of those patterns. When the companies behind those AI tools use content available on the web for training, do they need to ask permission from the content creators? You and I don’t. We can look at as much as we like and learn as much as we can. Is it the same for AI training sets or is it something else altogether, more akin to Napster using existing music without compensating the artists? Neville and Shel are on opposite sides of the debate. Also in this episode:

• The University of Iowa’s school of business has introduced a program to teach students how to tell stories. Storytelling is a crucial business skill that few businesses value. Communicators can help change that.
• A BBC football analyst — a contractor, not an employee — made some partisan remarks on a social network and was punished for violating standards by which employees are required to abide. It reopened a long-dormant discussion about social media policies.
• Did Silicon Valley Bank communicate too little, contributing to its failure? Or did it communicate too much? Is it possible the bank did both?
• ChatGPT and Midjourney have both been upgraded and the updates are substantial. Midjourney images are scarily photo-realistic and ChatGPT can now create a web page — Javascript included — based on a sketch of a wireframe. And that just scratches the surface of these updates.
• Microsoft has introduced Co-Pilot, the tool that will let users of its software tap into the power of Artificial Intelligence.

Dan York shares news from WordPress, WhatsApp, the world of ChatBots, and more in his Tech Report.
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Network outages. Fleeing advertisers. Disaffected staff. News reports of abusive behavior. Rents in arrears. And news feeds are increasingly swamped with posts from trolls and bots. Things are not looking good for the bird site. But if it fails, what’s the alternative? The fediverse is questionable. LinkedIn is solid, but its focus is on business. Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky is coming, but it’s federated, too.  Is there anything out there that can serve the function Twitter does? Neville and Shel examine the situation and explore the alternatives in this short midweek episode.
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In the laundry list of mistakes and missteps from Norfolk Southern in the wake of the disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, what stands out the most is that the company seems to be making it all about them and not the people suffering the fallout of the crisis. (At a town hall meeting, a company representative kept repeating how awful everyone at Norfolk Southern felt about the incident. Nobody in East Palestine cares how anybody at Norfolk Southern feels.) You have to wonder if they’re getting and ignoring good crisis counsel, if the counsel they’re getting is bad, or if they’re not getting any professional input at all.
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Artificial Intelligence is already embedded in daily life, from product recommendations based on past purchases to playlist suggestions. If you use a smartwatch or health-monitoring wearable, you’re using AI. The leap demonstrated by recently released generated AI apps suggests that future developments are going to come at an accelerated pace. We’ve also seen amazing robotic developments. (Have you watched a recent Boston Dynamics video or checked out Loona, the robotic pet that was the hit of CES in January?) Mix the two, bake for a decade, and imagine what you’ll get.
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A lot of company leaders believe a return to the office is a prerequisite to raising productivity and employee engagement metrics. A look at the data seems to reveal exactly the opposite: Productivity rose near the start of the pandemic and plummeted when companies began demanding employees come back to the office. Engagement numbers also fell well after the start of the pandemic in 2020, according to the premier engagement researcher. The world of work has changed, whether senior leaders understand that or not, which puts a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of in-house communicators.
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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.

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Influencer marketing is a multi-billion-dollar industry, with Instagrammers and TikTokers with large followings pitching products in exchange for cash and other considerations. In response, some on Instagram and TikTok have taken to slamming those very same products — for free. It’s as trend that’s on the rise.
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Before Twitter, before Facebook, there were blogs. People who shared an interest in the blog’s theme congregated there and had conversations. The general tone was positive, even when people disagreed. As the social media space deteriorates and Twitter’s future is in doubt, storyteller and freelancer Monique Judge suggests a return to blogging as the primary means of online social engagement. Is such a pivot possible? Neville and Shel share their thoughts in this short midweek episode.
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