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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The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, April 22.

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.

Find links from this episode at the FIR website.

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