June 5, 2024
The Washington Post Reorganizes Amid Declining Revenue and Audiences
The Washington Post is going through a major overhaul as staffing and structural changes sweep the newspaper. Executive Editor Sally Buzbee has stepped down after three years, and the paper announced a new structure that establishes three separate divisions: Core, Service/Social, and Opinions. The Post has been hemorrhaging money and readers, with reports it lost nearly $80 million last year and more than half its online traffic from 2020 to 2023.
While traditional newspapers are bearing the brunt of a changing media landscape, newer digital outlets are also struggling. G/O Media announced it is selling tech news website Gizmodo to European digital media company, Keleops Media. The publisher also laid off editorial staff last year, sold the longtime blogging site Jezebel, and navigated staff backlash over AI adoption.
Major ChatGPT Outage Sparks AI Aberration
On Tuesday, ChatGPT experienced significant outages that impacted millions of users for nearly eight hours. This was OpenAI’s first major ChatGPT outage since last November when a cyberattack disrupted the service for 90 minutes. This week, users of Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude also reported disruptions, which some speculate was the result of users flocking to ChatGPT’s competitors once it went down.
As AI expands, tech companies are facing increased scrutiny on the sustainability of services. AI systems like ChatGPT consume vast amounts of resources each day and require massive datacenters that rely on extracting minerals like lithium and cobalt. In addition to environmental worries, national security concerns are impacting AI. This week, OpenAI revealed that at least five online campaigns across Russia, China, Iran, and Israel had used their generative AI services to manipulate public opinion and influence geopolitics.
TikTok Prepares for U.S. Regulation While Meta Tests Unskippable Ads
From regulations to refinements, the ever-changing world of social media is showing no signs of slowing down. After recent political turmoil, news broke that TikTok is preparing a U.S.-only copy of its core algorithm. The move appears to be a contingency plan for its U.S. audiences in case TikTok’s legal challenges against a ban fail this fall. The social media app also revealed that it has taken steps to cease a cyberattack that targeted high-profile accounts, including CNN.
Meta is looking to lure more advertisers on Instagram by rolling out unskippable ads that cannot be scrolled past. The feature is currently being tested—studies have shown that allowing audiences to skip ads may actually increase the likelihood of engagement. This week, X (formerly Twitter) announced it would allow adult content on its platform. New York is the latest state to address social media regulation as it’s set to implement a landmark bill restricting social media use for minors.
Sequence Summaries: Post Plight, AI Outage, and Social Shakedown
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