Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I\u2019m your host, Blake Montgomery, advising you to touch grass. Perhaps go outside and read this newsletter in front of a background of changing leaves. Your phone will look beautiful framed by fall foliage.<\/p>\n
Meta and OpenAI<\/a> have released video generators powered by artificial intelligence in the past two weeks. The technology isn\u2019t so new \u2013 Google did the same thing months ago \u2013 but Meta and OpenAI\u2019s apps have scrolling feeds like social networks that make them more relevant to an everyday consumer. Both show you infinite feeds full of slop and nonsense.<\/p>\n OpenAI\u2019s app, Sora, made a much bigger splash than Meta\u2019s Vibes, which is contained within the Meta<\/a> AI app, a confusing bit of nesting.<\/p>\n Some of the AI-generated faces in Sora\u2019s feed are human ones you know. The app allows users to generate videos of themselves and their connections doing things. It\u2019s much more interesting than the removed videos of impossible scenarios that populate Vibes\u2019 feed. That Meta, a company built on digital connection with others, would remove any connection to real people from its AI app surprises me. Vibes is a social network with few social elements.<\/p>\n Sora lacks the guardrails that Meta\u2019s AI imposes on users, and the freedom it allows seems like a big reason it is more popular. Elon Musk has seen similar success with his less-regulated chatbot Grok, which declared itself a Nazi<\/a> earlier this year but which still boasts 20 times the number of reviews as Meta AI in the Apple App Store, a proxy for how many people have downloaded the apps.<\/p>\n Read more: OpenAI launch of video app Sora plagued by violent and racist images: \u2018The guardrails are not real\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Mark Zuckerberg coined the motto \u201cMove fast and break things\u201d, but it seems he has been outmaneuvered by a less cautious rival.<\/p>\n Throwing caution to the wind is part of OpenAI\u2019s corporate DNA. We saw the same dynamic between incumbent and upstart play out with the release of ChatGPT. Google had created chatbots that were just as powerful and responsive<\/a>, indeed had written the paper that underpinned OpenAI\u2019s own product, but it didn\u2019t release any of them before ChatGPT for fear of reputational risk. By contrast, what reputation did OpenAI have to lose in 2022?<\/p>\n In her book Empire of AI<\/a>, the journalist Karen Hao writes that the company\u2019s safety testing has always prioritized releasing products, seeing what happens, and perhaps apologizing or tweaking later: \u201cOpenAI\u2019s version of red teaming was and still is not the same thing, says Heidy Khlaaf, a safety engineer, cybersecurity expert and AI researcher. It is patchy and ad hoc, and does not establish any guarantees on the safety and security of the model.\u201d<\/p>\n OpenAI hasn\u2019t won the war for AI videos and visuals, though. Meta\u2019s AI may still surge when it integrates fully with the company\u2019s popular Ray-Ban smart glasses, particularly the new Display model. OpenAI has a long way to go to catch up to Meta in the devices department, having released no physical products. The startup is struggling even to brainstorm one with the legendary iPhone designer Jony Ive, according to a Financial Times<\/a> article published on Monday.<\/p>\n Read more about AI-generated peopleTech and businessA year of writing TechScape, the year of Elon MuskElon Musk at Charlie Kirk\u2019s memorial. Photograph: Daniel Cole\/Reuters<\/p>\n One year ago, I took over writing this newsletter from my former colleague Alex Hern. In that year, one person has remained inescapable in technology news: Elon Musk<\/a>. There were few weeks, especially from January of this year until May, when technology news, particularly from the political angle that the Guardian covers it, did not involve the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and xAI.<\/p>\n The second issue of this newsletter bore the subject line \u201cElon Musk is stumping hard for Donald Trump\u201d. The third issue: \u201cElon Musk\u2019s global political goals.\u201d The fourth, the fifth: Elon Musk. The first issue I wrote and the seventh focused on other topics, then returned to Musk to sum up the massive expansion of his power at the year\u2019s end. Last year was the year of Elon Musk, too.<\/p>\n How to avoid amplifying his messaging while still aggressively reporting on the richest man in the world, holding him to account \u2013 trying, anyway \u2013 for how he wields his enormous power? The answer is unsatisfying to members of the public who would rather he disappear: there is no avoiding him. The richest man in the world joining with the most powerful man in the world was an unprecedented alliance. The more influential someone is, the more journalists must pay attention to them.<\/p>\n Read more: Elon Musk, the Anti-Defamation League and the right: what\u2019s behind the latest blow-up?<\/a><\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n A weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our lives<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n It seems as if I have thought about Musk every waking hour of my life for the past year, much like a performance art piece I viewed this weekend, One Year Performance 1980\u20131981 (Time Clock Piece)<\/a>, in which the artist Tehching Hsieh punched a timecard at his studio in New York City every hour, on the hour, for 365 consecutive days.<\/p>\n What do I know about the richest man in the world after thinking about him so much? I have only the facts, and I do my best not to make predictions about his next moves. Musk is nothing if not erratic. Why did he pick this week to feud with the Anti-Defamation League? I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n He exhibits little mass audience appeal or stage presence. Listening to him give a speech is dull. Judge for yourself and watch his Saturday Night Live monologue<\/a>.<\/p>\n As powerful as he might seem, he suffered major losses this year.<\/p>\n A special election in Wisconsin in which Musk campaigned extensively in person proved extremely detrimental to his political career, as my colleague Sam Levine wrote at the time: \u201cWisconsin supreme court race a litmus test for Elon Musk\u2019s political power<\/a>\u201d. We know what color the litmus test turned \u2013 blue for a bitter, alkaline aftertaste. The day after the Wisconsin election, a headline appeared in Politico: \u201cTrump Tells Inner Circle That Musk Will Leave Soon<\/a>\u201d. Two months later \u2013 an eternity in the news but not long in real time \u2013 Musk left with a bang<\/a> and a tweet that Trump was named in the mythical Epstein files, among other insults.<\/p>\n