The naked cynicism of Big Tech and the White House, AOC & actors off script, and making "Sound of Freedom" go away
Don't worry about AI, Hollywood – Big Tech and the White House are on it. The landscape is going to be very different when these strikes finally capitulate to reality.
It’s clear that I won’t be able to keep daily tabs on the strikes and their respective folly, but not because I didn’t make the effort.
Being away from it for a few days turned out to be refreshing. Nothing really happened over the weekend, anyway. Unless some of the oh-so-self-important actors or actresses say or do something truly moronic, this work stoppage is probably going to be like the film, Groundhog Day.
With that, away we go!
Is AI being used to write the headlines? I wonder.
Leading artificial intelligence companies have voluntarily agreed to guardrails to manage the risks posed by the emerging technology in a bid by the White House to get the industry to regulate itself in the absence of legislation instituting limits around the development of the new tools.
Whew! That’s a relief. Good thing the White House is in on this to keep things above board…
The seven companies — OpenAI, Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Inflection and Anthropic — pledged to permit independent security testing of their AI systems before they’re released to the public and share information with the government about the safety of the technology, among other vows, to make the field more transparent amid an arms race to capitalize on instruments that allow users to create videos, photos and text with ease, the White House announced on Friday. Absent is any kind of reporting regime or timeline that could legally bind the firms to their commitments.
Well, there you have it – problem, solved.
If Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft are involved in this self-policing effort, it has to be effective, right? I’m sure that when any of these entities violates any amendment in the Bill of Rights, or behaves in an unethical manner, they’ll call their own fouls, I’m sure of it.
Are the oil companies allowed to police themselves?
The only means less effective than self-regulation is that by the federal government. I’m not at all certain what the solution is, here, and it isn’t clear to me just what is the problem, but I’m guessing the sub-headline captures it: “…the technology have devoured troves of data, novels and art from creators without permission or payment.”
Ah, here, it is! Payment. Payment made to the creators. Despite my inclination to mock and ridicule the writers on strike, that is a legitimate grievance. Look – what they write may be utter drivel, but if someone seeks to use that drivel, then the writer deserves to be paid.
Allowing for every possibility that I may be mistaken, the studio heads and execs are likely upset that in this respect, AI is doing their jobs. “If anyone is going to cheat and swindle anyone out of royalties due them, it’s going to be us – not some soulless AI. That’s our job, dammit!”
No, there’s only one thing the tech companies truly fear: competition. So I say, no regulation whatsoever. Eliminate any and all regulatory protections currently in place. Let’s see what happens.
This was exceptionally well done!
While I strive to be tongue-in-cheek in my writing, the mark is frequently missed, and by a lot. This – is a clinic. Some lessons can be learned here, and applied, later.
‘I showed up last Friday to Disney and it was (cue the music): “A whole new world!” The Actors have joined us…and taken all our signs. It’s reinvigorated the picket lines and upgraded the tents…the check-in tent at Disney looked like a French pharmacy; La Roche Posey sunscreen in every SPF and a variety of lip balm! No one wants a crusty smile when there are so many cameras around. And there were a lot more cameras around. And more shade cover than there had ever been before. I thought I saw a make-up tent and my friend said he heard there was going to be a beard-trimming station.’
It only makes sense – why actually share the experiences of the writers? They’re actors, for Pete’s sake.
‘And there were so many more fans, both the air-moving kind and the human kind. Disney was now Hollywood Blvd. Costumed folks in full Star Wars regalia with their Instagram handle affixed to their chest... There was watermelon lemonade being served…deliciously salty. And the tacos were fresh. Chanting even came back into the mix. The actors are a spirited bunch who love a good role. There were so many SAG shirts helping to direct us on how to cross the street and how to avoid getting hit by cars and how to rest if we needed to. Sure, it was stuff we had figured out for ourselves over two months ago, but they are owning the material and I, for one, love it.’
My sister is going to be proven correct.
For many of the actors and actresses on strike, the role each one is playing now is the role of a lifetime – and it is likely their last.
Of course, you knew AOC would eventually show up! An attention-whore like her is not going to let an opportunity like this pass her by.
Leave it to AOC1 to create an absolutely meaningless straw man to make her “point.”
‘How many private jets does David Zaslav need? For real. How many private jets do the CEOs need? It is insatiable. It is unacceptable. I do not know how any person can say I need another $100 million before another person can have health care,’ she continued.
To the best of my knowledge, neither Mr. Zaslav, or any other studio executive for that matter, has said he needs another $100 mil before anyone else can qualify for health insurance, nor has that sentiment even been suggested.
Such a statement is pure fallacy – right up there with, “…you can’t eat money.” That kind of nonsense is hardly worth a comment, except to point out how utterly insulting it is in that it assumes the object(s) of the pointed remark, or the hearer, or both are that obtuse. Of course, you can’t eat money. Everyone knows that, but the purpose of such a comment is to reduce one’s opponent to caricature, and end the exchange.
It’s a reasonably good bet that she said a lot more that was not captured that would have been mockery gold.
Not to worry, though. Tatiana Maslany was unwittingly happy to oblige:
‘He’s completely out of touch with the workers who make his shows happen, who make people watch these shows, who bring viewers to him and him money,’ she said.
Speaking only for me, no one makes me watch anything – TV show, movie, live event.
God love F. Murray Abraham – though, all he does is bolster the late Charlie Chaplin’s presumed sentiment.
‘Without a union, there is no middle class. Without a middle class, there’s no democracy.’
Setting aside for the moment that one has absolutely nothing to do with the other, it should be made clear that a middle class is not created – not by a labour union, not by government edict – a middle class emerges from a meritocratic environment. On the other hand, a democratic government’s policies to force equal outcomes, racial disparities in an attempt to correct other racial disparities, and high inflation and taxes can, and will, destroy a middle class, however. I dare say Mr. Abraham is the one hopelessly out of touch.
A complete implosion of Hollywood would be the best thing to happen, in my view. If Ms. Maslany is at all indicative of the mentality of the actors and actresses in Hollywood, then each and every one of them needs to learn how to survive in the real world.
The following headlines are offered for your consideration:
I’m missing something, here…my understanding is that a strike is supposed to bring all work to a halt – disrupt the revenue stream, impose hardship on the enterprise to transact business and continue as a going concern. Call me crazy, but the more exceptions that are made – thirty-nine, and counting – dilutes the message, doesn’t it? Yes? No?
Bigger than what?
On Saturday, my wife and I finally were able to view, Sound of Freedom. Leaving, I felt enraged.
As satisfying as is the story’s end, it is not a feel-good film. If one is not unsettled after viewing it, one might want to check and see if one has a pulse.
I mention this because despite the powers that be doing all within their power for five years to prevent this film from ever being released, since its opening, it has outperformed against expectations even better than Hollywood’s formulaic “blockbusters.” Read the best article about the film, here:
Sound of Freedom has been out for what – three weeks, as of today? So maybe the news cycle is such that it no longer warrants much in the way of coverage. If true, then it’s no surprise that the Hollywood media propaganda machine is as focused as it is on, Barbie, and, Oppenheimer, if only to get, Sound of Freedom as small in the rearview mirror as possible.
Warner Bros Barbie has come in with a $356.3M global launch through yesterday…
Note that Barbie is a global launch…Oppenheimer hit $180.4M worldwide. Even allowing for the fact that SoF is likely old news, now – it’s over the $100MM mark with virtually no marketing support. In fact, one might even perceive it to have had to overcome marketing resistance.
That’s all for today, dear reader. Thank you, for your indulgence.
Until next time…
https://caknowledge.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-net-worth-aoc/
I’m not sure her net worth is $9MM, either, but hey – it’s on the internet – it’s as likely to be true as not.
Surely your joking you want 'teeth' of the US-Congress in AI??
Do you realize that USA ain't shit in the game, maybe there are 5k AI researchers in USA, there are 500K in CHINA alone;
Already CHINA, & INDIA are kicking ass, and they don't give a hell about AI rules in USA;
...
Hollywood goes on strike;
Like the guy who does stable-fusion, aka stable-ai says "IN one year a child can enter a sentence into his mobile phone and create his own world-class disney quality movie, with his characters and his voice choices".
What does this mean???? It means that within 5 years all of HOLLYWOOD will cease to exist
Reality? OMG ? Magical thinking is the core of Hollywood and Entertainment. What a fantastic article- I am in total agreement with all you've written - No Surprise...The longer the strike continues the more AI makes inroads...my true fear is HUMAN INTEL. HI vs AI yikes