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Elon Musk’s radical tweeting may tempt other social media chieftains to return to their earlier argument of being a “tech company” first and emphasize artificial intelligence development and engineering over policy work. That’s wrong, there are two major pieces of legislation coming out of the EU in the pipeline(1) that will dictate how these companies can control the content and information on their sites and how they interact with competitors. A high-tech field may not get much interest, but the opposite is true.
Software companies are scrambling to find ways to monetize generative AI, machine-learning systems that can write essays and create images and videos. By 2022, the models driving those systems have made several major breakthroughs. This year, companies like OpenAI, one of the leading producers of generative AI, will have to answer tough questions about how to prevent their systems from exploiting people or spreading misinformation at scale. Apple Inc. is lagging behind in its own AI development, and may need to buy a creative AI company.
It’s a shame to be a woman in the metaverse: meeting people in virtual reality is fun, but it’s more tame than Mark Zuckerberg’s vision. Also beware of mouthy children and mourners.
Facebook has probably reached its peak: the first time the social network was downloaded by everyday users is significant. With Zuckerberg moving in the direction of the Metaverse, it’s hard to see the company returning to growth.
No one knows you’re a kid on the Internet – yet: Lawmakers are pushing tech companies to make the Internet safer for kids. But without strict criteria for age verification that no one can agree on, their proposal won’t do much.
Wordle, BeReal, and even Facebook: Apps Become Less Addictive: The growth of apps that reward communication over thought signals a healthy shift in social media. You only have to watch BeReal once a day.
Facebook, beware: the Metaverse is flat: most people are visiting virtual worlds through old screens on Roblox and Fortnite. Mark Zuckerberg needs to make the Metaverse less dependent on VR goggles so that millions more people can access it.
Generative AI is creating some messy problems: Generative AI that can write blog posts and create images is the newest trend in tech circles, but it comes with thorny legal challenges.
Musk’s Twitter will never die. Check out Telegram: Telegram is a large social network run by a libertarian billionaire. His popularity should dispel any thought that Twitter will disappear.
(1) Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act
This column does not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Parmy Olsen is a Bloomberg opinion columnist covering technology. A former reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Forbes, she is the author of “We Are Anonymous.”
More stories like this can be found at bloomberg.com/opinion
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