After layoffs and an AI scandal, CNET's staff is unionizing

CNET, the venerable tech site which began publication nearly 30 years ago, has become the latest digital media company whose staff have chosen to band together and demand more. The CNET Media Worker's Union (CMWU) today sent a letter to Red Ventures, the private equity concern which purchased CNET in 2020, seeking recognition of a bargaining unit of nearly 100 workers including editors, writers, and video producers. According to CMWU, a supermajority of those in the unit signed union authorization cards.Like the overwhelming majority of other organized digital publications, the workers who make up CMWU are responding in large part to an increasingly hostile financial climate in the industry. CNET has not been spared the same tumult that has led to the shuttering of Buzzfeed News and VICE's decision to file for bankruptcy: the company went through three brutal rounds of layoffs over recent months, the most recent of which stripped approximately a dozen staffers from the masthead. "We lost a lot of really great reporters," Laura Michelle Davis, an editor with CNET and organizing committee member, told Engadget.According to Davis, that sense of uncertainty led to a number of voluntary departures, but also to the surviving staff choosing to organize. Despite those cuts, according to the union's statement sent to management today, staff have continue to be "subjected to ongoing restructuring, cost-cutting austerity measures, shifting job roles and promotion freezes." CMWU has... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2023-05-16 16:13:18 UTC ]
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Authors Sue AI Firm Anthropic for Copyright Infringement

The complaint accuses Anthropic of using a dataset dubbed “the Pile,” which allegedly includes a trove of pirated works, to develop its Claude AI product. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-08-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
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A study on AI motivates PHD to create generative publishing platform to guide Omnicom clients

The study fits into a broader initiative by the media agency to become a hub of learning and experimentation around gen AI that’s accessible to all Omnicom clients (not just PHD or OMG) as well as the general public.  Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2024-08-15 04:01:00 UTC ]
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Audible Is Beta Testing AI-Powered Search

Audible.com has launched Maven, an AI-powered feature that allows users to search for audiobooks using natural language queries. The new tool is currently in beta and available to select U.S. customers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-08-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Ziff Davis Acquires Tech Publisher CNET for Over $100M

Digital media company Ziff Davis acquired tech publisher CNET from its parent company, Red Ventures, for more than $100 million, according to reporting from The New York Times. The acquisition confirms an Axios report from January, which found that Red Ventures had been... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2024-08-06 10:53:30 UTC ]
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NVIDIA’s AI team reportedly scraped YouTube, Netflix videos without permission

In the latest example of a troubling industry pattern, NVIDIA appears to have scraped troves of copyrighted content for AI training. On Monday, 404 Media’s Samantha Cole reported that the $2.4 trillion company asked workers to download videos from YouTube, Netflix and other datasets to develop... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-08-05 20:49:43 UTC ]
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Engadget Podcast: Samsung Galaxy Ring review, EFF on KOSA, and another AI “Friend”

Samsung's Galaxy Ring is here, and honestly it's just a bit basic. This week, Cherlynn and Devindra dive into what does and doesn't work with Samsung's latest wearable. Also, we discuss Friend's new AI gadget, which listens to your conversations and sends text messages to help you feel less... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-08-02 11:30:09 UTC ]
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AI startup argues scraping every song on the internet is 'fair use'

When most tech companies are challenged with a lawsuit, the expected defense is to deny wrongdoing. To give a reasonable explanation of why the business' actions were not breaking any laws. Music AI startups Udio and Suno have gone for a different approach: admit to doing exactly what you were... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-08-01 23:31:32 UTC ]
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U.S. Copyright Office Releases Part One of AI Report, Calls for New Legislation

From “AI-generated musical performances to robocall impersonations of political candidates to images in pornographic videos,” the report acknowledges that “a new era of sophisticated digital replicas has arrived.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-08-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Perplexity will put ads in its AI search engine and share revenue with publishers

When people type a question into Perplexity, the two-year-old search engine scours the internet and uses information from multiple sources, including online publishers, to synthesize an answer using AI. Soon, Perplexity will start sharing revenue with some publishers as part of an advertising... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-07-30 13:00:52 UTC ]
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PEN America Union, Management Reach Tentative Agreement

The agreement, which was reached on July 10, follows 21 months of bargaining and comes less than two weeks after members of the staff union PEN America United authorized a strike. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-07-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Nine newspapers staff vote for five-day strike on eve of Paris Olympics

Editorial staff from the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review, the Brisbane Times and WAtoday reject improved pay offerFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastJournalists employed by... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-07-25 08:05:30 UTC ]
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Colin Kaepernick Launches AI-Based Self-Publishing Platform

The former NFL quarterback turned civil rights activist, who founded his own publishing company in 2020, has launched Lumi, an AI-based platform providing authors and other creatives with another alternative to traditional publishing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-07-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Colin Kaepernick is launching an AI startup to empower manga creators

Starting with comics and graphic novels, Lumi will help creators develop and illustrate ideas, then sell their work through an all-in-one platform. A new AI platform led by activist and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick aims to make it easier for anyone to publish—and monetize—their... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2024-07-24 16:00:00 UTC ]
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Humble Games reportedly lays off its entire staff

Humble Games has reportedly laid off all 36 of its staff. Former employees posted about the layoffs on social media. Humble Games is owned by media conglomerate Ziff Davis, which counts IGN, Eurogamer and GamesIndustry.biz among its gaming portfolio. Humble Games confirmed in a LinkedIn post... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-07-23 21:43:10 UTC ]
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Jo Callaghan wins crime novel of the year with story of an AI detective

In the Blink of an Eye was praised at the Theakston Old Peculier crime writing festival as ‘changing the way we think about policing forever’A “boundary-pushing take on the police procedural” which features a human detective working with an AI sleuth in order to solve a missing persons case has... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-07-19 16:29:44 UTC ]
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The Morning After: US officials help take down AI-powered Russian bot farm with nearly 1,000 fake X accounts

US officials and their allies have identified and taken down an artificial intelligence-powered Russian bot farm comprising almost 1,000 accounts. These accounts were able to spread disinformation and pro-Russian sentiments across X, formerly Twitter. The Justice Department has revealed the... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-07-10 11:16:59 UTC ]
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US officials announce the takedown of an AI-powered Russian bot farm

US officials and their allies have identified and taken down an artificial intelligence-powered Russian bot farm comprised of almost 1,000 accounts, which spread disinformation and pro-Russian sentiments on X. The Justice Department has revealed the the scheme that was made possible by software... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-07-10 05:40:34 UTC ]
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Cheap AI voice clones may wipe out jobs of 5,000 Australian actors

Industry group says rise of vocal technology could upend many creative fields, including audiobooks – the canary in the coalmine for voice actorsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastVoice actors say they’re... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-06-29 20:00:00 UTC ]
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The AI prison of the future is just an Outer Limits episode

According to the Prison Policy Institute, the US has a higher incarceration rate per 100,000 people in its population than any other NATO country and it’s even higher than the next five member states combined (the UK, Portugal, Canada, France and Belgium). So what’s the solution? Hashem... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-06-28 20:09:37 UTC ]
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The First American Union Understood The Necessity of Public Libraries and Education: Book Censorship News for June 28, 2024

In an era before public libraries and widespread public education, the first U.S. union knew their importance. That, plus this week's book censorship news. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-06-28 13:00:00 UTC ]
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