Welcome back to Lately, The Globe’s weekly tech newsletter. If you have feedback or just want to say hello to a real-life human, send me an e-mail.
In this week’s issue:
👩🏻💻 U.S. government calls on Google to sell Chrome
☺️ Give your Instagram algorithm a hard reset
⛔ Australia proposes social-media ban for children younger than 16
🗯️ AI-generated Coca-Cola holiday ad faces backlash
ONLINE SEARCH
U.S. department says Google must sell Chrome
For the past 20 years, Google has dominated the internet, indexing hundreds of billions of web pages and becoming the shorthand for “searching for something online.” The US$2-trillion company chalks this dominance up to savvy business acuity, but the U.S. Justice Department sees it differently: a monopoly.
This summer in a landmark antitrust case, a federal court ruled Google had maintained an illegal monopoly in online search and must break up the company. In the aftermath of the ruling, on Wednesday the government asked a federal judge to force Google to sell its web browser Chrome, as well as either sell Android – its smartphone operating system – or prevent Google from making its services mandatory on Android devices. The federal judge will decide which of these remedies to enact by next August.
Google’s president of global affairs Kent Walker called the government’s proposals “wildly overboard” and “a radical interventionist agenda.” The company could still appeal the ruling to block the forced sale of Chrome, for which there’s a precedent: The U.S. government’s attempt to breakup Microsoft in the 2000s was overturned by an appeals court. And another big question lingers: Would these proposed remedies even make online search more competitive? Many experts aren’t so sure.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Over your Instagram algorithm? Give it a hard restart
Our social-media feeds are powered by algorithms, meaning that most of what we see on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram is based on the content that we view, share or like – regardless of whether we actually want to see more of it. For example, say one afternoon you go down an Instagram rabbit hole of celebrity plastic surgery before-and-after photos, now your Explore page will be filled with similar posts about Brad Pitt and Lindsay Lohan for seemingly all of eternity. (Unfortunately, I know this from personal experience.)
But now there’s a chance to free your Instagram algorithm from the unwanted content clogging your feeds. Instagram is testing the ability for users to reset their recommendations and retraining the algorithm about the content you’re interested in. Similar to a feature that TikTok rolled out last year, Instagram’s new hard reset function will be available “soon” globally.
SCIENCE
Canada approves first Neuralink brain chip trial
Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain chip startup, has received approval to launch its first clinical trial in Canada for a device designed to give paralyzed individuals the ability to use digital devices simply by thinking. The Canadian study, which will be performed by the University Health Network, will assess the safety and initial functionality of the implant. In the United States, Neuralink has already implanted the device in two patients. The company says the device is working well in the second trial patient, who has been using it to play video games and learn how to design 3D objects.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Australia introduces bill to ban social media for children younger than 16
Australia has proposed a bill to ban social media for kids.Rick Rycroft/The Associated Press
In legislation that’s the first of its kind worldwide, Australia has proposed a bill that would ban children younger than 16 from social media. The bill says that platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram would face fines of up to 50-million Australian dollars for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts. Although the bill has wide political support, child welfare experts have said a ban could be isolating for teens who have already established online connections through social media.
What else we’re reading this week:
The Philippine army is recruiting young tech civilians to fight cyber attacks (Rest of World)
AI chatbots defeated doctors at diagnosing illness (The New York Times)
The fantasy of cozy tech (The New Yorker)
Adult Money
WORK
My hunt for an adult-looking bag continues.Supplied
Herschel Kaslo Daypack, $150
In the first edition of Lately, I wrote about being mistaken for an undergrad on the bus on my way into the office. I blamed my giant backpack for making me look so young, and have been on the hunt for a more adult-looking bag since. The Globe style contributor Truc Nguyen recently rounded up a selection of work bags, ranging from practical leather daypacks to stylish totes, including this one from Herschel that has “a lined, 15/16-inch laptop sleeve, padded shoulder straps, and a number of compartments.”
Culture radar
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
An uncanny smile.Coca-Cola/YouTube
This year, Coca-Cola decided to remake its classic 1995 “Holidays Are Coming” ad using generative AI. And, well, it looks very much like AI. The faces are all a bit wonky, the body movements are awkward and many of the shots are noticeably short. The ad has faced a lot of criticism from artists, marketers and Coke fans on social media, with comments including “It looks like a fever trip that won’t let go of you” and “To put out slop like this just ruins the Christmas spirit.”
Coca-Cola isn’t the first company to make an AI-generated advertisement – Toys “R” Us faced similar backlash for its ad using OpenAI’s Sora model – but the backlash appears even more fierce with Coke because the original ad was so beloved. For its part, Coca-Cola stands by the ads. “Coca-Cola will always remain dedicated to creating the highest level of work at the intersection of human creativity and technology,” the company said in a statement to The New York Times.