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:
🤖 The promise of Google’s Gemini 2.0
🫨 Is TikTok really going to get banned in the United States?
🐙 Fact check: Giant sea monsters aren’t being discovered
📺 From YouTube to one of the year’s best TV shows
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Google announces Gemini 2.0, OpenAI opens Sora to the masses
This week Google announced the release of Gemini 2.0, an updated version of its AI model that can act like a digital assistant by completing tasks on behalf of a user, such as booking flights, scheduling meetings or buying groceries online. AI agents, as these bots are called, are believed to be the next big thing in generative AI and, if successful, could be a productivity game-changer. But as reporter Joe Castaldo wrote earlier this year, questions still remain about the utility of the technology, which can suffer from accuracy and reliability problems. Gemini 2.0 will be implemented into Google’s other products, including search, its Android phones and YouTube.
Meanwhile, after months of teasers, OpenAI launched its text-to-video model Sora. A review of the video generator over at The Verge said that although Sora’s output is impressive, especially when it comes to shadow and textures, it’s “not ready for entertainment or commercial work that needs narrative coherence.” Due to overwhelming demand, OpenAI closed off signups within hours of the launch.
AI SLOP
Fake sea creatures from different AI-generated videos posted to Facebook.Facebook
Those sea monsters you’re seeing all over Facebook aren’t real, unsurprisingly
The rise of generative AI tools has led to an avalanche of “AI slop” – low-quality or misleading content created using AI. The latest fad of AI slop is videos of monstrous sea creatures, which have proliferated on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, garnering tens of millions of views. But as Patrick Dell, a visuals editor at The Globe who covers disinformation, reports, these forms of fake content are commonly used by spammers and scammers, seemingly motivated by profit or online clout. Some of the fake content would direct users to websites selling dubious or non-existent products or attempted to obtain personal details. Read the full story here.
SOCIAL MEDIA
TikTok’s fate in the United States still unclear
ByteDance’s long legal drama continues this week. The Chinese-based company has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to temporarily halt a law that says it must sell TikTok by Jan. 19 or face a ban. TikTok has argued that the injunction would give incoming president Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, a chance to intervene, which he promised to do during the election campaign.
So what could happen to TikTok in the next six weeks? The Supreme Court could approve the injunction, giving Trump time to figure out a way to save the app. TikTok could divest and sell the app to one of the many wealthy bidders who have stepped forward. Or the app could be banned. In this scenario, TikTok wouldn’t automatically be deleted off Americans’ phones, but Google’s and Apple’s app stores would need to stop distributing it or else face fines. And eventually, the app would likely stop working without updates.
What else we’re reading this week:
The year creators took over (The New Yorker)
WhatsApp is already the world’s most widely used messaging app. Meta wants it to be a lot more (Rest of World)
He investigates the internet’s most vicious hackers – from a secret location (Wall Street Journal)
Adult Money
LOST AND FOUND
Supplied
Belkin AirTag holder with carabiner, $25
As someone who is constantly searching for my keys and wallet, the AirTags I received last year for Christmas have been a huge time-saver. When I can’t find one of these essential items, I go on my iPhone and “ring” my misplaced belonging and follow the beeping noise until it’s found. This is an ideal gift for the forgetful (like me) or the anxious traveller who’s always worried their checked baggage will be lost (also me).
Culture radar
STREAMING
Crave
From YouTube to the year’s best TV shows
Canadian YouTuber Jasmeet Raina – a.k.a. Jus Reign – nailed that tricky leap from online success to traditional television with his half-hour dramedy Late Bloomer. One of the best TV shows of the year, according to The Globe’s TV critic Kelly J. Nestruck, the show chronicles the “second-generation Canadian experience, while also being a savvy satire about social media and the paradox of finding fame while still living in your parents’ house.”