Oh, Canada.? This Angus Reid Institute survey finds that 48% of Canadians think the government should “back down” on making Big Tech companies pay for news links while just 26% think it should “stand firm” – even though 61% agree that Big Tech should pay up. On the other hand, it seems that Microsoft is planning to comply and there is some talk about Canadians shifting searches to Bing.
It’s debatable whether any enhancement to a generative AI product is worth singling out as news, given how many happen each day. But that Adobe Firefly now supports prompts in over 100 languages, and will be localized in 20 languages, seems worth a nod. Let’s also note that Adobe is paying more attention than most to clarifying the source of content that Firefly creates – a shamefully rare example of responsible Big Tech behavior.
The on-going Twitter train wreck, now with extra drama from Threads, is another story we can’t cover in any depth. Some developments you may have missed: Website Planet found Threads posts get more engagement than posts on Twitter; an Ipsos poll found 58% of Americans who use Twitter have tried Threads or are likely to; and, in a characteristically childish and incompetent move, Twitter has made an ineffectual attempt at blocking links to Threads.
IBM has agreed to acquire data movement platform Confluent for $11 billion in cash. Confluent manages data streams in real time, which is very important for AI. IBM plans to use Confluent to “complement” its existing AI and hybrid cloud capabilities.