AI Drake, Starship 4/20, 69% Govt-funded Media
Twitter News Digest for the week of 4/12-4/18
Hey everyone!
This week’s news digest covers the first ever AI-generated hit song, Starship’s highly anticipated launch delay, and Elon’s media tour. Don’t miss Dogey Treats and Memes of the Week at the end.
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AI Drake
AI-generated music made a big leap forward last week with its first viral hit: a song called “heart on my sleeve” featuring lyrics by Drake and The Weeknd.
Amazingly, the song’s creation didn’t involve either artist. It was made by an anonymous TikTok account known only as @ghostwriter977.
The song feels like a watershed moment in the history of music.
“heart on my sleeve” it is probably better than some of Drake’s actual songs.
In other words, AI is capable of outperforming one of the most talented musicians alive.
Artists are understandably concerned about AI’s impact on monetizing their work.
If anyone can compose new music by simply typing a descriptive prompt into a text box, won’t the Internet soon be awash in AI-generated music that is indistinguishable from the real thing?
In a roundabout way, AI strengthens the case for NFTs/digital collectibles, which offer alternate model of content funding and distribution: artists receive direct funding from their fans, while fans get a guarantee they’re listening to the real thing.
The NFT model is an intriguing solution to AI, but the recording inudstry isn’t ready for this transition yet. This week, “heart on my sleeve” was taken down from TikTok, Spotify, and Twitter based on a “copyright complaint.”
You can still find the song, but you have to look hard. For now, AI Drake is the new digital underground.
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Starship 4/20
Monday morning, Starship prepared for its first orbital launch.
Around 9:30 EST, SpaceX said a frozen pressurant valve had scuttled the attempt, which was treated as a “wet dress rehearsal.”
Now, SpaceX is targeting April 20th for its next attempt.
When it does launch, Starship will be the largest object ever sent into orbit. Wouldn’t it be fittining if it happens on 4/20.
69% Govt-funded Media
Monday night, Tucker Carlson aired a highly anticipated interview with Elon.
The majority of the interview was devoted to Artificial Intelligence, but discussion ranged Twitter and politics. Here were three big moments from part 1:
Elon is working on AI project called TruthGPT, a “maximum truth-seeking AI”, to compete with OpenAI
Government agencies had “full access” to everything going on at Twitter, including DMs
Elon gave media organizations advice on how to use Twitter
After the interview, Elon hinted at a lawsuit against OpenAI, which transitions from a non-profit to for-profit organization after he left the board.
The relationship between Elon, Twitter, and the media continues to be one of the biggest stories of the year.
Twitter is the superior news product, but legacy outlets have developed loyal audiences over the years. Intentional or not, Elon’s recent interviews can be understood as recruiting pitches to get more folks on the bird app.
Meanwhile, Twitter continued to label news organizations which receive government funding, drawing the ire of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation and PM Justin Trudeau.
After the CBC complained, Elon suggested a more granular label than just “government-funded.”
Then, in a memorable act of charity, he rounded down.
This is the best timeline.
Elon Memes
Dogey Treats: News Bites
SpaceX/Tesla
SpaceX announced a new production facility for Starlink in Bastrop, Texas.
Cathy Wood said Cybertruck could “destroy the pricing structure of light duty trucks, the lifeblood of most traditional auto companies in the US.”
Construction began on the largest-ever Megapack storage facility in Arizona. Tesla created a new energy company in Shanghai.
Artificial Intelligence
AutoGPT took the Internet by storm last week as the next stage in AI chatbots, which allows allowing AI to carry out complex tasks by having one bot delegate subtasks to other bots. David Sacks gave the example of using AutoGPT to plan a trip.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged he does not fully understand how his company’s AI works.
Global Financial System
After visiting China, Brazilian president Lula da Silva called for an end to the dollar’s dominance in international trade. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said sanctions by the US government could hurt the dollar. Trump said China pushing the world off the US dollar was the equivalent to losing a world war. The White House said there’s evidence China wants to weaken the dollar.
The Fed predicted a mild recession starting later in 2023.
Germany shut down its last three nuclear plants.
At an IMF conference, an organization called the Digital Currency Monetary Authority proposed a global CBDC called Unicoin.
US Politics
Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson introduced legislation to fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Financial Services Committee chair Patrick McHenry threatened Gensler with a subpoena for withholding documents from Congress. Gensler was grilled by several congressman on Tuesday, and a clip of him refusing to comment on Ethereum’s status as a security went viral.
The majority of Democrats polled by Rasmussen support RFK Jr’s presidential campaign, and over 60% want challengers for Biden. Joe Biden and Ron DeSantis both announced 2024 Presidential campaigns.
Peter St. Onge gave an update on impending debt ceiling battle.
Crypto
Binance CEO CZ said the US’s regulatory crackdown on crypto will boost adoption. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the company would consider leaving the US if regulatory issues persist.
The UAE will soon begin accepting applications for crypto licenses.
Trump released his second NFT collection in his first Instagram post since being suspended.
Health
Del Bigtree reflected on his viral interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson.
RFK Jr did a long-form interview with Aubrey Marcus.
The cost of autism in the US is set to outpace military spending.
Former DNI John Ratcliffe testified to Congress that Covid was most likely created in a lab, but Fauci called the lab leak a “conspiracy theory” because he funded the lab.
A study found 4.2% of Pfizer Covid vaccines were responsible for 71% of suspected adverse reactions.
Why do anti-malarial drugs seem to work against Covid?
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf blamed misinformation for lowering US life expectancy.
Evidence circulated on Twitter that primary care providers in Kentucky received financial bonuses for promoting the Covid vaccine.
Russia-Ukraine
Leaked documents circulating on social media implied that the US government has been lying to the public about the war in Ukraine. The purported leaker, a 21 year-old National Guardman named Jack Texiera, was arrested by the FBI, with help from the New York Times. The official narrative about the leak was viewed with skepticism online.
In response to the news that the US government appears to be conducting war in Ukraine, Elon wrote, “The American public certainly needs to understand and our elected representatives must consent to our involvement.”
Independent journalist Sy Hersh reported Ukrainian President Zelensky and his top generals have been embezzling US military aid.
Brazil’s President said the EU and NATO want war, while BRICS nations want a peaceful solution.
Misc
Julian Assange’s father said his son’s arrest was being used to send a message to journalists who might publish stories about government corruption. Nearly 100 members of Brazilian Congress signed a letter to the Biden Administration urging it to drop its case against Assange.
Elon tweeted, “Any parent or doctor who sterilizes a child before they are a consenting adult should go to prison for life.”
GOP megadonor and meme stock villain Ken Griffin donated $300M to Harvard.
Could Trump ask RFK Jr to be his running mate for the 2024 election?
An AI-generated version of Ye covering Lana Del Ray’s “Sumertime Sadness” got attention.
30% of San Francisco office space is vacant.
Twitter will remove remaining legacy blue check-marks on Thursday, April 20th.
Twitter Files journalist Michael Shellenberger called on whisteblowers from the Censorship Industrial Complex to come forward.
Memes of the Week
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