ChatGPT me up

Large language models can be more than twice as persuasive as actual people in winning online debates when they have access to personalised information about their opponents, according to a new study.

Mad at the media

Peter Dutton’s absurd slander of the ABC and the Guardian as ‘hate media’ apes Donald Trump in a disturbing way and rings alarm bells for Australian democracy.

RIP Internet?

The “dead internet” theory argues that AI and bot-generated content has come to dominate content generation and advertising impressions, leaving real people superfluous to its zombie-like functioning.

Rollerball

The late, great, Norman Jewison’s 70s science fiction film ‘Rollerball’ depicted a United States in which a handful of massive, unaccountable corporations controlled all information – is this dystopian vision becoming reality?

AI in the news

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society has called for increased investment in research, evaluation tools and infrastructure to address emerging challenges of generative AI and automated decision-making in the news and media industries.

Taking the good news with the bad

Doomscrolling endless bad news on your phone can poison your mood and your faith in humanity, but interspersing a few happier stories can restore your spirits as well.

Yours in the Pacific

The Australian government is moving fast to reset relations with Australia’s Pacific partners, including a larger Pacific role for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Is News Corp bad for democracy?

A strong regulatory code to ensure that news media cover a wide range of political perspectives, assess them independently, and promote informed public debate would usefully complement restrictions on any one company being allowed to dominate the market.

Reporting on China, not from China

For the first time since 1973, the Australian media has no foreign correspondents in China—a consequence of the Chinese government’s decision to drown out all critical voices, both foreign or domestic.

A lifeline for Australian media?

Cash strapped Australian media companies have been thrown a lifeline through a new draft code which allows them to bargain – individually or collectively – with Google and Facebook to be paid for the content they provide.

Another blow to media diversity

AAP has been a bastion of regional coverage, and a vital infusion into increasingly stretched newsrooms. This voice will disappear in June, further diminishing media diversity in Australia, as less original factual news will be produced.

A win for free speech?

New proposals for media reforms will make it harder for people to successfully sue a news organisation for defamation.