Welcome to The Upgrade

Welcome to my weekly newsletter, which focuses on the intersection of AI, media, and storytelling. A special welcome to my new readers from US Bank, UCLA, Teach Better, and many other top organizations — you’re in good company!

In today’s issue:

• The Week’s Top AI Stories 📰

• 🎓New Course: AI Upgrade for Creatives⚡️

• 🎧Podcast: Kris Krüg on Wrapping our Heads Around AI

• 🎙️The Big Interview: Media Literacy Now Founder & CEO, Erin McNeill on AI Literacy in Schools

The Week’s Top AI Stories

Top AI Headlines

• Amazon pours an additional $2.75 billion into AI startup Anthropic — The AP

• OpenAI Unveils A.I. Technology That Recreates Human Voices — The New York Times

• Google's AI Search Caught Pushing Users to Download Malware — Futurism

• Is AI’s next big leap understanding emotion? $50M for Hume says yes — VentureBeat

• Garbage AI posts like Shrimp Jesus are destroying Facebook — Business Insider

• Claude 3 overtakes GPT-4 in the duel of the AI bots. Here's how to get in on the action — ZDNET

Regulation & Policy

• Copyright Office to reveal proposed changes to copyright law over AI — Business Insider

• The little-known AI group that got $660 million — POLITICO

• If California government wants to use AI, it will have to follow these new rules — CalMatters

Ethics & Safety

• AI-powered fraudsters are overwhelming bank defenses, Treasury report says — MarketWatch

• The Deodorant AI Spokesmodel Is a Real Person, Sort Of — New York Magazine

  

  She’s “real”

• Thousands of servers hacked in ongoing attack targeting Ray AI framework — Ars Technica

• How The Generative AI Backlash Took Over The Internet — Forbes

Legal & Copyright

• Tackling deepfakes 'has turned into an arms race' — BBC

• Many Americans think generative AI programs should credit the sources they rely on — The Pew Research Center

• Bloomberg asks US court to toss copyright lawsuit over AI training — Reuters

AI in the Workplace

• AI could eliminate nearly 8 million jobs in UK, study shows — ABC News

• ‘My anxiety loves you right now’: Man gets AI clone to do job interview for him — The Daily Dot

• AI forecaster can predict the future better than humans — NewScientist

🎓New Course in May for Creatives! 💻

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m partnering with Kris Krüg, founder of Future Proof Creatives to offer a special 6-week AI course for creatives of all types! ⚡️Kris and I met through the Google News Initiative’s Pre-Launch Accelerator and have been guest lecturers in each other’s AI courses for months. Kris is a former tech marketing director, a professional photographer, and an AI consultant and explorer!

The class starts on Wednesday, May 8th, at 7 pm ET / 4 pm PT. Learn more here!✨The course fee is $1,499 — discounts are available for freelancers, NGOs, and educators. Book a time to chat here!

🎙️Listen now to my interview with co-instructor Kris Krüg!👇

💡The Big Interview: Media Literacy Now Founder & CEO Erin McNeill

Erin McNeill is the founder & CEO of Media Literacy Now. She's a former political journalist, trailblazing education policy change agent, social entrepreneur, and nationally recognized thought leader.

Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity

Peter: Could you share your journey to founding Media Literacy Now?

Erin: Absolutely. Over a decade ago, my interest in media literacy sparked from observing my own children's interactions with various media forms—cartoons, video games, toy packaging—they were inundated with messages from all angles. This led me to explore media literacy as a means to empower them to critically evaluate these messages, understanding their origins and intentions. My exploration turned into advocacy as I wrote about the impact of media and marketing on children.

Recognizing the need for a structured approach to incorporate media literacy into education, I saw a gap in policy support for such initiatives. Drawing on my background as a reporter with experience covering legislative processes, I founded Media Literacy Now in 2013. Our initial efforts began with introducing legislation in Massachusetts, aiming to integrate media literacy into K-12 education through policy, providing resources for teachers and creating more accessible pathways for its adoption in schools.

However, it became clear that state-by-state advocacy would be a prolonged battle. To expedite this process, Media Literacy Now shifted focus towards fostering a national network of advocates. We offer tools, mentoring, and research on existing legislation to support individuals in various states in their advocacy efforts. This strategy has proven effective in broadening the reach and impact of media literacy education across the country.

Peter: That's so interesting! I didn't realize that your background was in reporting as well. Tell me about that chapter of your life and how that informs your current work in policy and education regarding media literacy for youth.

Erin McNeill: Well, throughout my journalism career, I was always very interested in various policies - whether it was housing, environmental, or energy policy. I covered environmental policy for Congressional Quarterly in Washington for some time and previously had done some reporting on those subjects.

I also covered economic policy. So I got to know the legislative process - covering it more locally, understanding the process of how things change. Then, at the national level, how policy gets made is not very straightforward. It's not like that old Schoolhouse Rock animation about "I'm just a bill on Capitol Hill." A lot of people know that cutesy song. That's vaguely how it works, but a lot more goes on. You start to realize there are a lot of ways this could go. You think you have it over the finish line, and then something unexpected happens and changes everything.

Since I had that experience, a lot of people are a little bit afraid or nervous about talking to their state legislators. I thought that was also someplace where I could help because, as I tell our advocates, these people are elected by you and work for you. So, if you have ideas about what they should be doing, feel free to let them know.

Peter: Tell me about the work broadly of Media Literacy Now and the different initiatives that you have ongoing.

Erin: As I said, we started by introducing bills at the state level. We shared different approaches with different states because each state has its own way of doing things. Education policy is made at the state level, so there have been many different approaches.

At one point, we had a model bill, which was introduced and passed in Washington State first. That was the first one we did back in 2015. It became a model. So we would provide that model plus other ideas, depending on the sponsor's interests. It's been a state-by-state effort, and some states have passed one thing and then followed up with something else. Sometimes, it's just taking it step by step.

As time has gone by, we're moving into an implementation phase where we're seeking how to make sure these things are getting carried out and how we can help. A group formed in Illinois after a bill was passed there to help the Department of Education implement it. They created some frameworks and crosswalks so teachers can see how media literacy connects to the standards they're teaching.

Since then, we at Media Literacy Now have come to realize there's also a way into the classroom through individual subject areas. So we're starting to try to build coalitions around subjects like health, digital wellness, and science. We'd also like to start working more with librarians and libraries as another way into the classrooms.

Peter: With the advent of generative AI, how do you see the landscape of media literacy evolving, especially in terms of legislation and education?

Erin: Fundamentally, the rise of generative AI doesn't alter the core mission of media literacy. Technology is in a constant state of flux, and it's impractical to tailor our approach to each emerging technology. Instead, our focus is on equipping students with enduring skills that prompt critical questioning: the origin of a message, its creators, and the algorithms that dictate its visibility. This approach to media literacy was perhaps less emphasized a decade ago, but with AI's rapid advancement, it's becoming increasingly critical.

The essence of media literacy, especially in a K-12 educational framework, is to prepare students to navigate the complexities of any media landscape, including AI. It's about fostering an investigative mindset, encouraging students to seek out and verify trustworthy sources. In the context of AI, where the authenticity of media can be particularly challenging to ascertain, these skills are invaluable. It's not about constantly adjusting to new technologies but rather applying foundational media literacy skills to understand and critically evaluate the media's source and reliability.

Peter: Do you think there's any need for more urgent or separate frameworks regarding things like deepfakes in this fast-moving media environment? For example, earlier this year, I saw some headlines about a middle school in Beverly Hills where students were making non-consensual graphic deepfake nudes of classmates. This is a pretty weird time to be growing up when it comes to technology when suddenly anyone can create fake imagery, audio, or video.

Erin: Well, it's alarming, to say the least. I think of these stories about deepfake porn in the schools starting to show up. To me, it's the worst-case scenario. It's what we were concerned about when kids get ahold of tools that are so powerful that they are generally not ready for.

We've been talking about this analogy with driving. You wouldn't give your kids the key to the car until they've learned about the rules and have had some time to practice with guidance. If they can't reach the brake pedal, they shouldn't be driving. This is almost a much more dangerous situation when you're handing smartphones to young kids.

I think there have been life-changing events and fatal events. There are a lot of huge risks that are possibly greater than handing them the keys to the car in some cases. The deepfake porn, to me, it's kind of a digital citizenship issue. We need to be talking to kids about the responsible ways to use these tools.

Peter: Do you have any tips for parents? Do you engage with parents in your work or is it mainly focused on educators in public schools?

Erin: Parents have a very tough job right now. If they're paying attention, they realize just how hard it is. The tech companies, the platforms, the marketers—they're all trying to get around parents, and they have billions of dollars to do that.

I know that sometimes they're very involved and paying attention, trying to ensure their kids have the necessary skills. But it's almost like one parent can't know everything. And obviously, not all parents will know everything. Somebody is going to fall through the cracks. Kids are very ingenious; they want to explore, discover, and try things.

You just can't prepare them for everything on your own, which is why we'd like to see the schools covering this for every child, K-12. Some kids don't have parents at all, or they have parents who work three jobs. We can't just say parents need to be the ones in charge when parents are overwhelmed. It's like trying to hold back a tidal wave.

As far as tips for parents, we don't offer tips for parents. There's so many others doing that. But I would say, find out what is happening in your schools. Try to partner with the schools and say we need to work together, because what happens outside of school is affecting what's going on inside school today more than ever.

Don’t be shy—hit reply if you have thoughts or feedback. I’d love to connect with you!

Until next week,

Peter

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