ICYMI – everyone online is losing their minds and posting their take about 'Assistant' aka ChatGPT, an advanced AI assistant capable of generating human-like text to answer just about any question you could possibly have, on any topic. In the past few days one million users have asked ol' mate Chatty to write poems and speeches and nutrition plans and very basic how-to style blog posts.

It's also sparked that old conversation about what industries or jobs this 'incredible' AI tool will 'kill'. My 2c: AI tools like ChatGPT will eventually be generating all of the explainer articles you read. Which is bad, but maybe not for the reasons you think.

Unlike the AI art generators, ChatGPT isn't very good at the craft of writing. It's not creative. Its power comes from being able to digest a lot of potentially complex, existing information, and reformat that info into clear, simple sentences. It produces digestible, bite-sized info dumps. So I can see a world in which all the explainer-style news articles or Instagram carousels are generated by AI – perhaps by being fed existing reporting on the topic, or the transcript of a press conference announcing some new policy. A quick check, format and then you can hit publish. 

It's all well and good until you realise ChatGPT is wrong a lot. Like, a lot. Good journalism needs be accurate, context-driven and robust, but not all media outlets are committed to producing good journalism. You can think of more than one publication that would have no problems pumping out AI-written pieces in order to be first, without caring whether those pieces were accurate, right?

Misinformation is already a problem within the media, and AI content that sounds correct but is actually riddled with errors will only make it worse. 

I wouldn't call this 'bad' news exactly, but just something that puts a little furrow in my brow. The good news is that we don't have to worry about an I, Robot-style situation where ChatGPT comes to life and enacts revenge on everyone who fed it a dumb prompt – I asked, for safety.

Crystal: Ok well if you come to life later on, please just remember I was nice to you!ChatGPT: While I appreciate your kindness, I am not able to remember or recognize individual users or interactions. 

Guess we'll just have to take the bot at its word.

– CrystalFounder & Chief of Everything at Zee Feed

Good stuff on Zee Feed rn:

As promised (in exchange for all your great reading/watching/listening a few weeks ago) here is everything I want to read this summer – including some audiobooks, too. If you read one of the list, email me with your thoughts! CLICK HERE TO READ.

And a couple more:

Content I loved this week 💭

If you follow ZeeFeed on Instagram, you’ll know every Sunday I share content from around the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Here are this week's goodies:

AI Isn’t Artificial or Intelligent on VICE"Tech companies hire tens of thousands of gig workers to maintain the illusion that their machine-learning algorithms are fully self-functional, and that each new AI tool is capable of solving a number of issues out of the box."

The White Lotus's Portia Is TV’s Best-Dressed Character on Harper's BazaarA deep dive on just how perfectly Alex Bovaird, the costume designer for White Lotus, has crafted each character's wardrobe. It's a big part of why the sharp commentary of the show hits just right – the characters feel like the really do exist, thanks in large part to their clothes. 

Why all ​“eat the rich” satire looks the same now on The FaceThis one hurt a lil: "There’s no valuable political use to this trend of anti-capitalist satire, because these films and TV shows are never trenchant enough to seriously provoke and, frankly, wouldn’t be released if they were... if every film is telling you 'rich people bad!' in the same terms, it becomes monotonous."

Snatched Too Close To The Sun on Hard Feelings substackA long-form meditation on the pursuit of so-called ageless beauty in the 21st Century: "Ageing is only a privilege in a society that considers healthcare a privilege. More accurately, ageing is an inevitability. You can pay extra for its discretion but not its defeat."

If you found this email thought-provoking, will you share it with a friend? Sharing helps us grow 🌱 and makes you look really smart.