We are deeply involved with online platforms and technologies
I spent two hours in the morning doing outdoor activities and experienced heat stroke. My thoughts were foggy, my whole body felt sluggish, and my legs were numb. I took a break and drank some water, but it didn’t seem to be enough amid this year’s heat. After two days of rest, the symptoms improved. My body recovered first, and it took me about three days before the fog lifted from my head. Everyone, please be careful.
Up until yesterday, I hadn’t been able to concentrate on reading the newspaper, but today’s paper had a lot of interesting features. Unusual for a nationwide newspaper, the front page was almost entirely filled with articles about global online platforms. The headline was, “Municipal government freezes multiple Twitter accounts without explanation, hinders disaster public relations.” In Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture, the official Twitter account was frozen on July 17th, although that freeze was lifted on the 21st. During that time, heavy rain continued, and a flood warning was issued, but alerts and tweets could not go out as a warning because the account was frozen. It appears that accounts in Soka City, Saitama Prefecture, Ito City, Shizuoka Prefecture, and Saiki City, Oita Prefecture were also frozen. The notification from Twitter was “violating the rules against abuse of the platform and spam,” but I’m not exactly sure what was targeted. Additionally, there is no response to the interview from the newspaper company.
I enjoy keeping up with and reading the news on Twitter. In fact, I learned about the series of freezes from an account of Iwanami Shoten’s monthly magazine “Sekai” before the news that the local government Twitter account was frozen. The reason for the freeze was the same, alluding to abuse of the platform and spam. It was then difficult to get a hold of the August issue of Sekai. I haven’t bought much recently, but I then saw it at a bookstore and bought it for the first time in a while. I thought that this was a new marketing technique to stimulate purchasing desire.
AI and technological innovation impact employment and industry
In the second article, President Biden said he believed artificial intelligence (AI) risk management “requires several new laws, regulations and oversight.” He continued by saying, “Americans are seeing with their own eyes how advanced AI and technological innovation can destroy jobs and industries…”
After reading a few lines, I assumed it was referring to the Actors Guild strike. Some of you may have heard the news that the Actors Guild went on strike after failing to reach an agreement with the Motion Picture and Television Producers Association. Actors are asking for studios for higher pay and the limitation of AI usage. Until now, it seems that the reuse of video content has been an income opportunity for actors as well. In other words, if there is a rebroadcast after the main broadcast for a drama, for example, income will be generated from the rebroadcast. As you can imagine, when online streaming becomes the center of acting opportunities, the salary and payment structure becomes difficult. Since the definition of the first broadcast and rebroadcast itself does not hold, compensation based on the number of viewers seems to be the subject of discussion. Due to the development of AI technology, there seems to be a problem with content creation. Once an actor’s appearance has been acquired as image data, the actor’s appearance can be used to make the actor act in any way possible with computer technology. So, what kind of payments will the actors get? In terms of time constraints, only a short amount of time is required to acquire the initial image data. For this reason, new rules are needed. It’s the first time in 63 years, since 1960, that actors and writers are on strike at the same time. In addition, there is no doubt that one of the reasons for this strike is the impact of prolonged inflation in the United States.
Awareness of benefits and risks of online platforms and technologies
A few things came to my mind when I read these newspaper articles. Of course, I myself leverage platform providers such as Google, Amazon, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, and Twitter both at work and privately. It would be difficult to get work done without using it, and there is no doubt that these platforms add color and convenience to our daily lives. In addition, SGH, the corporate entity to which Stratus belongs, provides products and services to these platforms, so they are also customers. Even in such a position, I wondered how much I would allow or rely on the a platform to provide or obtain information, and how to back up the platforms services in my work and life.
Here’s how it impacts your career
My second thought is that the impact of streaming and artificial intelligence (AI) technology on human work is beginning to surface in areas we never expected. Until now, in the discussion of generative AI, it was said that it would have a large impact on routine jobs and manual work. Contributions will begin in fields where improvements in business efficiency and productivity can be expected. There were also expectations that AI could be utilized to pass on skills amid the declining birthrate and aging population in Japan. When we introduced Edge Computing, there were many cases where such expectations were met. Edge Computing using AI technology meets the above standards and advances digitization. I never imagined that a job like acting would be affected by the latest technology.
“AI will affect everyone and every profession. If we don’t create systems and rules to prepare for the future, young actors and screenwriters will have a hard time in the future. It’s up to us…” says Susan Sarandon. After reading this quote I felt like I had woken up after a few days of foggy head.
