Is generative AI a boon or anathema to human creativity?

That seems to be on the minds of many business leaders as the technology seeps into writing and visual tools that offices tap every day.

Ad Age reported earlier this year that brands are increasingly restricting how their ad agencies use AI, and Dove made headlines for vowing not to use AI to represent women in marketing communications. A study earlier this month found that AI could boost individual writing creativity, but led to less originality overall.

But companies are largely still finding AI plenty useful to juice creativity. At least according to a new report from Canva and Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, which surveyed 500+ business leaders, 42% of whom said “GenAI can enhance creativity at their organization to a great extent.”

Some of this power comes not from the creativity of the AI itself but its time-saving potential. More than six in 10 respondents said automating repetitive tasks with AI lets employees focus on “more creative endeavors.”

Keep reading here.—PK

We’re a year and half into the generative AI era, and new developments are dropping daily. To see how companies are building strong foundations for an AI-powered future, Snowflake looked at how 9k+ customers are putting AI to work in the Data Trends Report 2024. Read it here.

In a sweeping action earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission lowered the cost of jail and prison communications across the country, for the first time capping prices on video calls alongside phone calls.

The move marks a watershed moment for advocates and the families of incarcerated people, who have long lobbied for reining in the rates charged by the small number of communications companies that effectively hold monopolies at correctional and detention centers.

“It is no secret that the market for communication services for incarcerated people has long been plagued by predatory fees and practices,” FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said in prepared remarks. “Today’s actions put an end to these abuses.”

The commission outlined the new rates in a July 18 press release, explaining that “call rates will be $0.06 per minute for prisons and large jails, $0.07 for medium jails, $0.09 for small jails, and $0.12 for very small jails, and as low as $0.11/minute for video calls—with a requirement that per-minute rates be offered.”

Such a comprehensive rule change was a long time coming.

Keep reading here.—KG

A low-bandwidth version of TikTok that’s primarily available to Android users outside the US and Europe might help save battery life, but it also lacks basic user protections, according to research from Mozilla and AI Forensics.

The internet nonprofit and algorithm watchdog found that TikTok Lite—a “mini version of the flagship app” meant to require less robust connectivity—doesn’t include features like content filtering, warning labels, and screen-time controls that can help curb misinformation and tech addiction.

TikTok Lite accounts for almost half the platform’s global user base, but gives users less control over what they see and no warnings about content that might be harmful, dangerous, or offensive, the groups said.

“TikTok’s ‘bite-size’ Lite app is a safety hazard for more than 1 billion of its users. It’s the equivalent of removing seat belts and airbags from a car and then selling it to an unsuspecting customer,” Mozilla researcher Odanga Madung said in a statement. “In an effort to reduce the app’s required bandwidth, TikTok has also reduced crucial safety protections for users across the Global Majority.”

While TikTok became the first social media platform to implement technology to label content that’s generated or manipulated by AI, the report noted that Lite doesn’t include the capability.

According to AI Forensics co-founder Claudio Agosti, the safety and quality features that TikTok Lite eschews “aren’t complex and are perfectly compatible with a lower-bandwidth app.” He characterized their omission as “clearly a choice, not a technical necessity.”

Keep reading here.—KG

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Usually, we write about the business of tech. Here, we highlight the *tech* of tech.

Where were you when: Wow, things have really been happening lately! In the past month, we’ve had not one but *two* “Do you remember where you were when you heard the news?” events related to US presidential candidates. What a time to be alive.

Taylor Lorenz wrote a sharp newsletter about the fact that “we’re all learning about major events through increasingly bizarre digital formats.”

The Tech Brew team, newshounds all, more or less backs up her assertion. We are former newspaper reporters, lunatics who leave their push alerts on for breaking news. Most of us are still on Twitter X! We’re primed to get our breaking news in “traditional” ways (well, for the internet age). And yet, most of us heard about President Joe Biden’s decision to not seek re-election from third parties.

Editor Annie Saunders had just gotten in her car to head back home after visiting a friend in DC who happens to be a CNN reporter, but she first heard from her Supper Club group text. Senior Reporter Patrick Kulp was cleaning the kitchen when his partner informed him of the news, which she’d gleaned from a group chat of former coworkers. Reporter Jordyn Grzelewski also heard via a group chat.

The closest the mainstream media got to breaking the news in our decidedly unscientific sample of four was how Reporter Kelcee Griffis heard about Biden’s decision: She awoke from a nap to a wall of push alerts and group chat messages. 

The point? Not a single one of us heard when we opened up the app of a mainstream outlet.