It’s also hard to know what recourse exists if any of my fun Dragon facts ends up in AI Overviews. Rogers’ work on Claude was far more involved, and even he got mixed reports when he asked lawyers if there’s a copyright infringement case to be brought. What’s above is just a few typed out nouns and numbers, not poetry. Still I, a human, went to a place and reported them, something a bot couldn’t do. Or, I guess, couldn’t do without access to Bloys’ prepared remarks.
The Monitor is a weekly column devoted to everything happening in the WIRED world of culture, from movies to memes, TV to TikTok.
Perhaps this is all on my mind because earlier this week WIRED interviewed Jingna Zhang, the photographer who founded Cara, a social media app that artists have been flocking to because it promises protection from AI. (The app partnered with Glaze, a tool out of the University of Chicago that thwarts scraping without creator consent.) During the conversation, Zhang told WIRED that she was almost unsure of where to take Cara down the line, specifically because it’s almost impossible to know what AI protections artists will even need in five years. “I’m sorry that sounds like a non-answer,” Zhang said, “but I just think you have to adapt as best you can and build what makes the most sense in the moment.”
This is the crux. Nothing really makes sense in this moment. As much as AI promises a future where the world is a simple text prompt away, the raw materials needed to build that world come from people. People like “fucksmith” who probably had no idea their pizza glue comment would end up where it did. Information wants to be free, but that doesn’t mean its hunter-gatherers are thrilled about having their stockpiles picked over—especially when there’s seemingly no way to protect them.
Loose Threads
Chappell Roan’s pride is showin’. Last weekend, queer pop icon Chappell Roan played the Gov Ball in New York City. During her set, which she performed while dressed as the Statue of Liberty, she revealed that she turned down an invitation to play at the White House for Pride. “We want liberty, justice, and freedom for all,” she said. “When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.” The comments, and the outfit, went viral as old stans and new fans bounced the video around Instagram and TikTok.
Call me lately. In other internetty news at Gov Ball: Carly Rae Jepsen performed “Call Me Maybe” to a group of people who probably were barely alive when that song went viral on YouTube. A couple fans even managed to give her swords, just as Tumblr intended.
Rating the Walmart Pride collection. If you’ve been missing TikTok creator Connor Clary’s reviews of major retailer Pride collections, they’re back. You’re welcome.
Just a lizard eating a fancy dinner. Here you go.
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