Blog

I write about technology, media, marketing and data science. Subscribe to my newsletter to make sure you don't miss anything.
ElevenLabs has launched the Iconic Voice Marketplace, a licensing platform that lets brands legally use AI-generated replicas of famous voices in content and ads. It’s a consent-based system designed to bring order to synthetic speech. The company calls it a “performer-first” model where every licensed voice is cleared, compensated, and auditable. Continue Reading →

Wikipedia Wants AI to Pay Up

Wikipedia just told the AI industry to stop scraping and start subscribing. In a blog post Monday, the Wikimedia Foundation urged AI developers to access its content through Wikimedia Enterprise, a paid API that supports the site’s nonprofit mission. The message was polite but clear: attribution matters, and free-riding doesn’t. Continue Reading →
Agentic Commerce
Three companies have declared war on how you use the internet. Perplexity AI launched Comet, its AI-powered browser, in July 2025. OpenAI released Atlas on October 21, promising a future where AI handles your web tasks autonomously. Google then responded by expanding agentic capabilities in Chrome through “AI Mode” in early November. We can call these new hybrid interfaces, “agentic browsers.” They can shop, book appointments, and navigate websites on your behalf. Continue Reading →

OpenAI’s $20 Billion Bet

Sam Altman announced Thursday that OpenAI expects to top $20 billion in annualized revenue this year, with plans to reach hundreds of billions by 2030. The company has committed to $1.4 trillion in infrastructure spending over the next eight years. That's a staggering sum, and it immediately raised the obvious question: how exactly are they planning to pay for all this? Continue Reading →
Apple has finally admitted what the rest of us have known for years: Siri is terrible. According to reports from MacRumors and Bloomberg, Apple has struck a deal with Google to integrate the Gemini AI model directly into Siri and future iOS releases. After more than a decade of living in last place among voice assistants, Siri is about to borrow someone else’s brain. Continue Reading →
Amazon has formally asked Perplexity to remove its “Comet” shopping agent from Amazon’s platform. The company released a statement on November 4, citing repeated requests that Perplexity stop allowing users to make purchases through Amazon. A cease-and-desist letter sent on October 31 argues that Comet’s behavior violates Amazon’s terms of service and creates a “significantly degraded shopping and customer service experience.” Continue Reading →
Studio Ghibli, Bandai Namco, Square Enix, and other Japanese rights holders have asked OpenAI to stop using their content to train Sora 2. The request came via CODA, Japan’s Content Overseas Distribution Association, which issued a public letter on October 27 arguing that replication during machine learning may constitute copyright infringement under Japanese law. Continue Reading →
Identity Threat
Last week, I was facilitating an AI workshop for a group of senior executives at one of our F500 clients. As we explored ways to integrate generative AI into their workflows, the atmosphere was both energized and strangely hesitant. It wasn't explicit, no one raised their hand and confessed to being terrified of AI, but I could feel an underlying tension. I've encountered it before, a subtle yet palpable fear academic researchers call "Identity Threat." Continue Reading →

Get Briefed Every Day!

Subscribe to my daily newsletter featuring current events and the top stories in AI, technology, media, and marketing.

Subscribe