After China drills, Taiwan president offers talks anew

May 26, 2024 | 5:43 pm

TAIPEI — Taiwan President Lai Ching-te again offered talks with China on Sunday following two days of Chinese war games near the island, saying he looked forward to enhancing mutual understanding and reconciliation.

China, which views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, carried out the military drills on Thursday and Friday, saying it was “punishment” after Mr. Lai’s inauguration speech on Monday which Beijing called another push for the island’s formal independence.

China has repeatedly lambasted Lai, saying he is a “separatist.” Mr. Lai rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future. He has repeatedly offered talks but been rebuffed.

Speaking at a meeting of his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the southern city of Tainan, Mr. Lai called on China to “share the heavy responsibility of regional stability with Taiwan,” according to comments provided by his party.

Mr. Lai, who won election in January, said he also “looked forward to enhancing mutual understanding and reconciliation with China via exchanges and cooperation, creating mutual benefit and moving towards a position of peace and common prosperity.”

He thanked the US and other countries for their expressions of concern about the Chinese exercises.

“The international community will not accept any country creating waves in the Taiwan Strait and affecting regional stability,” Mr. Lai added.

Taiwan’s government has condemned China’s war games.

Over the past four years, China has staged regular military activities around Taiwan as it seeks to pressure the island’s government. — Reuters

North Korea accuses US, S. Korea of flying spy planes and ships — group

May 26, 2024 | 5:43 pm

North Korea flag — MICHA BRANDLI-UNSPLASH

SEOUL — North Korea’s defense ministry accused the United States and South Korea of ramping up reconnaissance activities around the inter-Korean border, warning that it will act if its sovereignty and security is violated, state media KCNA said on Sunday.

North Korea’s vice defense minister Kim Gang Il said the US had flown at least 16 of its RC-135 and U-2S strategic reconnaissance planes and RQ-4B drone over the Korean peninsula between May 13 and 24.

He also accused South Korea’s navy and coast guard of stoking military tension by stepping up patrol activities and increasingly breaching the maritime border.

Kim also criticized propaganda leaflets sent in balloons from South Korea, calling it a “dangerous provocation.”

North Korean defectors and activists in South Korea regularly send balloons containing anti-Pyongyang leaflets, alongside food, medicine, money, mini radios and USB sticks loaded with South Korean news and dramas.

“Even now, the US and South Korean puppet air forces are continuously mobilizing various aircraft with little or no time gap throughout the day, carrying out aerial reconnaissance activities at a level comparable to wartime situations,” Mr. Kim said in a statement published by KCNA.

Those activities seriously infringe on North Korea’s national sovereignty and security, and will not be met with “offensive” countermeasures, he said.

“We will act immediately when the nation’s sovereignty and security interests are violated,” Mr. Kim added. — Reuters

Trump booed, heckled by crowd at Libertarian convention

May 26, 2024 | 5:42 pm

WASHINGTON – Presidential candidate Donald Trump was booed and heckled by many in a raucous audience at the Libertarian National Convention on Saturday night, a marked change from the adulation he receives at rallies from his fervently loyal supporters.

Libertarians, who believe in limited government and individual freedom, blame Mr. Trump, a Republican, for rushing through the creation of a COVID-19 vaccine when he was president and for not doing more to stop public health restrictions on the unvaccinated during the pandemic.

When Mr. Trump took to the stage in Washington, there were loud boos and jeers. A smaller section of the crowd, Mr. Trump supporters, cheered him.

Shortly before he appeared, one Libertarian Party member shouted: “Donald Trump should have taken a bullet!”

Mr. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the hostile reception.

Libertarians garnered only 1.2% of the national vote in 2020, or about 1.8 million votes, but November’s election could be decided by just tens of thousands of votes in a handful of battleground states, so Mr. Trump is seeking to peel away some libertarian support.

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who also spoke to the convention on Friday, was hoping to rally support.

Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle ruled Sunday that Mr. Trump was not qualified to be the party’s nominee for president, because he did not submit nominating papers.

“The reason I didn’t file paperwork for the Libertarian Nomination, which I would have absolutely gotten if I wanted it (as everyone could tell by the enthusiasm of the Crowd last night!), was the fact that, as the Republican Nominee, I am not allowed to have the Nomination of another Party,” Mr. Trump said on Truth Social.

The party selected Chase Oliver, Georgia Senate election candidate in 2022, as the presidential candidate, it said on Sunday in a post on X.

TRUMP SAYS NOW A LIBERTARIAN

Mr. Trump, who was president between 2017 and 2021, immediately highlighted in his speech Saturday his total 88 felony charges he faces in four federal and state prosecutions.

“If I wasn’t a libertarian I am now,” he said on Saturday. He denounced the administration of President Joe Biden, his challenger in the Nov. 5 election rematch, and Biden’s fellow Democrats as being part of a “rise in left-wing fascism”.

Mr. Trump was trying to appeal to libertarians, who have more in common with Republican policy positions than Democrats on issues including taxes and the size of government, in what is expected to be a closely fought election.

He added: “We should not be fighting each other.” He asked libertarians to work with him to defeat Biden, an appeal which was greeted by many boos, although the vast majority in the crowd were fiercely opposed to Biden and his administration.

Mr. Trump’s appearance at the libertarian gathering, unusual for a Republican White House candidate, also signaled how seriously he and his campaign take the threat of third-party candidate Mr. Kennedy, who has long opposed vaccines and mandates. Mr. Kennedy was quickly eliminated from the party’s presidential nomination on Sunday.

Mr. Trump has been ramping up attacks on Mr. Kennedy, who is running as an independent, recently calling him a “fake” anti-vaccination proponent.

Mr. Kennedy addressed the party on social media on Sunday, writing “While we may not agree on every downstream issue, our core values of peace, free speech, and civil liberties make us natural allies.”

Opinion polls suggest Mr. Kennedy will siphon votes away from both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden, but it is not yet clear which of the major-party candidates will be hurt more by Mr. Kennedy’s long-shot White House bid.

Libertarian Party organizers said Mr. Biden was also invited to speak to the convention but he declined to attend.

“The Libertarian Party can make a big difference. If we unite we will be unstoppable,” Mr. Trump said to a mix of applause and jeers.

Mr. Trump said he was a “libertarian without even trying to be one,” and that the Libertarian Party should endorse him, another line greeted by boos and jeers.

Undeterred, Mr. Trump poked fun at the crowd, saying if they did not back him, they would continue to garner just a tiny portion of voter support in national elections.

He pledged to put a libertarian in his cabinet if he wins the election, which was met by cries of “bullshit!”

Mr. Trump did get huge applause for one promise. A rallying cry for libertarians is the case of Ross Ulbricht, who is serving a life sentence for creating and operating the website Silk Road, which allowed users to secretly buy and sell drugs and other illegal products.

Libertarians believe Ulbricht’s 2015 sentence represents government and judicial overreach. In front of a crowd holding “Free Ross” signs, Mr. Trump promised to commute Ulbricht’s sentence if he wins back the White House. – Reuters

More than 4,000 likely impacted by massive landslide in Papua New Guinea

May 26, 2024 | 5:41 pm

SYDNEY — More than 4,000 people were likely impacted by a massive landslide that flattened a village in northern Papua New Guinea on Friday, humanitarian group CARE Australia said.

Hundreds are feared dead in the landslide in the Pacific nation north of Australia that levelled Kaokalam village in Enga Province, about 600 km (370 miles) northwest of capital Port Moresby, around 3 a.m. on Friday (1900 GMT on Thursday).

According to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), more than six villages have been impacted by the landslide in the province’s Mulitaka region, which local media said buried more than 300 people and over 1,100 houses.

CARE Australia said late on Saturday that nearly 4000 people lived in the impact zone, with the total number of those affected probably higher as the area was “a place of refuge for those displaced by conflicts” in nearby areas.

In February, at least 26 men were killed in Enga Province in an ambush amid tribal violence that prompted Prime Minister James Marape to give arrest powers to the country’s military.

CARE said Friday’s landslide has left debris up to 8 metres (26 feet) deep across 200 square km (77 square miles), cutting off road access, which was making relief efforts difficult.

Helicopters were the only way to reach the area, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp., which reported on Saturday that four bodies had been retrieved from rubble.

“More homes could be at risk if the landslide continues down the mountain,” a CARE spokesperson said in a statement.

Mr. Marape has said disaster officials, the Defence Force and the Department of Works and Highways were assisting with relief and recovery efforts.

Social media footage posted by villager Ninga Role showed people clambering over rocks, uprooted trees and mounds of dirt searching for survivors. Women could be heard weeping in the background. — Reuters

SB19, BINI, SunKissed Lola, Flow G & Puregold debut the ultimate OPM collaboration with the ‘Nasa Atin ang Panalo’ music video

May 25, 2024 | 7:22 pm

After weeks of building anticipation and dropping hints on their social media platforms, Puregold has finally unveiled the music video to the new song “Nasa Atin ang Panalo.”

Released this past May 25, the video is a must-watch for Pinoy pop fans. It serves as the ultimate collaboration of four of the country’s most sizzling musical acts: SB19, BINI, SunKissed Lola, and Flow G.

“These four artists are the powerhouse acts in Philippine music today. Collaborating with them is an excellent opportunity to reinforce Puregold’s brand message,” said Vincent Co, President of Puregold Price Club, Inc. “Puregold proudly celebrates their achievements and is dedicated to continuously uplifting Filipino talent. And as we look forward to our 500th store milestone, it’s a privilege to have these artists produce a song that authentically represents our core values.”

1 of 4

The music video shows all four acts together singing and dancing along in a stylized Puregold store. They flaunt their diverse talents: harmonizing, dancing to exciting choreography, playing instrumental solos, or, in the case of Flow G, writing and rapping their own verses.

Beyond just the monumental feat of having all four mega acts in a single music video for the same song, ‘Nasa Atin ang Panalo’ also celebrates the people of Puregold. Dancing alongside them and sharing the spotlight in the music video are the everyday shoppers and store staff that keep Puregold a running success from day to day. Puregold’s very own Aling Puring even makes an appearance to jam with the country’s biggest stars.

The song perfectly captures the ‘panalo’ spirit that has defined Puregold’s long history in the retail business. Beyond that, it also speaks to the ‘panalo’ stories of the artists involved in creating it. Each one has come into this project with their own stories of success.

SunKissed Lola’s relentless ascent in the industry affirms their commitment to turning dreams into reality. BINI’s growth and coming-of-age narrative serves as a reminder of the profound value of transformation and evolution over time. Flow G’s unwavering determination in the face of constant obstacles demonstrates his resilience and resolve to forge ahead. SB19’s journey, filled with triumphs and trials, is a powerful example of the ability to bounce back and confront each new day.

The collaborative song combines all of these elements in a single that can be enjoyed online now and soon on streaming platforms like Spotify.

Excitingly for Pinoy pop fans, there’s even more looming on the horizon. All four artists have already teased solo tracks that will soon drop with Puregold in the forthcoming weeks. Each new original song will dive further into the artists’ individual qualities that have allowed them to reach their “always panalo” dreams. Fans are encouraged to keep a close eye on Puregold’s social media accounts for further developments.

Stay tuned in! Subscribe now to Puregold Channel on YouTube, like @puregold.shopping on Facebook, follow @puregold_ph on Instagram and Twitter, and @puregoldph on TikTok for more updates.

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Philippine defense chief says Taiwan Strait situation an ‘internal matter’

May 24, 2024 | 3:06 pm

Teodoro-Gilbert-DNDspeech20230607-DND — DND

MANILA – The situation in the Taiwan Strait, where China has carried out military exercises, is an “internal matter,” Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on Friday, declining to comment on drills that Taiwan has condemned.

China’s military conducted a second day of war games around Taiwan on Friday, with drills to test its ability to “seize power” and control key areas. Beijing has said the exercises were launched to punish Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te.

“I will not comment on anything on the Taiwan Strait, as that’s an internal matter for them,” Mr. Teodoro told reporters on the sidelines of a Philippine Navy anniversary event.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and denounces Mr. Lai as a “separatist”. It strongly criticized his inauguration speech on Monday, in which he urged Beijing to cease threats and said the two sides of the strait were “not subordinate to each other”.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr drew China’s ire in January when he congratulated Lai after winning an election, referring to him as president.

China in response summoned the Philippine ambassador and warned the country “not to play with fire”, calling the message from Mr. Marcos gross interference and a serious violation of the “One China” principle.

Mr. Marcos later defended his remarks, stressing that his message was “common courtesy” and he did not endorse Taiwan independence. US ally Manila has said it wanted to recognize the Philippines and Taiwan’s “mutual interests”, including 200,000 Filipino workers on the island. — Reuters

Domestic trade value, volume climb in Q1

May 24, 2024 | 1:27 pm

The domestic trade in goods in the first quarter grew by 46.7% year on year to P389.42 billion, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Friday.

This was also faster than the 12.8% growth and larger than the P326.56 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023, preliminary data from the PSA showed.

By volume, domestic trade rose by 19.7% to 7.73 million tons in the first three months of the year from 6.45 million tons in the same period a year ago.

However, this was lower than the 8.41 million tons posted in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Commodity flow includes all goods transported by water and air with shipping accounting for the bulk of the commodities.

Cid L. Terosa, senior economist at the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), said in an e-mail that the growth in both value and volume can be attributed to the growth of the economy in the first quarter.

“Domestic trade was fueled by robust domestic consumption spending, which wasn’t constrained as much by inflation since the inflation rate fell within the 2-4% target during the first quarter. Both consumers and producers appeared to have adjusted to the high interest rate environment, inducing greater movement of goods and services across the country,” he added.

The Philippine economy expanded by 5.7% in the first quarter despite easing consumption and government spending.

Inflation averaged 3.3% for the first three months of the year, lower than the 8.3% average recorded in the same period last year and within the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) 2-4% target.

Among the traded commodities in the country, food and live animals posted the highest growth in value reaching P225.08 billion in the January-to-March period, 226.3% higher than a year ago.

This was followed by crude materials, inedible, except fuels and animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes growing by 62.2% and 18.3%, respectively.

Chemicals and related products posted the largest decline with 47.5%, a reversal from the 20.3% growth a year earlier, followed by miscellaneous manufactured articles and manufactured goods classified chiefly by material declining by 44.4% and 27.5%, respectively.

Western Visayas recorded the largest trade balance — difference between outflow value and inflow value — with a P193.68-billion surplus.

It also accounted for the most goods traded by value with an outflow of P223.33 billion, accounting for 57.4% of the total.

The National Capital Region posted the largest inflow value with P160.13 billion, accounting for 41.1% of the total.

Mr. Terosa expects growth to continue next quarter.

“Domestic trade will continue to grow in the second quarter, but at a slower rate due to increasing inflationary pressure. The BSP has indicated that inflation could breach the 2-4% target in the second quarter,” he said. — Karis Kasarinlan Paolo D. Mendoza

Philippines says China Coast Guard rules a provocation

May 24, 2024 | 12:34 pm

Chinese-ship-04132021-PHLCOASTGUARD-FILE-PHOTO — PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD FILE PHOTO

MANILA – Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on Friday that China’s rules about how its Coast Guard can operate in the South China Sea were a matter of international concern, describing them as a provocation.

China, which has maritime sovereignty disputes with the Philippines and other claimant countries in the South China Sea, has issued new rules that would enforce a 2021 law explicitly allowing its Coast Guard to fire on foreign vessels.

“Such behavior is not only a violation of UNCLOS, but also a violation of precepts the UN charter which lays upon each responsible state the duty to refrain from the use of force or aggression to enforce, particularly in this case, illegal territorial claims in the maritime domain,” Mr. Teodoro said in a speech at the Philippine Navy’s anniversary.

“That is a provocation insofar as I am concerned,” he added.

The Philippines and China have had several maritime run-ins in the South China Sea in the past few months that included the use of water cannon by Chinese coast guard vessels that damaged Manila’s boats and injured crew members.

Responding to concerns, the Chinese foreign ministry has said this week the new rules were meant to protect the maritime order, and that there was no need to worry if there was no illegal behavior by the individuals and bodies involved. –– Reuters

Luxury real estate prices soar in Manila

May 24, 2024 | 11:51 am

Housing-manila-BLOOMBERG — Prime property prices surged by 27% in Manila. — BLOOMBERG

Luxury home prices in select Asian cities are soaring, bucking a downward trend in more established markets including New York and London.

Prime property prices — defined as the top 5% of the market — fell more than 2% in New York and London in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago, according to real estate consultancy Knight Frank. Hong Kong, Frankfurt and Berlin also posted declines. But in Manila, Tokyo and Mumbai, luxury home prices surged, gaining 27%, 13% and 12%, respectively.

Higher borrowing costs and recession fears have hampered some high-end property markets in the US and Europe. But globally, prime real estate prices have bounced back this year amid strong economic growth and demand from wealthy investors, posting average annual growth of 4% in the 44 cities analyzed in the report.

Housing prices have soared in Manila, with the overall economy in the Philippines growing at the strongest rate in all of Southeast Asia. In Tokyo, a weaker yen and lower borrowing costs have boosted demand from foreign investors. And in Mumbai, luxury housing growth has been in line with India’s booming economy, which is expected to become the world’s top contributor to global GDP growth by 2028.

Knight Frank’s prime property posted zero growth at the end of 2022, as higher interest rates cooled demand. But now, 78% of markets are seeing annual price growth. With those recent gains, Knight Frank’s prime property index is inching closer to its long-term annual growth rate of 5.4%.

“Rather than heralding a return to boom conditions, the index indicates that upwards price pressures are stemming from relatively healthy demand, set against continued low supply volumes,” said Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s global head of research. — Bloomberg

Mexico’s ‘heat dome’ has already killed dozens of people as hotter days loom

May 24, 2024 | 10:46 am

MEXICO CITY – The extreme heat smothering much of Mexico has killed dozens of people across multiple states over recent weeks, the country’s health ministry said in a report published on Thursday, with hotter temperatures forecast for coming days.

Mexico has been reeling from a high-pressure weather phenomenon known as a “heat dome,” which has trapped hot air over much of the country, creating record-breaking temperatures that have surpassed 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in some places.

Heat-related causes killed 22 people between May 12 and 21, according to preliminary figures shared by Mexico’s health ministry.

The 10-day period overlapped with the second and third heat waves out of five forecast for March to July by the country’s top weather agencies. The third heat wave is ongoing.

The new deaths bring the toll from the extreme temperatures to 48 since the hot season began on March 17, mostly due to heat stroke and some to dehydration. At the same point in Mexico’s hot seasons of 2022 and 2023, the health ministry had reported just two and three heat-related deaths, respectively.

Health ministry data also shows hundreds more people have survived heat stroke, sunburn, dehydration and other heat-related conditions.

Sweltering heat has exacerbated a nationwide drought and strained Mexico’s power grid, with monkeys dropping dead from trees due to suspected dehydration.

Imminent relief is not yet on the horizon, according to researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Mexico could experience its hottest temperatures on record in the next 10-15 days, the researchers said on Wednesday. – Reuters

Trump, without evidence, claims migrants in US illegally ‘building army’ to attack Americans

May 24, 2024 | 10:45 am

NEW YORK – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claimed without evidence on Thursday that immigrants from Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere were “building an army” to attack Americans “from within,” once again using inflammatory rhetoric about migrants in the US illegally.

During a rally in the mainly Hispanic and Black neighborhood of New York City’s South Bronx, Mr. Trump sought to portray migrants from China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries as a violent threat, even as studies show immigrants are not more likely to engage in criminality.

“Almost everyone is a male and they look like fighting age. I think they’re building an army,” Mr. Trump said to a few thousand supporters who gathered to hear him in the South Bronx’s Crotona Park. “They want to get us from within.”

Throughout his campaign, Mr. Trump has repeatedly used incendiary language to accuse immigrants in the US illegally of fueling violent crime, calling them “animals” responsible for “poisoning the blood” of the country. As evidence, he points to individual instances of crimes, rather than aggregate data.

“We are not going to let these people come in and take our city away from us and take our country away,” Trump said, vowing to carry out “the largest criminal deportation operation in our country’s history” if re-elected to the White House.

Mr. Trump also sought to tie record levels of migrants caught crossing the US-Mexico border illegally with the economic plight of Black and Hispanic voters, arguing, without evidence, that migrants were taking their jobs.

Mr. Trump’s decision to speak in the Bronx was in part a matter of convenience. His campaign schedule has been crimped by his trial in New York on charges he falsified business records to hide a hush money payment to a porn star. In April, he made a campaign appearance at a convenience store in Harlem, New York.

Mr. Trump is locked in a tight race with Democratic President Joe Biden ahead of the Nov. 5 election. The Bronx rally was part of his effort to exploit Biden’s weakening support among Hispanic and Black voters.

Roughly 55% of Bronx County residents are Hispanic and about one-third are Black, and the crowd on Thursday was more racially mixed than his usual rallies, which are predominantly white.

Mr. Trump’s campaign had a permit for up to 3,500 people to attend the rally, the New York City Parks Department said.

‘HISTORIC’ RALLY IN THE BRONX

Recent polls suggest the Trump is gaining ground with Blacks and Hispanics, who were critical to Mr. Biden’s win in 2020. Trump strategists see a chance to grab enough of their votes to make the difference in swing states in November.

Mr. Biden has had a flurry of actions and events focused on bolstering support among African American voters. He has singled out Mr. Trump and other Republicans for attacking programs aimed at improving diversity, equity and inclusion, and on Thursday the president’s campaign released a pair of TV and radio ads criticizing Mr. Trump’s treatment of Black people.

Reuters interviewed nine Hispanic and Black rally attendees who said they will vote for Mr. Trump in 2024. Of the seven who were voting age in 2020, six voted for Mr. Trump. They cited the economy and immigration as their main reasons for supporting him.

“It’s historic that he’s here,” said Steven Suarez, 46, who is Puerto Rican, a reference to Mr. Trump being the first Republican presidential candidate to make a stop in the Bronx since Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. “He could have gone anywhere in New York City. He could have gone to Manhattan. He chose to come here.”

In a New York Times/Siena College poll in March, Mr. Trump was selected by 23% of Black and 46% of Hispanic respondents in a one-on-one matchup with Mr. Biden. That is far higher than the 12% of Black and 32% of Hispanic voters Trump won in 2020, according to Edison Research exit polls.

Political analysts have attributed weakening support for Mr. Biden among voters of color in part to the outsized impact of inflation on people living paycheck to paycheck.

Attending his first Mr. Trump rally on Thursday, Ed Rosa, 60, said he was a longtime Democratic voter but felt his vote for Biden in 2020 was a mistake. He said the Democratic Party had “become too socialist” and was not handling the economy or the southern border well. – Reuters

What OpenAI’s deal with News Corp means for journalism (and for you)

May 24, 2024 | 10:38 am

Disclaimer: This asset – including all text, audio and imagery – is provided by The Conversation. Reuters Connect has not verified or endorsed the material, which is being made available to professional media customers to facilitate the free flow of global news and information.

SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION

by T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University, and James Meese, Research Fellow, Technology, Communication and Policy Lab, RMIT University

OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, and News Corp, the international media conglomerate, have signed a deal that will let OpenAI use and learn from News Corp’s content.

In practical terms, this means when a user asks ChatGPT a question, the results might be informed by previous reporting in News Corp outlets, including Australian mastheads such as The Australian and The Daily Telegraph. It’s unclear whether the agreement includes only editorial or also opinion content.

OpenAI has licensed News Corp content because generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a ravenous beast: it needs data to learn from and generate useful outputs in return. Its ability to do this is impacted by the size and quality of its training data.

But could the media be signing its own death warrant by sharing its journalism? Or do we all benefit from the wider availability of reliable information?

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s major service, has learned from consuming books, articles and publicly available web content. This includes online news articles from across the internet.

However, there are unresolved questions over who owns the content. The New York Times, for example, is suing OpenAI over alleged copyright infringement. By inking deals with media companies, generative AI services like ChatGPT can ensure they stay clear of legal questions by paying to learn from their content.

The quality and provenance of the training data also matter and can lead to biases in what generative AI produces. So it is notable that while some news media organizations are trying to stop their content from being used, others, including Associated Press, are signing deals.

ChatGPT is a complex technical system. Just because some outlets opt in to licensing deals and others don’t won’t mean the technology will sound more like The Australian than The New York Times.

However, at a broader level, where ChatGPT gets its news content from may affect how it responds to questions about current events.

Working out what sort of news content gets included from each publication may also have an impact on how ChatGPT answers queries. Opinion articles are often more sensationalist than straight news, for example, and sometimes do not accurately reflect current issues.

It also remains to be seen how deals like these will affect the human labor of journalists and editors.

On one hand, since generative AI needs more and better content to provide better answers, journalists and content creators will be needed to ensure there is ongoing training data for AI to learn from.

On the other hand, it’s not clear how many journalists organizations like News Corp think are necessary to do that job as further cuts at the organization are expected next week.

At the same time, the ability for AI to “hallucinate,” or make things up, is well-known. The role of editors in fact-checking content, and critical thinking among those consuming content, is paramount.

In all this, small and medium-sized players in the media landscape seem once more to be pushed to the side, as the big players battle for lucrative content deals while smaller organizations fight for scraps or are left hungry.

These deals also raise questions about the role of ABC and SBS in a changing media environment. Australians pay for public service media through their taxes, but OpenAI is not rushing to do deals with these organizations.

However, companies like OpenAI are gradually accepting the principle that producing quality news costs money and that they need to secure licenses to use content. If they want to be consistent, there is strong case to be made that such companies should not just include public service media content in their models, but recompense these organizations in the process, much like Google and Meta organized deals with the ABC through the News Media Bargaining Code.

Where you get your news matters. More people may use AI services for news in the future, but right now it is an underwhelming source of reliable information. Signing content-sharing agreements with companies like News Corp may help improve the quality of answers and increase the relevance of ChatGPT outputs for Australian users.

News Corp also doesn’t have journalists in every community, so supporting independent media in your local area can help you get quality information and prevent news deserts from increasing.

At the end of the day, generative AI doesn’t always get it right (and often gets it wrong) so treat outputs with a healthy level of caution and compare results with those from reputable sources before using AI-generated content to make decisions.