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PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
Spotify Ejects Thousands of AI-Made Songs in Purge of Fake Streams (Maria)
The author writes, “Spotify has removed tens of thousands of songs from artificial intelligence music start-up Boomy, ramping up policing of its platform amid complaints of fraud and clutter across streaming services. In recent months the music industry has been confronting the rise of AI-generated songs and, more broadly, the growing number of tracks inundating streaming platforms daily. Spotify, the largest audio streaming business, recently took down about 7 percent of the tracks that had been uploaded by Boomy, the equivalent of ‘tens of thousands’ of songs, according to a person familiar with the matter.”
Rare GOP Votes in Texas for Gun Bill After Mass Shootings (Reader Steve)
The authors write, “As a Republican in the Texas Capitol, Sam Harless turned heads: He voted in favor of a stricter gun law. In doing so, the Houston state representative helped advance a bill in the Texas House that would raise the purchase age for AR-style rifles like the kind used by an 18-year-old gunman in Uvalde last year. The vote came just days after eight people at an outdoor mall in Dallas were killed by a 33-year-old gunman, who President Biden said used an AR-15-style weapon.”
Social Media Is Now a Financial WMD (Roshni)
From Foreign Policy: “The collapse of the Swiss bank Credit Suisse in March had many underlying causes, but its trigger was a tweet. The bank’s failure was the clearest evidence yet that social media, in combination with digital banking, have become a major risk in the banking sector.”
Russian Mercenaries in Sudan: What Is the Wagner Group’s Role? (Mili)
The author writes, “After battles have broken out in Sudan between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), questions have arisen over the involvement of the Wagner Group, a powerful Russian mercenary organization that has been active in Sudan for years.”
VFW Posts Are Dying. They Need Hesitant 9/11 Vets to Fill the Void. (Al)
From Military.com: “[Veterans of Foreign Wars] posts, often decorated with military flags, dusty plaques honoring community service projects and faded photographs of past members and friends, are woven into the fabric of communities across the U.S. They stretch from the industrial blue-collar towns of the East Coast and rural American South to the ranching communities of the Western plains and agricultural Southwest, serving as safe spaces for veterans, especially those who returned from Vietnam to find a country unready and unwilling to grapple with the costs its young men had shouldered. The VFW had a record 2.1 million members in 1992. By last year, that number was just a shade over 1 million, meaning it has lost half its members in a generation.”
The Incredible Disappearing Doomsday (Laura)
From Harper’s Magazine: “The first signs that the mood was brightening among the corps of reporters called to cover one of the gravest threats humanity has ever faced appeared in the summer of 2021. ‘Climate change is not a pass/fail course,’ Sarah Kaplan wrote in the Washington Post on August 9. ‘There is no chance that the world will avoid the effects of warming — we’re already experiencing them — but neither is there any point at which we are doomed.’ … In the following months, a new mode of environmental reporting bloomed: the age of climate optimism was upon us.”
Dished Up by 3D printers, a New Kind of Fish to Fry (Sean)
The author writes, “Forget your hook, line and sinker. An Israeli food tech company says it has 3D printed the first ever ready-to-cook fish filet using animal cells cultivated and grown in a laboratory. Lab-grown beef and chicken have drawn attention as a way to sidestep the environmental toll of farming and tackle concerns over animal welfare, but few companies have forayed into seafood.”
