Gina Rinehart wants a portrait of her to be removed from a public gallery. She considers it unflattering. Ironically, though, her efforts have brought global attention: not only was Stephen Colbert amused, but it now looks as if the portrait may be displayed over New York’s Times Square. The whole tussle has led to a range of interesting commentary, including from Jacqueline Maley in the SMH, who boiled it down to an issue of power: the power of the dollar versus the power of the paintbrush.
Today’s newsletter is about power. Derek analyses X’s win in the Federal Court, where the eSafety Commissioner failed to have an injunction extended that would have compelled the platform to remove all videos of the Wakeley stabbing. The matter probes just how much power the regulator should have to ban content. In other words, it’s a classic free speech fracas.
Sometimes, power resides in obvious places. Last week, whistleblower David McBride was sentenced to more than five years in jail for sharing military documents with the ABC; this week, jailed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was given a final chance to appeal against his extradition to the US. As Peter Greste wrote in response to McBride’s jailing, ‘Governments and their agencies wield awesome power.’ Greste knows this too well, having been imprisoned in Egypt for his work as a journalist. Of course, journalists and whistleblowers wield power too. The question is, how should all this power be balanced to best serve the public interest?
Sometimes, however, power is more diffuse, residing in less obvious places. This includes the recommender algorithms that determine so much of what we see online. In Europe, new laws give people the right to adjust the algorithms that serve up content on their social media feeds. Now an academic in the US has sued Meta to force the platform to allow him to adjust his Facebook Feed. I write about this curious case.
Meanwhile, Michael writes about the power dynamics behind the flurry of news about AI, including: the laws currently being proposed in California; this week’s announcement of a mega-deal between News Corp and OpenAI; and Google’s announcement that it will begin mixing ads into its new AI-generated search answers.
And Shaun Davies – who with Michael will be on a panel at humAIn next week - turns his attention to Scarlett Johansson and AI. Where Gina Rinehart wanted a visual likeness removed, Johansson wanted a vocal likeness removed. So far, Johansson has had considerably more success than Rinehart – not that this success has in any way slowed the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut that is AI.
Sacha Molitorisz, Senior Lecturer - UTS Law