• FIR #263: It's Alive! (AI, That Is. Or Is It?)

In the monthly long-form episode for June, Neville and Shel consider a Google employee’s claim that the company’s AI has become sentient, the reactions the claim has provoked, and what it might mean for business communicators. Also in this episode:

• Is being in the office really the only way for employees who don’t normally work together to encounter one another?
• The tangled truth about NFTs and copyright
• Now that the metaverse is gaining momentum, it’s time to consider how to market and communicate there
• Should you spend any more time developing your personal brand?
• The state of PR is changing

In his tech report, Dan York talks about countries that want to change the Internet from a “permissionless” place to one where you have to pay for access to users.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, July 18. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice each week.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly or request the credentials in our Facebook group or send an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is available, as well.

Links from this episode:

• FIR on Spotify
• Google engineer put on leave after saying AI chatbot has become sentient
• The Google engineer who thinks the company’s AI has come to life
• The dangerous fallacy of sentient AI
• Blake Lemoine Says Google’s LaMDA AI Faces ‘Bigotry’
• Google has not created sentient AI — yet
• The old rules don’t apply (The Small Data Forum Podcast)
• ‘Sentient’ artificial intelligence: Have we reached peak AI hype?
• Why We Need More Than Offices to Foster Connection and Belonging at Work
• Staying Visible When Your Team Is in the Office…But You’re WFH
• The Personal Brand Is Dead
• Marketing in the metaverse: An opportunity for innovation and experimentation
• SALT food and beverage marketing consultancy launches in metaverse
• Communicating In The Metaverse? Keep Your Eyes Wide Open
• ‘Copyright Trolls’ Are Suing People Over Creative Commons Photos
• New Muck Rack survey: The State of PR 2022
• ‘First to be chopped from the budget’: PR professionals weigh in on changing communications landscape as clients seek viral fame
• New #StateOfPR research finds a growing industry stunted by skills shortage
• CIPR State of the Profession 2022 (Slideshare; paywalled site)

Links from Dan York’s Report

• EU Telcos Want Big Tech and Streamers to Invest in Their Networks
• “Sender-pays” rule doesn’t necessarily increase telecom investment (from 2012)
• Old Rules in New Regulations – Why “Sender Pays” Is a Direct Threat to the Internet