When data is fair game: Zoom stirs public backlash over policy to train AI on customer content
An update to Zoom’s terms of service raised alarm bells in August on social media, with users claiming it revealed the videoconferencing company was now tapping their online doctor visits and virtual happy hours to train artificial intelligence models....
Consumer protection: Federal regulation of AI takes a step forward with FTC probe of OpenAI
By Anjana Susarla, Professor of Information Systems, Michigan State University The Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation of ChatGPT maker OpenAI for potential violations of consumer protection laws. The FTC sent the company a 20-page demand for...
A culture of racism: Latest anti-Black shooting stirs memories of White Supremacy from Jacksonville’s past
By some measures, the city was making strides to emerge from its racist past. But the killing of three Black people on August 26 by a young, white shooter was a painful and startling reminder that the remnants of racism continue to fester in Jacksonville, Florida....
X Japan: Elon Musk hits language barriers in Twitter’s abrupt shift from a “tweet” into an “X”
Elon Musk may want to send “tweet” back to the birds, but the ubiquitous term for posting on the site he now calls X is here to stay, at least for now. For one, the word is still plastered all over the site formerly known as Twitter. Write a post, you...
Missing the mark: Why oddball rebranding is hardly unusual for a big tech company
By Matthew Pittman, Assistant Professor of Advertising and Public Relations, University of Tennessee Twitter has swapped the fluffy bird that used to symbolize the social media platform for a spindly black X. Ditching the company’s well-known logo and changing its...
Milwaukee raises national flag of Ukraine on its Independence Day in solidarity with Sister City of Irpin
Mayor Cavalier Johnson sent a celebratory message to Milwaukee’s Sister City of Irpin, Ukraine, wishing its Mayor and community a Happy Independence Day on August 24, the 32nd anniversary of the nation’s freedom from the Soviet Union. Since the beginning...
GOP candidates struggle for relevance during first 2024 Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee
The Republican presidential candidates vying to be the leading alternative to front-runner Donald Trump fought, sometimes bitterly, over abortion rights, U.S. support for Ukraine, and the future of the party during the first primary debate of the 2024 campaign in...
So Long Ukraine, and Thanks for All the Hotdogs*
As I reflect on my second assignment to Ukraine from June to July, and the corresponding news series of articles, interviews, and photo essays I produced, a flood of thoughts come to mind. One in particular involved a hotdog. I originally intended to post the image...
Seeking Truth: Journalistic integrity in the face of Russian propaganda, lies, and disinformation
“A country that cannot face its past has no future.” – Yang Jisheng Recently, someone asked me about how I keep my journalistic integrity when I cover Ukraine and get so close to traumatic events. I said firstly, ethics in school and ethics in...
2024 election: Polls show Trump remains popular with Republicans as he faces 91 felony charges
After every new indictment, Donald Trump has boasted that his standing among Republicans only improves, and he has a point. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans, 63%, say they want the former president to run again, according to new polling from The Associated Press-NORC...
Why voting went down in Black areas of the South as Confederate-glorifying monuments went up
By Alexander N. Taylor, PhD Candidate in Economics, George Mason University Confederate monuments burst into public consciousness in 2015 when a shooting at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, instigated the first broad calls for their removal....
From Montana to Wisconsin: Mountain Biking finds a home in Milwaukee after 100 years
“Nature is not a place to visit, it is home.” These words by noted environmentalist and poet, Gary Snyder resonate deeply with me, and any who venture outdoors to hike trails, ride their bikes through a forest, or simply lay on their back to look up through the trees....