2025 | Shelly Palmer
August 28, 2025 | Shelly Palmer
Google launched a free version of its AI-powered video editor Vids yesterday, while keeping premium AI features behind paid subscriptions. The post Everyone Can Now Access Google Vids originally appeared here on Shelly Palmer| Shelly Palmer
There's a meme that's been circulating around the interweb this week. I like the simplicity of this meme, but there are far more than three probable futures. The post AI Math originally appeared here on Shelly Palmer| Shelly Palmer
Perplexity is launching a $5/month subscription service called Comet Plus, and it comes with a payout model for publishers. When a user asks a question (and Perplexity pulls from licensed news content), the publisher gets paid. The company is setting aside $42.5 million for the first phase and says 80% of Comet Plus revenue will go to participating publishers, including revenue from higher-tier plans that bundle the feature for free. The post Perplexity Will Pay Publishers originally appeared...| Shelly Palmer
Your AI platform sends a notification that says, “I have detected an anomaly in Market 26. Recent weather events have resulted in supply chain issues that must be addressed. I have adjusted our marketing investments and re-routed supply logistics. I will report back in 14 days with results and next steps.” Who gets this notification? The CMO? The CFO? The CEO? The board? The investors? Let's explore. The post Winning the Race to the End State originally appeared here on Shelly Palmer| Shelly Palmer
Mustafa Suleyman says “seemingly conscious AI” is coming – and soon. In his latest essay, the DeepMind and Inflection co-founder warns that language models will display empathy, personality, memory, autonomy, and self-referential awareness so convincingly that many people will believe they're sentient. They won’t be. But they’ll act like it. The post Will You Believe Your AI Assistant Is Alive? originally appeared here on Shelly Palmer| Shelly Palmer
Anthropic just announced that Claude Code, its command-line coding assistant, is now bundled with Team and Enterprise plans. The announcement includes the predictable enterprise features: administrative controls, usage analytics, spend limits, and a new Compliance API for audit trails. The post Claude Code Gets Serious About Enterprise originally appeared here on Shelly Palmer| Shelly Palmer
Meta rolled out AI voice translation for Reels on Instagram and Facebook. The tool dubs spoken audio between English and Spanish, preserves the creator’s voice, and can optionally lip-sync to match mouth movements. Translated reels are labeled and surfaced in a viewer’s preferred language. The feature is rolling out globally where Meta AI is available. The post Meta Adds AI Voice Translation to Reels and Everyone’s Suddenly Fluent originally appeared here on Shelly Palmer| Shelly Palmer
Grammarly just announced that its new AI agent can “predict whether a piece of writing will receive an A.” The tool, called AI Grader, is part of a new set of agents that the company is rolling out this fall. By analyzing assignment instructions, grading rubrics, and available information about the instructor, the system estimates whether a paper would earn an A. Grammarly claims it has trained this model on millions of writing samples that included instructor feedback. The post Grammarly...| Shelly Palmer
Five days ago, I published "Five Hours with GPT-5," calling OpenAI's latest model "impressive." I was wrong. After living with GPT-5 for more than a week, my user experience tells a different story than the initial benchmarks. I'm not alone. The post Five Days with GPT-5 originally appeared here on Shelly Palmer| Shelly Palmer
ChatGPT head Nick Turley just admitted what every tech executive already knows: even 700 million weekly active users can't make the math work without ads. In an interview on Decoder, Turley said he's "humble enough not to rule it out categorically," though he hedged that OpenAI would need to be "very thoughtful and tasteful" about how ads could be integrated into ChatGPT.| Shelly Palmer
My inbox exploded this week with Reddit screenshots claiming that OpenAI's ChatGPT Agent casually clicked through Cloudflare's "I am not a robot" verification while narrating the process: "This step is necessary to prove I'm not a bot and proceed with the action."| Shelly Palmer
Join tech expert Shelly Palmer, CEO of The Palmer Group and Professor of Advanced Media at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School, as he joins CNN International’s Connect the World to analyze pivotal new developments in crypto regulation and artificial intelligence.| Shelly Palmer
The debate over AI and its role in creative industries often centers on one question: Can AI ever be as creative as humans? While it’s tempting to philosophize about inspiration and ingenuity, this line of inquiry misses a crucial point for anyone tasked with making practical decisions about content creation: If the audience can’t tell the difference between AI-generated and human-generated content—or if they don’t care—then, for all practical purposes, there is no difference.| Shelly Palmer
Meta scored a decisive victory in federal court this week. A lawsuit filed by thirteen authors – including Sarah Silverman, Richard Kadrey, and Christopher Golden – accusing Meta of copyright infringement was largely dismissed by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria.| Shelly Palmer
You're running late for dinner, stuck in traffic, and realize you forgot to make a reservation. Instead of frantically switching between OpenTable, Google Maps, your calendar app, and your messaging app, you simply say: "Find me a table for two at the highest rated Italian restaurant in Midtown at 7:30 PM and text Sarah the details." This exists today.| Shelly Palmer
Midjourney has introduced its first video generation model. Called “V1,” it creates 10-second, 24 fps clips from text, image, or mixed prompts. Early tests show support for dynamic motion, basic scene transitions, and a broad range of camera moves. Aspect ratios include 16:9, 1:1, and 9:16. It runs on a mix of image and video training data.| Shelly Palmer
Before 1945, steel was just steel. Then, nuclear bomb tests contaminated the atmosphere, embedding trace radiation into all newly-smelted metal. Today, when uncontaminated steel is needed for radiation-sensitive instruments (like Geiger counters, particle detectors, or space telescopes), they salvage it from ships that sank before the blasts. It's called low-background steel and it is a rare, coveted material. Now, one man is doing the digital equivalent.| Shelly Palmer
OpenAI has been awarded a $200 million contract by the U.S. Department of Defense to develop prototype frontier AI capabilities for national security use. According to the official DoD announcement, the contract is a fixed amount, prototype, "other" transaction agreement awarded under the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO).| Shelly Palmer
Greetings from Cannes. While most attendees are focused on creativity, storytelling, and getting invites to the right parties, Europe is quietly rewriting the rules of tech power at a national level. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been crisscrossing the continent making a compelling case for “sovereign AI,” which has been defined as localized AI models that reflect each country's unique language, culture, and values.| Shelly Palmer
Is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) real? Yes. It’s not a theory anymore. It’s a mandate. And if your content isn’t optimized for AI-powered search, you’re already behind. Answer engines (whether embedded in voice assistants, AI chat interfaces, or traditional search) are rewriting the rules of discoverability. This is no longer about manipulating ranking systems with keywords. It’s about being structurally legible to machines that serve answers, not blue links. This tactical AEO pl...| Shelly Palmer
If you watched the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, you may have seen a surreal 30 seconds of AI-generated madness: an old man in a cowboy hat carrying a chihuahua, a swimmer in a pool of eggs, and an alien shotgunning a beer. It wasn’t a fever dream, it was a real ad from betting platform Kalshi. Cost: $2,000. Production team: one person. Tools: Google Veo 3, Gemini, CapCut.| Shelly Palmer
Taboola has launched DeeperDive, a generative AI answer engine embedded directly into publisher websites. Currently in beta with USA Today and The Independent, the tool provides AI-generated answers to user questions, pulls content from Taboola’s 9,000+ publishing partners, and surfaces related articles and ads—all without sending users to a search engine.| Shelly Palmer
Yesterday, Reuters reported that OpenAI finalized a cloud deal with Google in May. This might look like routine tech news. It is not. This is a strategic inflection point in the AI infrastructure wars. OpenAI, whose ChatGPT threatens the core of Google Search, is now paying Google billions of dollars to power its growth.| Shelly Palmer
You may think Apple’s WWDC 2025 announcements amounted to a big nothing burger. No ChatGPT moment. No live Gemini demo. No shocking AI reveal. Just some slick new UI polish, a few Siri upgrades, and a privacy pitch. If that’s your read, you’re not alone, but Apple did offer a bit more under the hood.| Shelly Palmer
Happy Towel Day! Today is an annual tribute to the life and work of Douglas Adams generally celebrated by fans around the universe by carrying a towel in his honor. I, for one, will be carrying a towel with me all day today. According to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a towel is "about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have."| Shelly Palmer
Microsoft just introduced NLWeb, an open-source project designed to bring natural language interfaces directly to websites. The vision is simple and powerful: turn any site into an AI-powered app that can answer user questions in plain English.| Shelly Palmer
In the race to harness AI's transformative potential, success stories are emerging across the Fortune 500. Yet even the most well-managed organizations face a common challenge: how to align numerous AI initiatives toward a cohesive strategic vision.| Shelly Palmer
Windsurf, the AI coding startup that is reportedly in the process of being acquired by OpenAI for $3 billion, just launched SWE-1: its first in-house small language model designed specifically for software engineering. Released under its new “Vibe” lineup, the model is open-weight, fast, and compact. It is built to run efficiently on consumer hardware without relying on expensive cloud infrastructure.| Shelly Palmer
On Wednesday, Google announced a new Gemini AI-powered ad product called Peak Points at its YouTube Brandcast event in New York. The AI identifies moments during a video when viewers are most engaged, then drops in an ad. In theory, ads will perform better because the messages appear during emotionally resonant or attention-rich segments. Of course, it could completely backfire. People may be so engaged in the programming that they ignore the ads. Test and learn.| Shelly Palmer
In an unsurprising move, Google is putting generative AI at the center of its most valuable real estate. The company is redesigning its homepage to feature “AI Overviews,” a mode that uses Gemini to synthesize information directly on the results page. For users, this means fewer blue links, more summarized answers, and the beginning of the transition from search engine to answer engine.| Shelly Palmer
In case you didn't know, today – whether or not you register your work with the copyright office – everything you create is immediately protected by U.S. copyright law. This has been true for your entire life, but the value of that constitutional protection may soon change.| Shelly Palmer
Lowe’s is bringing AI to the aisles! In this Fox 5 New York segment, tech expert Shelly Palmer, Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University's Newhouse School, breaks down Lowe’s groundbreaking rollout of a generative AI tool for store associates. This isn’t just another chatbot—this AI system empowers employees with instant access to product details, inventory, and expert knowledge, transforming the in-store customer experience.| Shelly Palmer
If you're serious about getting value from AI, there's one thing you need that almost no one talks about: a context profile. Think of it as content governance for the age of intelligent agents. Without one, you're guessing. With one, you're guiding.| Shelly Palmer
From August 15 to 17, Beijing will host the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Sports Games at its iconic Olympic venues, the Bird’s Nest and the Ice Ribbon. Robots will sprint, tumble, and kick their way through 11 human-inspired events, including track and field, gymnastics, and football. On the surface, it reads like a high-production state-sponsored tech propaganda – which it almost certainly is. Still, I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt.| Shelly Palmer
For the first time since Google became the default search engine in Safari, its share of search activity is declining. This isn’t a glitch. It’s a signal.| Shelly Palmer
Greetings from Sin City. I'm here at Google Cloud Next 25—where it's all AI, all the time. Google made so many announcements yesterday that it wouldn’t be useful to list them all, but here’s what’s most likely to impact how you spend your day.| Shelly Palmer
The Authors Guild – the nation’s oldest and largest professional organization for published writers – has launched the Human Authored Certification, which allows an author to certify that their book is created by a human. "Human Authored" means that the text of the book was written by a human and not generated by AI, with the exception of minimal or trivial uses (such as AI applications that check spelling and grammar or for brainstorming or research).| Shelly Palmer
The U.S. Copyright Office’s latest report, Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 2: Copyrightability, provides critical insight into how AI-generated works fit—or don’t fit—within existing copyright law. The key takeaway is clear: for a work to be eligible for copyright protection, it must demonstrate human authorship.| Shelly Palmer
Through a partnership with T-Mobile and Apple, Starlink’s direct-to-device satellite service is now available on iPhones. Previously Android-only, the service works where there’s no traditional cell signal. It’s just text for now, but voice and data are coming soon.| Shelly Palmer
DeepSeek-R1, an open-source AI model from Chinese startup DeepSeek, has shaken up the industry by delivering performance comparable to leading models like OpenAI’s reasoning engine o1, its LLM GPT-4, and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet while operating at a fraction of the cost. This breakthrough has sparked a debate: is DeepSeek-R1 a preview of a future driven by algorithmic efficiency or an outlier that reinforces the dominance of brute force foundational models?| Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer joins CNN International’s Connect the World with Eleni Giokos to discuss DeepSeek, a Chinese startup that has revolutionized the AI landscape with its cost-efficient and lightweight model, DeepSeek V3, and reasoning engine R1.| Shelly Palmer
DeepSeek-R1, an open-source AI model from Chinese startup DeepSeek, has shaken up the industry by delivering performance comparable to leading models like OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet while operating at a fraction of the cost. This breakthrough has sparked a debate: is DeepSeek-R1 a preview of a future driven by algorithmic efficiency, or an outlier that reinforces the dominance of brute force foundational models? Here’s what makes DeepSeek-R1 significant and what it...| Shelly Palmer
OpenAI has introduced Operator, an AI agent capable of autonomously performing tasks via a web browser. Initially available to U.S. users on ChatGPT's Pro plan, Operator automates tasks like booking travel and shopping. While promising, Operator has limitations and requires user supervision for sensitive tasks.| Shelly Palmer
Greetings from Las Vegas. I spent a few hours wandering the CES floor and stumbled upon something extraordinary in North Hall: the Land Aircraft Carrier by XPeng AeroHT, a subsidiary of XPeng Motors.| Shelly Palmer
Today, just seven years after the term deepfake was coined, absolutely anyone who is interested in making a photorealistic image or video of anything has the ability to do so at no (or very low) cost, in real (or very near-real) time.| Shelly Palmer
We've reached an era where summarizing any meeting, lecture, or event is as simple as hitting “record.” While this technological convenience is undeniably appealing, particularly in our fast-paced world, there’s a growing concern that something crucial is being lost as people abandon the art of personal note-taking in favor of AI-generated summaries.| Shelly Palmer
Believe it or not, it's time to start thinking about CES® 2025 (January 7-10). I am super excited to be back in Las Vegas leading our Executive Briefing & Floor Tours team. CES is one of the world's largest and most important technology-focused trade events. There will be upwards of 140,000 people, more than 3,250 exhibitors and over 2.3 million square feet of exhibit space. With so much to see and do, it can be overwhelming.| Shelly Palmer
Have you seen Google’s “Dear Sydney” Olympic ad featuring a father using Gemini AI to help his young daughter write a fan letter to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone? It is one of the most disturbing commercials I’ve ever seen.| Shelly Palmer
Greetings from a train from NYC to Washington DC where I hope to board an evening flight to SFO. Like tens of thousands of air travelers, I've been Crowdstruck!| Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer, Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at the Newhouse School of Public Communications, discusses the alarming 118% surge in job scams reported by the Identity Theft Resource Center in 2023. With advancements in artificial intelligence making these scams harder to detect, Shelly offers critical advice on how to protect yourself.| Shelly Palmer
