The Evolution of Search in the Age of AI Chatbots
Neville Hobson
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53m ago
Today, we’re witnessing a pivotal transformation in how we search for and interact with information online. With established AI chatbots like ChatGPT and new entrants like Perplexity gaining prominence, the narrative of search is rapidly evolving, presenting a mix of opportunities and challenges for giants and newcomers in the search industry. This transformation is spurred by emerging AI technologies and strategic moves by major companies like Microsoft and Baidu, indicating a shift towards more conversational, AI-driven search experiences. Google has been the primary gateway to the I ..read more
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First Looks at the iContact Camera Pro Webcam
Neville Hobson
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1w ago
Over the past couple of years, I’ve tried out a variety of webcams that offer features to enable you to look the other person in the eye, at their eye level, when connecting live via Teams, Zoom, etc. They also let you look your audience in the eye, so to speak, if you’re making a group presentation via webcam or recording a video for later use. Plenty of research findings have been published in recent years that set out the measurable benefits and advantages of making direct eye contact when engaging with someone in a video call. Webcams that I’ve tried for direct eye contact do this mo ..read more
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Wikipedia and PR: Navigating a Complex Relationship
Neville Hobson
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2w ago
In an interview on the FIR Interviews podcast published last week, guest Bill Beutler told Shel Holtz and I that it’s essential for the PR industry to re-engage with the principles of ethical Wikipedia engagement. His insights serve as a reminder of the ongoing evolution of digital communication platforms and the intricate relationship between Wikipedia and the public relations industry, as we explored the changes in that relationship over the past two decades and the current state of affairs in 2024. Bill Beutler is founder and president of Beutler Ink, a digital agency with a unique focus o ..read more
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A Balanced Approach to AI Integration: Lessons From Klarna’s Customer Service Success
Neville Hobson
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3w ago
Klarna, a Swedish international fintech company, has introduced an AI assistant developed in collaboration with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Klarna says it has significantly transformed its customer service operations. In a press release on 27 February, Klarna itemised an impressive list of achievements in just one month of the global deployment of the AI assistent, essentially a chatbot: The AI assistant has had 2.3 million conversations, two-thirds of Klarna’s customer service chats Doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents On par with human agents with regard to customer sat ..read more
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The Promise and Peril of Sora Text-to-Video
Neville Hobson
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1M ago
In the constantly-evolving landscape of AI-assisted content creation, OpenAI’s latest innovation, Sora, represents a seismic shift. This text-to-video generative AI creator is not just another step forward; it’s a leap into a future where the boundaries between imagination and reality blur. Sora enables creators to make vivid, dynamic videos just by typing a simple text prompt, a development that is as exciting as it is alarming. The examples of Sora’s capabilities are nothing short of breathtaking. From intricate scenes featuring multiple characters and complex motions to detailed backg ..read more
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Digital Walls: Boundaries in the Evolution of the Public Square
Neville Hobson
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1M ago
Imagine a modern Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, London, a public square that traditionally is a symbol of free speech and public discourse, now surrounded by towering walls made of digital screens displaying algorithmically-generated content. Individuals inside the walls are wholly focused on their personal devices, isolated in their own digital bubbles. The historic podium, once a bustling hub of lively debate and discussion, stands neglected in the centre, symbolising the shift from public, open dialogue to private, fragmented communication in the digital age. The contrast between the ..read more
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The Future of Online Search: A Closer Look at Perplexity AI
Neville Hobson
by
1M ago
When I search online for the most relevant, comprehensive, and accurate information I’m looking for, I find it’s typically a hit-or-miss procedure. Traditional search engines will give you results but heavily weighted to sponsored listings or paid ads, thus making it hard to determine what’s trustworthy and worth my attention. In fact, ‘listing’ is the key word as what you get is precisely that, a listing of links that might match all or some of the keywords in your search term. Google has dominated the search space for much of the past two decades, shaping how we discover, learn, and ma ..read more
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FIR at 19: A Milestone in Podcasting
Neville Hobson
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2M ago
Nineteen years ago this past week, Shel Holtz and I founded and launched the For Immediate Release podcast. Back then, podcasting was in its infancy and we began a journey at a time when it was more of an experiment than a mainstream platform. Our foray into this medium that began on 3 January 2005 with episode 1 of The Hobson & Holtz Report, as it was first known, was driven by a desire to explore the potential of digital audio in enhancing business communication. As we noted in a post and test audio on 21 December 2004 introducing the forthcoming podcast, “We’ll bring a balanc ..read more
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Key Themes in my Writing Agenda for 2024
Neville Hobson
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3M ago
During the Christmas/New Year break, as I considered what topics I might explore in this blog in 2024, I reflected back to remind myself of what I’ve been writing about in 2023. Given the blog’s broad embrace of being “at the intersection of business, communication, and technology”, it was no surprise to see that I wrote and published thirty-five articles during the past year across that broad spectrum, an average of just under three per month. It won’t come as much surprise either when I tell you that my trusted assistant, ChatGPT Plus, analysed that sum total and spectrum and, in much ..read more
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Wrapping up a Year of Innovation
Neville Hobson
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3M ago
As 2023 draws to a close, it’s a good time to reflect on the journey we’ve travelled this year at Ideas to Innovation, a business podcast I host for Clarivate. This year, we’ve delved into a diverse array of topics, from the intricacies of life sciences to the expanses of ocean research, exploring how curiosity meets ingenuity, and how innovation goes from ideas to fruition. We told these stories in 15 episodes throughout the year. In this year-end episode 5 in Season 3, we revisit three powerful examples of these stories that epitomise our strong commitment to showcasing innovation an ..read more
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