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‘Real recordings will be called fake and fake recordings will be leaked as purportedly real.’ After hearing an AI-simulated recording of Apple’s late founder Steve Jobs calling him a bozo, tech columnist John Gruber sounds a warning about vocal deepfakes.
■ Poynter’s Al Tompkins: Beware people using AI to generate imaginary Trump arrest photos.
■ An investigative journalist who used Midjourney to create such images—which he labeled accordingly on Twitter—nevertheless found himself locked out of Midjourney.
■ Ars Technica revisits the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s “influential technological testbed” of the ’70s, PLATO—which pioneered “bright graphics, a touchscreen, a speech synthesizer, messaging apps, games and educational software.”
Ducking, Dodging Dept. Columnist Eric Zorn reviews the latest Chicago mayoral debates: “The more I watch … the more I’m inclined to say ‘No, thank you’ … just imagining how slippery one of these dudes is going to be when elected.”
■ More from Zorn: Paul Vallas leads Brandon Johnson in the contest for unexpected endorsements …
■ … but Gov. Pritzker, while remaining officially neutral in the race, smacked Vallas’ ties to “right-wing talk-show hosts.”
■ Ready to cast your ballot? Check out the Square voter guide for Chicago and the suburbs.
‘Climate-change blackouts.’ Insider warns Americans to brace for more power outages at the worst possible times.
■ The Onion: “Government Subsidies Awarded To Any CEO Who Says ‘Climate.’”
‘A spring booster may be a good idea.’ Your Local Epidemiologist reviews the latest science on COVID-19 vaccines—especially for the immunocompromised and other high-risk groups, such as older Americans with comorbidities.
■ The Conversation: Infant formula shortages through the pandemic forced parents to feed their babies in less healthy ways.
■ Chicago Public Square three years ago today spotlighted a calculator to determine how long your toilet paper supply would last.
‘You have no surveillance video. You have no eyewitness accounts. You have no confession, obviously. What do you have?’ A lawyer for a Naperville high school student ticketed in a case of missing AirPods is flabbergasted that, three years later, the case is headed to a jury.
■ Illinois lawmakers are considering a bill to forbid schools from working with cops to issue students tickets for minor misbehavior (March 5 link).
■ Another bill would give the state authority to deny grants to public and school libraries that ban books …
■ … a practice that reached a nationwide record last year.
Profiles in caution. The Blackhawks won’t wear rainbow-colored jerseys Sunday—the team’s Pride Night game—citing concern for three players born or with family in Russia, where a homophobic law forbids Russians from promoting or praising LGBTQ relationships.
■ But there will be LGBTQ DJs and the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus.
■ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is moving to expand his “Don’t Say Gay” agenda, suppressing classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identities in all grades.
■ The Onion envisions Florida teachers explaining how they teach history without mentioning race: “It’s pretty easy if you just skip 70% of everything that’s ever happened in this country.”
Tax tips. The Tribune’s Robert Channick serves up a guide to filling out those 2022 income tax forms—due less than a month from today.
■ Wirecutter’s devised a flowchart to help decide which tax software’s best for you.
A Square public service announcement
Know an aspiring journalist? Spread this word from the Chicago Headline Club: April 17’s the deadline to apply for the Les Brownlee Memorial Scholarship. An undergrad attending a Chicago-area or Illinois institution can land $5,000.