Vogue is receiving backlash for the use of an AI-generated model in its August issue. The double-page Guess advertisement, created by AI marketing agency Seraphinne Vallora, features a blonde model wearing two different outfits. Seraphinne Vallora specializes in “editorial-level AI-driven marketing campaigns and cinematic videos.” The agency has previously worked on editorial shoots featured in Harper’s Bazaar and Elle. Seraphinne Vallora told the BBC that it created 10 draft models for Guess cofounder Paul Marciano, who ultimately selected one brunette and one blonde. When asked about the choice of race for the model,
Clark Atlanta University is partnering with IBM SkillsBuild to help aspiring developers build their AI skills competencies, providing the next generation of leaders with the necessary tools to thrive in the job market. Addressing the AI skills gap Generative AI has the potential to widen the racial economic gap in the United States by $43 billion each year, according to a study by McKinsey. Black workers are also increasingly overrepresented in four of the top five occupations at risk of automation: office support, production work, food services, and mechanical installation
Google will invest $37 million across Africa to expand artificial intelligence developments on the continent. A majority of the funds will be allocated to enhance food security and expand digital access in local languages, with $25 million being invested in an AI Collaborative for Food Security. This initiative will help African researchers and nonprofits create AI tools that tackle hunger, climate-related crop threats, and farming inefficiencies, according to TechPoint Africa. The program aims to safeguard millions of smallholder farmers against damaging economic and environmental shocks by leveraging AI in early
The Trump administration is planning to end grants related to DEI efforts, according to The New York Times. In an emergency application, lawyers for the Trump administration asked the justices to allow the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to scrap millions of grants related to DEI initiatives. Plans to cut grants related to DEI Some of the administration’s cuts to the NIH were “void and illegal,” according to Judge William G. Young of the Federal District Court of Massachusetts. The judge has accused Trump of being racially discriminatory and prejudiced against
Live Nation Urban has launched the Live Nation Urban Creator Network in partnership with Breakr, a creator marketing and payments platform. The national network will be powered by a tailored collective of thousands of top Black creators and backed by Breakr’s broader database of 75,000+ creators and 55 million data points. Live Nation will be able to provide brands with an innovative media channel that is culturally relevant and instantly scalable. “As brands increasingly looked to us to help them connect authentically with Black audiences, even outside the context of our events, it became
Green Book Global, the first Black travel review mobile app, and EatOkra, an app for discovering Black-owned restaurants, are collaborating to add over 2,500 Black-owned restaurants into Green Book Global’s Driving While Black Road Trip Planner. With this new partnership, travellers will be able to use the Green Book Global app or website to add Black-owned restaurants from EatOkra straight to their road trip commutes across the US. “This collaboration is about more than food. It’s about culture, safety, and creating a network of trusted spaces for Black travelers as
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media after Skydance agreed to end DEI efforts. The settlement has removed the final step for media and entertainment companies to close the deal. “It is time for a change. That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement, according to CBS News. Carr mentioned Skydance’s plans to hire a CBS News ombudsman to examine complaints of editorial bias
Rachel Allen, Ebony Cochran, and Jessie Hayes are creating a business school to close the racial wealth gap that hinders Black female entrepreneurs. Detroit has one of the highest concentrations of Black women–owned businesses in the US, but these women will often struggle to access the same financial capital as their white peers. Allen, Cochran, and Hayes are all successful Black entrepreneurs, but they don’t want to leave other Black people behind. “We’ve waited long enough to be invited to spaces that weren’t built with us in mind,” Cochran said.
Etsy Users are urging customers to boycott the online marketplace after “Alligator Alcatraz” merch was found on its website. The term refers to the Trump administration detention centre in the Florida Everglades. Sky News reported that the facility has been compared to a “dog cage” with some detainees saying “not even sunlight gets in.” It’s built from Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers and temporary shelters at the site of a training airport in Miami-Dade County and is situated in the middle of a natural alligator habitat, according to Fast Company.
On Wednesday, 23rd July, President Donald Trump banned “woke AI” and AI models from government contracts. At an AI summit in Washington, Trump condemned “woke Marxist lunacy in the AI models” before signing the orders on stage at the Mellon Auditorium, as reported by The Guardian. The new order states that any artificial intelligence company receiving federal funding must maintain ideologically neutral AI models that are free of “ideological dogmas such as DEI.” This comes after Trump revoked a six-decade-old executive order that prohibited workplace discrimination by federal contractors. President
