Latest / Connecting the Dots / AI in Your Playlist, PlayStation’s Power Play, and Google’s Banana Boost

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AI in Your Playlist, PlayStation’s Power Play, and Google’s Banana Boost · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarfle Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Docs, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. Welcome to Connecting the Dots, the show
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  that extracts the knowledge you need to stay
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  ahead. I'm Alex. And I'm Morgan. We are thrilled
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  you're joining us this Wednesday, November 12,
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  2025. Yeah, great to have you with us for another
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  run through the tech stories that really matter.
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  Absolutely. Now, weather -wise, Alex, it's pretty
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  intense out east. Oh, definitely. If you're anywhere
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  in the eastern two -thirds of the U .S. right
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  now, bundle up. We feel for you. That frigid,
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  cold air mass is just sitting there. Mm -hmm
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  record lows expected down into the southeast
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  even, Florida Yeah, and still getting that lake
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  effect snow, you know around the Great Lakes
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  and into New England winter has arrived No doubt
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  it has but thankfully the markets are showing
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  a bit more warmth looking back at yesterday's
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  close Tuesday, November 11th Pretty solid day.
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  Yeah, it was. The Dow Jones climbed 543 .45 points.
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  That's up 1 .15%, closing near 47 ,927. Nice
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  gain. And the S &P 500, it added 30 .97 points,
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  closing up at 6 ,846. Also positive. Right. And
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  Bitcoin. Still pushing. Still pushing hard this
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  morning, actually. Up 1 .69%, that's over $1
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  ,700, closing comfortably over $104 ,758. So
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  yeah, the optimism seems to be holding. Good
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  to see. Fantastic. Now, before we jump into the
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  stories from our Morningstar report, we want
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  Check them out. Perfect gear for maybe contemplating
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  your next AI masterpiece. Huh, could be. Which
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  actually tees up our first story nicely. Yeah,
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  let's frame today's conversation around this
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  friction point, really, where human creativity
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  and, well, massive machine scale collide. We're
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  looking at how AI and tech are shifting the barriers,
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  image editing, console wars, and even the music
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  you listen to. Okay, so let's start with Google.
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  They're rolling out some major upgrades to Google
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  Photos. Yeah, this is pretty significant. They're
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  integrating their powerful nano banana image
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  editing model right into the app. Nano banana,
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  okay. So what does that mean for, you know, regular
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  users? Well, it means that help me edit feature.
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  It's getting way smarter. You can now do really
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  complex edits just by talking to it or typing,
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  conversational prompts. So like instead of fiddling
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  with sliders and tools? Exactly. You don't need
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  the technical skill anymore. You basically treat
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  the AI like a Photoshop expert sitting right
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  there. Huh. So you could say? You could ask it,
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  paint me as a Renaissance portrait or restyle
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  my image as a mosaic made by colorful tiles.
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  Things like that. Wow. So it's actually generating
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  parts of the image, not just applying a filter.
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  Precisely. It's generative AI. It reconstructs
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  the image based on your prompt, using context
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  and style. It really lowers the bar from technical
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  skill to just communication, imagination. OK.
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  But there's a catch, right? I saw something about
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  platforms. Ah, yes. Important detail. Right now,
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  the full power of NanoBanana, these really complex,
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  stylized, generative edits that's only rolling
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  out for Android users. Only Android. What about
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  iOS? Well, iOS users in the US, they get the
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  basic help me edit with text and voice input,
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  but it's limited. It uses the native editor's
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  tools, not the full generative power of NanoBanana.
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  Why the split, you think? Is it a hardware thing?
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  It seems like it. The sources suggest this advanced
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  model needs specific, powerful Google processing,
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  maybe on -device chips or specific server setups
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  that are just optimized for Android right now.
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  So Google's kind of leveraging its own ecosystem
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  there. Definitely looks like it. It gives Android
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  a pretty significant edge in mobile photo editing,
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  at least for these advanced features. Interesting.
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  So if you're making a lot of content on your
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  phone... This could actually sway you towards
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  Android. It really could. And this tech isn't
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  staying just in photos. It's coming to Google
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  search via Lens and AI mode and also Notebook
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  LM. So conversational image creation is becoming
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  like a standard utility. That's the direction,
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  yeah. Okay, let's pivot now. From software creating
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  things to the hardware we use to experience digital
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  worlds, gaming consoles. Right. And there's some
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  huge news from Sony about the PlayStation 5.
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  Massive milestone. Sony just announced the PS5
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  has sold a grand total of 84 .2 million units
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  since it launched back in November 2020. 84 .2
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  million, and that includes 3 .9 million just
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  in the last quarter. Okay, but here's the kicker.
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  Get this. With 84 .2 million units sold, the
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  PS5 has now officially outsold every single Xbox
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  console generation Microsoft has ever made. Every
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  single one. Original Xbox 360, 1 Series XS. All
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  of them. All of them. Lifetime sales. It's a
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  pretty stunning win for Sony in this round of
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  the console wars. That really says something
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  about their strategy, doesn't it? Especially
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  keeping momentum this late in the console's life.
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  It's almost five years old. It is. And sales
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  are still actually growing slightly 3 .9 million
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  this quarter compared to 3 .8 million the same
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  time last year. So what's the key difference
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  then? Why is Sony pulling ahead so much in hardware
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  sales? Well, the thinking is Sony is just consistently
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  focused on those big blockbuster exclusive single
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  player games, things that make you buy the console.
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  Right. Whereas Microsoft has really leaned into
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  Game Pass. Exactly. Game Pass is more about the
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  subscription, the service, getting it on PC,
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  on cloud. broadening the platform reach, not
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  necessarily just selling boxes. But is the war
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  over then? I mean, Microsoft bought Activision
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  Blizzard. They're playing a longer game, maybe.
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  Is this just hardware noise before the ecosystem
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  battle really heats up? That's the big question,
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  isn't it? It's definitely the friction point.
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  For now though, Sony's hardware dominance is
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  clear, and their financials look strong because
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  of it. Yeah, they actually revised their gaming
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  revenue forecast up, right? They did, up by 150
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  billion yen, that's nearly a billion US dollars,
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  to 4 .47 trillion for the fiscal year. And this
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  is despite things like tariffs and the GTA LI
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  delay. So the PS5 is just a money -making machine
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  for them. It's getting close to the PS3's lifetime
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  sales now. Yep, closing in on the PS3's 87 .4
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  million. Still a ways behind the PS4's 117 million
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  and the legendary PS2 at 160 million, but still
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  huge. And the ecosystem seems healthy too. 119
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  million monthly active users. Very healthy. Okay,
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  so from hardware success. Let's move to something
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  potentially more troubling, a potential crisis
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  involving AI and music. Ah, yeah. This is where
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  that machine scale really clashes with human
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  creation and transparency. Exactly. This Deezer
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  Ipsos survey... It's pretty eye -opening. They
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  talked to 9 ,000 listeners about AI music. And
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  the headline number is just wild. It really is.
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  A staggering 97 % of listeners could not tell
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  the difference between a song made by a human
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  and one generated entirely by AI in a blind test.
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  97%. That's almost everyone. Even people who
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  love music couldn't tell. Right. It shows the
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  quality, or at least the mimicry, of AI generation
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  is incredibly high now, functionally indistinguishable
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  for most ears. Which means the volume could just
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  explode. But it is exploding. Get this. Deezer
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  is now getting over 50 ,000 fully AI -generated
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  tracks submitted every single day. 50 ,000 a
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  day. Yep. That's 34 % over a third of all music
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  being delivered to their service. And that's
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  way up from just 10 ,000 a day back in January.
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  It's exponential. OK, so if you can't tell the
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  difference, and there's this massive flood of
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  it, what does that do to actual human artists?
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  royalties that's the core problem and listeners
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  seem to get it they're demanding transparency
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  80 % in the survey said AI music should be clearly
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  labeled make sense and would they actually avoid
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  it well 73 % want to know if AI tracks are being
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  recommended to them by the algorithm and 40 %
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  said they'd actually skip them if they knew hmm
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  so there's a desire for authenticity there what
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  about the ethics People are concerned. 70 % believe
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  AI music is a threat to artists' livelihoods.
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  Yeah, I can see that. And 69 % think AI tracks
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  should get lower payouts than human -made music.
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  Plus, 65 % believe AI companies shouldn't be
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  training their models on copyrighted music without
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  permission. Right. The training data is a huge
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  issue, too. So what are platforms like Deezer
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  actually doing about this flood? Well, Deezer
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  seems to be taking it very seriously. They're
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  using their own AI detection tools to identify
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  this stuff. They're tagging the content as AI
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  generated, and crucially, they're excluding these
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  AI tracks from their own curated editorial playlists
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  and also from the algorithmic recommendations.
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  So they're trying to keep it from overwhelming
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  human music discovery. Exactly. And they're also
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  fighting fraud. They say up to 70 % of the plays
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  on these AI tracks look fraudulent, like bot
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  streams. They filter those out before calculating
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  royalties. Wow. So it's not just volume. It's
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  potentially fake engagement trying to gain the
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  royalty system. Seems like it. It's a real battle
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  over authenticity, discovery, and just making
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  sure actual human creators don't get drowned
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  out or ripped off by low effort machine noise.
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  A tricky situation. Okay, before we wrap up today,
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  just one more quick thank you to our other sponsor,
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  worth a look for the golfers out there. Alright,
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  so let's do a quick recap, connecting the dots
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  on today's stories. What are the big takeaways?
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  Okay, first up, Google's putting serious AI power,
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  that nano banana model, into Google Photos. It
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  makes complex image editing as easy as talking.
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  But for now, that full power gives Android a
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  significant advantage over iOS, changing the
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  game for mobile creators potentially. Right.
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  Second, the PlayStation 5 is an absolute beast.
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  It's hit 84 .2 million units sold. Officially
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  outselling the lifetime total of every single
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  Xbox console generation ever made. A huge hardware
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  win for Sony's focus on big, exclusive games.
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  Yeah, massive milestone. And finally, that AI
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  music situation is basically indistinguishable
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  from human music for almost everyone 97 % couldn't
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  tell. And with tens of thousands of AI tracks
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  flooding services daily, platforms like Deezer
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  are scrambling to detect, label, and filter it
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  to protect human artists and fight fraud. Transparency
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  is becoming critical. Definitely. It really feels
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  like the speed of technology is constantly pushing
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  us to redefine what skill means, what value means,
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  what authenticity means. Well said. Hopefully
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  we helped you connect a few of those dots today.
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  We're here to help at Snarfle, so reach out on
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  our website if you have any more questions. That's
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  a wrap on today's top stories. Remember, tech
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  doesn't have to be complicated, and we're here
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  to help connect the dots. If you've got questions
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  or want to learn more, visit us at snarfle .com.
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  Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next
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  time.