Bad news for all of our American readers — after an April hack of data broker National Public Data by the hacking group USDoD, 2.9 billion stolen records have been leaked, including names, Social Security numbers, and known addresses. The hack is so massive, it’s believed to cover every person living in the US. We recommend requesting additional identity theft monitoring with the credit bureaus and keeping an extra careful eye on your bank accounts.

In other news… Hollywood actors get an AI revenue stream, Apple releases tap-to-pay tech to developers, and Squid Game comes to NYC.

Want to discover even more newsletters? Here are some of our favorites

• YouTube – Teacup

• X (Twitter) – Alien: Romulus

• Google – Gena Rowlands

• Reddit – Flavor Flav

• TikTok – “The Great Gig in the Sky” - Pink Floyd

• Spotify – “Blackout Drunk” - Suki Waterhouse

.ENTERTAINMENT.

SAG-AFTRA signs off on AI voice deal with Narrativ

The Future. SAG-AFTRA approved a deal with AI startup Narrativ that will allow union actors to license their voices to commercial projects in an ethical way. Not every actor will be comfortable with their voice being cloned for gigs (they’ll stick with the recording booth), but at least this ensures that they’re protected if AI is used. It may even open up some crucial lines of passive revenue for actors when they’re busy pursuing passion projects elsewhere.

Talent cloning
Professional actors can now freelance their voices for AI-generated work.

• Narrativ’s online marketplace allows advertisers to create audio spots using AI tools, such as AI-generated voices.

• Per the new deal, all 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA can opt to license their voices to the marketplace’s database and list their preferences for its use.

• Actors are empowered to approve their voices’ use on a project-by-project basis, including knowing what product or service they’re promoting and approving the commercial script.

• Members will also have the ability to negotiate fees per project (which must be at least the minimum payment per the union’s commercials contract), and each job will include contributions to an actor’s pension and health benefits.

Just over a year ago, the threat of AI became one of the defining issues that led to the actor’s strike. As the union aims to ensure informed consent and proper compensation for its members when the tech is used, deals like Narrativ chart a path for how human creativity and AI can coexist. SAG-AFTRA recently struck a similar deal with Replica Studios, which is focused on the video game industry.

It looks like talent will soon be widely accessible via a drop-down menu.

61.6% of you voted for Free/ad-supported in yesterday’s poll: Do you prefer free/ad-supported or subscription-based streaming services?

“As a disabled veteran/senior citizen on a fixed income, I, like many others, can’t afford multiple paywall streaming services. Because of my disability, I spend a great deal of time at home watching TV. For me, TV is a lifeline. I’ll take ads over the paywall every time.”

“Free is always great! I’ll take ads over paying these hefty fees that go up every year it feels like. I just mute the TV or whatever I’m streaming on when ads come on anyhow. Does anyone really buy something anymore just because they saw an ad for it?”

“Pay TV should never have commercials!”

.A WORD FROM OUR FRIENDS AT MONEY (GOLD IRA).

A Gold IRA can diversify your portfolio and safeguard your retirement

Safeguarding your retirement with a Gold IRA can help you shield your wealth from market shifts, economic uncertainty, and inflation.

And with gold’s value projected to increase in 2024, now is a good time to invest.

Planning for retirement involves more than saving, so fortify your portfolio with gold today and plan for a better tomorrow.

See our list of Best Gold IRA Companies to start planning a better retirement.

Media, Music, & Entertainment

• Artists suing Stable Diffusion for infringing on their work got a major legal win after a federal judge advanced every copyright infringement and trademark claim against Stability AI. [Read More]

• Paramount Television, the studio behind Jack Ryan and The Offer, is shutting down as part of Paramount Global’s planned $500 million in cost cuts before a coming merger with Skydance. [Read More]

• A live Squid Game experience is coming to NYC that will pit 24 contestants at a time in games from the hit Netflix series. [Read More]

Fashion & E-Commerce

• Mars Inc., the owner of candy like M&M’s and Snickers, is buying Eggo Waffles-maker Kellanova in a $36 billion deal that will shake up the snack market. [Read More]

• Fashion designers are really into long, flowy overcoats these days as a new Ozempic-inspired style. [Read More]

• Dyson, the vacuum company, is debuting its first pair of audio-only, noise-canceling headphones. [Read More]

Tech, Web3, & AI

• The federal government is considering forcing Google to break up — like either offloading Chrome or Android — as part of its recent antitrust decision against the tech giant. [Read More]

• xAI has released the second edition of its Grok chat, allowing for some pretty unhinged image generations. [Read More]

• Meta has officially shut down CrowdTangle — a favorite tool for researchers, journalists, and other civic organizations to follow how information spreads on Meta’s apps. [Read More]

Creator Economy

• President Biden dropped by the White House’s first-ever Creator Economy Conference, which was held yesterday. [Read More]

• Telegram is diving deeper into the creator economy with a new monthly subscription offering that can be paid for using Telegram’s in-app currency, Stars. [Read More]

• Southwest Airlines rolled out a new creator-driven ad campaign on TikTok that allows users to purchase airline tickets directly on the app. [Read More]

.TECHNOLOGY.

Apple opens up tap-to-pay chip to third-party developers

The Future. One of the most-used features on the iPhone these days is the NFC chip — the technology that allows users to make contactless payments with Apple Pay. Now, that tech will be open to third-party developers, who can retrofit its use for any contactless applications. Expect there to be a new app gold rush to take advantage of the accessibility.

Tap-to-anything
Soon, your iPhone could be the technological equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife.

• Following an antitrust investigation by the EU, Apple will let third-party developers offer in-app NFC transactions using the Secure Element” with the rollout of iOS 18.1, according to The Verge.

• That means developers can offer any number of uses for the tech, including “in-store payments, car keys, closed-loop transit, corporate badges, student IDs, home keys, hotel keys, merchant loyalty and rewards cards, and event tickets,” per Apple.

• Additionally, the tech will allow government IDs to be digitally scannable through the tech sometime in the future.

Developers in the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the UK will get first dibs on the access. But, they’ll need to “enter into a commercial agreement with Apple, request the NFC and SE entitlement, and pay the associated fees.”

As an added bonus, iPhone users will also be able to set a default contactless payment platform other than Apple Pay when they double-click their phone’s side button — the main purpose of the NFC chip.

• Read: NYT details how a deepfake Elon Musk has become the ultimate force for scams on X, swindling users out of billions of dollars.

• Listen: Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History speaks with filmmaker Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire) about the never-produced Blue Seattle — an Elvis-inspired film that Crowe and the Wilson sisters of the rock band Heart recorded an entire soundtrack for.

• Watch: WSJ explores how Duolingo transformed from a free language-learning app to a $7.7 billion tech juggernaut using savvy marketing and endless A/B testing.

Just one of a thousand memes with this can’t-unsee-it horse from the poster for A24’s new film, We Live in Time.

LATEST PODCAST EPISODE

Today, on an extra special bonus episode of Future Forecast, our hosts Boye and Chris sit down with Andrew Kenward, the President and COO of Almost Friday Media. Andrew was an agent at WME in the digital media department at WME before being brought into the Almost Friday universe in 2021. We chat with him about his career, his goals for the brand moving forward, and what it's like working in media today.