Weekly Digest
THEJAMESCASTS Weekly Digest
February 24, 2025
A lot is going on!
Online and offline, here are some things that caught my attention.
THIS WEEK’s Stories that caught my attention.
YouTube Shorts and AI Video Creation
https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/13/youtube-shorts-adds-veo-2-so-creators-can-make-gen-ai-videos/
This is an exciting development. You can now create YouTube shorts and add AI-generated videos to your clips. I haven’t given it a good test mostly because I am not sold on how it adds value to my creation, but it looks interesting.
Google Preferences Based on Content
Neil Patel always has good ideas to get you thinking about how you market your content. He shared a handy chart that helps us understand how to get favourable placement on Google. However, podcasts still do not rank on page 1 as much as I would like.
How well do Leaders Understand AI?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-leaders-playbook-genai-works-usg4f/
This piece from Linkedin says it all about AI and leadership in industry today.
AI is not simply a trend; it's become essential for today's businesses. Despite this, 84% of professionals are unsure how AI will affect their specific industries, and only 12% possess basic AI skills. This creates a significant disparity between those who comprehend AI and those who actively lead with it.
We need digital literacy check-ups across the business ecosystem to help everyone keep up with the change. I am not suggesting we all need to use the latest tools, but we absolutely need to understand them.
Time to Rethink Hiring
https://mercor.com/?utm_source=theneuron&_bhlid=fb3e8f240991bb37f473cd25f64ca47d670c77fa
Anyone exploring employment opportunities will know that there are all sorts of digital postings and application portals. LinkedIn and Indeed are the two I use. There is a problem, and that is the simple fact that employers are posting jobs and getting overwhelmed by applications. They either resort to AI to sort the CVs or ignore most applicants. Technology is making it too easy to apply for jobs randomly.
Now, there is an added twist. Startup Mercor sends your single application to thousands of remote jobs after a 20-minute interview (raised $100M). On the one hand, it is significant that we can now apply for all sorts of jobs, but there is the real issue of not having enough time or desire to review the applications, and thus, good candidates are lost in the wash.
My wife discovered that using Indeed to find job opportunities but then going to the employer's CV and cover letter in hand was far more effective at getting interviews than relying on the platform to get your CV in front of an employer.
Do We Want the Human Interface
Richard Cawood, look him up on LinkedIn or @2ndlightphotograph, has been chronicling the replacement of authentic creative activity by people like you and me and the rise of AI generated content. The creep of AI has only gotten more pervasive in the last 6 months.
Spotify will now accept AI-narrated audiobooks made with ElevenLabs' voices—two years ago, it made a similar deal with Google Play Books. I am not sure the average consumer cares.
Reach out to me James.Piecowye@gmail.com