Source:
https://www.podbean.com/eau/pb-a2922-150741b

In this episode we cover the turmoil at OpenAI, AI vetting PR pitches, and the newly-released Guidelines, Tips, and Best Practices for using AI from PRSA. Let us know what you think at soloprpro.com.
 
Transcript
Karen Swim (00:04):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi, Karen, how are you?
Karen Swim, APR (00:20):
Hello, Michelle. I'm doing great. How are you doing?
Michelle Kane (00:24):
Doing well, doing well. We're coming on this episode after Thanksgiving, so we hope all of you had a really terrific holiday with your family and friends and got to relax a little bit and are easing your way into the return to the workplace.
 
Karen Swim, APR
Except this year, was it really Thanksgiving or was it just pre-Christmas? Because in my neighborhood, people skipped right to Christmas before Halloween was even over. So I am surrounded by lit up subdivisions and Christmas lights. Not that they set it all up because the weather was nice, which would be smart, but they actually just pulled the trigger some people in as well. The weather was good. They just go ahead and set up all the outside stuff and then turn it on for Thanksgiving. No, no, no, not this year. We have full on Christmas here in Michigan, and that was before Thanksgiving, long before Thanksgiving. So I'm thinking Thanksgiving is, it's really losing its way.
Michelle Kane (01:35):
Yeah, it is. I mean, thankfully we have parades in football to keep us in check, but it is strange because I consider myself a pretty flexible Gen Xer, but there are certain societal cues that I need and some that I miss. So you have to have, the stuffing has to digest before I pull out the red and the green and the yellow and the blue and all that stuff. Back in the day, the Jerry Lewis telethon final tote had to happen before I would set foot back in my school. None of that happens anymore. It's
Karen Swim, APR (02:09):
Anything happens anymore, and I'm feeling like Thanksgiving is, it's going to go the way of Pluto. It's going to get demoted,
Michelle Kane (02:17):
Although
Karen Swim, APR (02:17):
It's going to come to be known not as Thanksgiving, but as carb loading for Black Friday. I don't know.
Michelle Kane (02:24):
Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, I think everything's faster. I mean, we've seen the online sales early Black Friday, but in a way that's good. I am seeing, I can't give you the list, but it's nice to see that some big box stores are having sanity, sanity has prevailed. They're either not opening on Thanksgiving or they're having relatively, I don't want to say decent, but their hours aren't too wild. But yeah, it's weird days. Weird days. Maybe it speaks to our general anxiety as a society. Let's just get it done.
Karen Swim, APR (03:01):
This could be, was the thought sparked by the great toilet paper raid of 2020? I don't know. Is that where it all started to turn?
Michelle Kane (03:10):
Hey, I don't know. I don't know but that would speak to my inner Girl Scout. Be prepared.
Karen Swim, APR (03:16):
This is true. So why not have Black Friday four weeks ahead of schedule so that the planners and the preppers could make sure that they got everything that they need on sale.
Michelle Kane (03:28):
That's right.
Karen Swim, APR (03:29):
Someone else, before it's all gone.
Michelle Kane (03:31):
I will say if you are still eating your tuna fish from 1999, please don’t.
Well, in the name of prepping, I don't know if this segue is terrible, but there's been some activity. I know this is shocking in the world of AI, artificial intelligence, especially as it touches upon our profession, by the time this hits your podcast queue, not sure where the situation with OpenAI is going to be because it seems to be every day there's something new happening. But recently, the board ousted the chair, and now some of the board, the employees are signing petitions to bring him back. And as someone pointed out on the news today, such an influential change-making organization in the hands of the number of people you can count on two hands, not a great thing.
Karen Swim, APR (04:40):
Well, it's interesting from so many perspectives, it is huge in the world of AI because when there's that type of a shakeup, so Sam Altman, the CEO was ousted, as you said by the board, but then some other key members, I guess left and then they appointed an interim, and then Microsoft hired Sam, but then there was a push to bring Sam back, and Sam I think was part of that push. And the whole thing is just weird.
For users of OpenAI. It does make you take a step back because first of all, when the CEO is ousted by the board, sometimes those are due to concerns that don't speak to the product or the quality, but it does make you pause and wonder if you can trust