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Why AI is a major sticking point in the Hollywood strikes · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Friday, August 4th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show: Why a lifesaving HIV program is in major trouble, team USA heads into a critical World Cup match, and tips for navigating life's big transitions.
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  But first, the Writers Guild and Hollywood studios are set to start talking again today. It'll be the first formal meeting they've had in more than three months. Since talks broke down with writers, actors have gone on strike too, grinding productions to a halt. A key dispute is over how studios will use artificial intelligence. "The Wall Street Journal" takes a closer look at this. Executives say Al can help make better entertainment for less money, and help artists do their jobs. But many workers are concerned Al will actually replace their jobs. So, they want regulations on how it's used. This is not just a worry for the writers and actors on strike. Other Hollywood jobs could be affected, including those that don't have unions to fight for them. One film editor says he worries that studios could program Al to do first cuts of scenes. Eventually, maybe a series that would usually have three human editors might only hire one. Many think Al has potential to speed up storyboarding and set design. A visual-effects specialist told the "Journal," Al has been a helpful tool in cutting down the more tedious parts of the job. But he also worries about Al reducing the amount of work he can get. Visual effects artists don't have a union, but some are now trying to organize.
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  NPR spoke to Carla Ortiz , a graphic artist who worked on some of Marvel's biggest blockbusters. She says that her previous work was used to train Al systems.
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  Carla Ortiz: It took away my ability to consent to being a part of this technology. They took away my credit. No one will know that my work powered those images outside of my name being clearly linked to it. And it took any kind of compensation away.
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  Ortiz says that it's critical that artists move now to protect their work and their jobs, before it's too late.
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  Carla Ortiz: It's not a hypothetical for us. It's happening right now. It's existential for us, really.
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  The future of a lifesaving, globally successful, bipartisan HIV program is in jeopardy. It's the latest thing to be sucked into the growing fight over abortion in the U.S. The program is called PEPFAR: the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. It's credited with saving more than 25 million lives worldwide. Parts of it expire in a few weeks, and right now some Republicans on the Hill are threatening to block its reauthorization. They're citing claims that the program indirectly funds abortions. Supporters of PEPFAR say that's misleading. We asked "Washington Post" health reporter Dan Diamond to sort out the facts.
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  Dan Diamond: The program is barred from funding abortion abroad, I think that's important to state upfront, but is PEPFAR supporting organizations overseas that may be separately promoting abortion, or encouraging local laws to change around abortion? I think the answer on that is, yes, there does appear to be some evidence of that.
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  In a way, GOP opposition to PEPFAR is surprising. One Republican questioning it now, New Jersey congressman Chris Smith, was a supporter in the past. And PEPFAR was a signature policy of President George W. Bush. He was in DC earlier this year urging lawmakers to keep funding it. Since Bush launched PEPFAR in 2003, the U.S. has invested more than $100 billion to treat and prevent the disease.
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  Diamond: Before PEPFAR was implemented, the number of people receiving antiretroviral therapy was relatively small compared to the millions of people who now receive it today. So PEPFAR is, in some ways, a victim of its own success because HIV is not the pressing threat that it was when President Bush announced it in 2003.
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  Diamond says the fight over PEPFAR is part of a larger battle playing out in Washington.
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  Diamond: I mean, there have been military bills and the Pentagon's role that have been scrutinized over abortion. There's been for years and years scrutiny over federal funding for the Affordable Care Act, and whether that's supporting abortions. So PEPFAR is not alone in having abortion questions hang over it. It's just a new battle to have it rise to the level of threatening the reauthorization of the program.
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  If lawmakers do not reauthorize PEPFAR, health advocates say that'll send a chilling message to countries around the world that need the funding to save lives.
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  The knockout rounds in the World Cup start this weekend, after a pretty chaotic Group Stage. There have been a lot of surprises. Heavy hitters like Germany, Brazil and Canada are out. And some unexpected teams like Jamaica and Morocco made it through.
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  Early Sunday morning, the United States will take on Sweden in a must-win match. In the latest episode of After the Whistle, hosts Brendan Hunt and Rebecca Lowe break down what you need to know ahead of the game.
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  Brendan Hunt: First of all, the U.S. has played Sweden more than any other team in the history of the Women's World Cup. Six times. Six times over the years. The last time the U.S. had a nil-nil draw, it was against Sweden, and the last time the U.S. lost in 90 minutes was also against Sweden.
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  Rebecca Lowe: So, the first Women's World Cup, Brendan, was in 1991. And, basically, since then, these are two women's World Cup, or women's football, heavyweights. Sweden has ebbed and flowed a bit more than the United States, but Sweden, if you know anything about women's football in the last 30 years, they are one of the heavyweights. So, will they live up to that sort of history and tradition in their country, or not? So far it looks like they might do.
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  Hunt: Can I throw you one fun fact… two fun facts? Two fun facts about the U.S. performance so far?
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  Lowe: Yep.
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  Hunt: One, the goalkeeper, Alyssa Naeher, has not made a single save in the entire group stage. And the other thing, is the U.S., of course, has only scored four goals, but their expected goals is 7.8. That's a 3.8 disparity, which is the largest in the tournament so far. And I think it's supposed to be encouraging, [LAUGHS] but it isn't quite.
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  Lowe: Well, they're either saving themselves or we've all massively got them wrong. I'm gonna go with they're saving themselves.
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  You can hear the full episode if you follow "After the Whistle with Brendan Hunt and Rebecca Lowe" in Apple Podcasts. And tune in to the match on Sunday at 5am Eastern, 2am Pacific, to see if the U.S. can take down Sweden and get back on track.
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  Before we send you into the weekend, I want to tell you about what we've been working on for Apple News: In Conversation. Our "Think Again" series is back, and this year we are re-thinking how we approach big life transitions. This is a topic that's, sort of, near and dear to me. I've been hit with some of the big ones in the past few years. Marriage, changing jobs, losing loved ones. For the series, we're asking: why does change feel so challenging and destabilizing, and what can we do to be better at handling it?
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  Shankar Vedantam: We are able to adapt to circumstances far better than any other species that has ever been on the planet. At the same time, periods of adaptation and change often feel incredibly stressful for us, and many of us recoil from making those changes.
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  That's my first guest in the series, Shankar Vedantam, host of the podcast, "Hidden Brain." In the first episode, Shankar lays out how our brains are wired to react to entering new chapters of life.
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  Vedantam: In our evolutionary past, we have strong triggers that tell us, "If something is working, don't change it." And so, I think it's right that we are cautious about change, and it's a good thing that we're cautious about change. But I think in the world that we live in today, in some ways, this is an evolutionary mismatch, if you will.
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  Shanker has a lot of helpful strategies for how to see transitions as opportunities, rather than obstacles. One tip, ask yourself these three questions to figure out what to do when you're at a crossroads…
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  Vedantam: The first question is, am I doing something that I love, or am I contemplating something that I would love to do? The second question is, am I going to be good at doing it? And the third question is, does the world need what it is I'm going to be doing? You'll see that if you try and answer those questions, at the intersection of the answers to those three questions, often lies a clue to what you should be doing with your life.
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  In the coming weeks on In Conversation, you'll hear episodes about figuring out your path and purpose in early adulthood, confronting grief, and this one's personal because I'm about to experience this transition myself, becoming a parent. And for each topic, we'll talk about tangible things for you to do, and think about. Plus, we'll
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  share what some of you, our listeners, told us about big moments of change in your lives.
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  Undisclosed Speaker 1: I made the radical decision to suspend my surgical career.
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  Undisclosed Speaker 2: One of those big ones they talk about, getting divorced from a man who wasn't treating me well.
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  Undisclosed Speaker 3: After my divorce my life felt unmanageable.
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  Undisclosed Speaker 4: I decided to leave my very lucrative litigation career as an attorney.
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  Undisclosed Speaker 5: And I did a 180.
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  Undisclosed Speaker 6: I wanted to stop trying to fit into the world, but instead find my place in it.
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  You can find this episode of Apple News: In Conversation in the Podcasts app. Give us a follow so you don't miss the rest of the series. And if you're listening in the Apple News app right now, my conversation with Shanker Vedantam will automatically play for you right after this. Have a good weekend, and we'll be back with the news on
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  Monday.
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