Morning Wire XX
[0] New census numbers show people continue to flock south while the blue state exodus persists.
[1] What's driving the interstate migration?
[2] And did your home state shrink or grow?
[3] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley.
[4] It's New Year's Eve, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
[5] Artificial intelligence is writing everything from music to news stories.
[6] What does this new technology mean for consumers and flesh -and -blood creators.
[7] And it's a bird.
[8] It's a plane.
[9] It's not Henry Cavill.
[10] We discussed the future of the big screen's most lucrative and high -flying franchises.
[11] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[12] Stay tuned.
[13] We have the news you need to know.
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[19] The latest census data shows that blue states experienced the largest population declines in 2022.
[20] By contrast, a number of red states are experiencing record growth.
[21] Here to break down the details is Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan, Basham.
[22] So, Megan, which states are gaining and which states are losing?
[23] Well, the biggest losers were the big blue states, New York, California, and Illinois.
[24] And then on the growth side, Florida led the pack, followed by Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
[25] So you have to note that all of those are southern or southwestern states there.
[26] But some other interesting tidbits when you dig down into this data centers on the northwestern states like Oregon and Washington.
[27] So over the past 10 years, they pretty faintly.
[28] famously drew a lot of Americans looking for jobs in booming industries like tech, think Amazon and Microsoft.
[29] Well, now both are losing population.
[30] In fact, Washington saw its first net decline in more than a decade.
[31] And then Colorado, another one of those more progressive states that was a big winner in the past, still saw some growth, but it has slowed down to a trickle.
[32] So big shifts in some of those previously booming blue states.
[33] Now, the headline here is that these numbers seem to suggest that a lot of this interstate migration is politically driven.
[34] Is that a fair assessment for most of these people?
[35] You know, I think it is because there's just no getting away from the fact that the bluest of blue states like California and New York experienced the steepest population drops, while states in the southern region that have much more conservative policies are experiencing explosive growth.
[36] And because of that, you're seeing things like the Wall Street Journal's editorial board calling this a blue state exodus.
[37] In particular, they're pointing to issues like strict COVID lockdowns and mandates, but there's also this question of how crime rates and an overall sense of disorder has really come to plague cities in some of these regions.
[38] Think homelessness, drug use, and theft that have become a rising problem.
[39] And these regions are also the ones that saw riots throughout 2020.
[40] And then, of course, you have to look at the high cost of living.
[41] Due in part to local tax policies, money does tend to go much further in cities like Dallas, Orlando, or Charlotte than it does in Los Angeles or Chicago.
[42] And then, of course, there's also the remote work revolution that the pandemic ushered in.
[43] A lot of Americans are now able to work from anywhere, so there's a lot more flexibility to move.
[44] And if you can keep your California salary and move to a red state where your money goes a lot further, that makes that option especially attractive.
[45] And then speaking of work, these red states tend to boast better employment rates.
[46] In November, Miami's unemployment rate was 1 .8%.
[47] Compare that to New York, which was at nearly 6%.
[48] In Chicago and Los Angeles, which hovered around 5%.
[49] So what we've seen as a result of all of this is reports like U -Haul saying it's run out of trucks to provide customers who want to move out of California.
[50] Now, this reminds me of a story we did several months ago about which major cities are gaining and losing.
[51] Right.
[52] So back in May, we reported that New York, San Francisco, and Chicago were the big losers for the period between July 2020 and July 2021.
[53] The top 10 fastest growing cities were all in Texas, Arizona, Florida, and Tennessee.
[54] So again, closely mirroring those state numbers.
[55] Well, I left California at the end of 2020 and now I'm in Nashville, so I feel like that means I'm right on trend.
[56] Always on the cutting edge, Georgia.
[57] All right, well, Megan, thanks so much for reporting.
[58] Anytime.
[59] That was Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham.
[60] Coming up, the growing impact of AI on our daily lives.
[61] If you like this podcast, subscribe to our Morning Wire newsletter available exclusively to Daily Wire members.
[62] Get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire .com slash subscribe.
[63] Use code morning wire to try Reader's Past membership and get your first month for only 99 cents.
[64] In this interview, we discussed the growing influence of artificial intelligence in our daily lives and the potential risks and benefits of its increasing presence.
[65] If that line sounded a bit robotic, it's because a bot wrote it.
[66] Here to discuss the surprising ways AI is infiltrating our daily lives is Daily Wires Michael Whitaker.
[67] Michael, welcome.
[68] Hey, Georgia.
[69] So the computational power, humanity has at its disposal, has grown exponentially over the last few decades.
[70] The phones, most of us carry in our pockets, are technically more powerful than the supercomputers NASA used during the Apollo missions.
[71] This information revolution has created an immense amount of wealth and entire sectors of the modern economy.
[72] But as computers are used in more and more ways, some observers have raised concerns that machines might displace human labor.
[73] So what are some of the most impressive things that AI is able to do right now?
[74] Well, you know how often websites will ask you to prove that you're actually a human?
[75] That's because right now bots make up between a quarter and half of all internet traffic.
[76] It's difficult to know exactly how many there are.
[77] That was a huge point of controversy back when Elon Musk purchased Twitter.
[78] These bots are often used to push spam, inflate follower accounts, or amplify certain messaging.
[79] Other bots can be weaponized in cyber attacks that can steal data or crash servers by overwhelming them with fake traffic.
[80] But it can also be used for more artistic purposes.
[81] can be trained to create pictures, write stories, or even compose music.
[82] You hear that piece playing in the background?
[83] A computer program wrote that, on a phone.
[84] Now, how is the phone able to do that?
[85] Of something called machine learning.
[86] Computers used to require exact instructions to be able to do anything.
[87] But now computer scientists have found ways to write code that can analyze large sets of data and, when given simple instructions, figure out the rules of that data set and recreate them.
[88] It's basically pattern recognition.
[89] But if a machine can be given a set of inputs and figure out the rules of the road, as we've seen with self -driving cars, why couldn't it learn the patterns of a classical composer or the basic rules of English composition?
[90] As a visual example, a popular new program called Lenza allows users to plug in selfies to the app, and it transforms them into avatars and a variety of artistic styles.
[91] Impressionist, film noir, anime, you name it.
[92] Now, what about written content?
[93] How soon will we be able to replace a news reporter with a bot?
[94] Georgia, I'm irreplaceable.
[95] As for other writers, it could still be a little while.
[96] Bots have been trained to write news articles, ad campaigns, and various kinds of copy.
[97] But while many of these can pass the Turing tests, they have difficulty with nuance.
[98] KFC Germany had to put out an apology last month after a bot ran an advertisement, encouraging customers to commemorate Crystal Knocht with its cheesy chicken.
[99] Crystal Noct, for those who aren't aware, is the night of broken glass.
[100] It was a Nazi -led campaign of violence against Jews and Jewish businesses.
[101] is widely seen as the opening of the Holocaust.
[102] But the computer couldn't tell the difference between a solemn day of remembrance for a national horror and a holiday sale.
[103] Still, AI can generate content very quickly.
[104] The New York Times recently highlighted a program called ChatGPT, which can respond to a variety of prompts.
[105] I told the software to write a story about Elon Musk and Donald Trump writing a donkey to Mars in the style of iambic pentameter.
[106] It did it in five seconds.
[107] And how did it turn out?
[108] It was pretty good.
[109] And we could see a lot more like it.
[110] A report by Europol earlier this year suggested that as much as 90 % of online content could be AI generated by 2026.
[111] Humans would likely still play some role.
[112] AI can only manipulate all information, so while it could write the bulk of stories reporters could focus on original investigations while adding a personalized rhetorical flair to copy.
[113] But some journalists are still a little nervous.
[114] All right, well, Michael, thanks so much for reporting.
[115] Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wires, Michael Whitaker.
[116] With Marvel and D .C. now accounting for a significant percentage of box office revenues, the stakes are higher than ever for who gets the coveted director's role, as well as who plays the leads.
[117] Joining us to discuss is Hollywood reporter Christian Toto, editor of the website, Hollywood in Toto.
[118] All right, Christian, so Marvel and D .C. have become massive financial players in Hollywood.
[119] But with D .C. in particular, there seems to be a lot of chaos behind the scenes.
[120] Fill us in here.
[121] What's going on with this D .C. universe?
[122] Do you think a very successful movie, studio, and franchise wouldn't have those troubles, but here we are.
[123] And they are trying to rework the entire franchise or universe, as they called it, in Comic -Con speak.
[124] And we've been learning a lot about Superman, at least the fate of Superman on the big screen.
[125] Henry Cavill, who's played him multiple times, was destined to be Superman once more.
[126] And that was after a cameo appearance in the Black Adam film.
[127] And that's what Henry Cavill said via social media.
[128] And then a few weeks later, we learned that, no, he will not be returning as Superman.
[129] They want to go in a new younger direction.
[130] This is according to James Gunn, who's basically the new overlord of this entire DC franchise.
[131] So we don't know what Superman will look like.
[132] We don't know the actor involved.
[133] But we do know that something will be happening soon because he is, again, the icon, the franchise figure of this entire series.
[134] Well, for some reason, my wife is very interested in whether Cavill is coming back as Superman.
[135] Now, what about reports of the Black Superman series?
[136] And how does that impact this decision?
[137] Well, in 2021, it was announced that there would be a Black Superman series.
[138] That would be apart from the existing universe.
[139] No casting, no director, no real story involved here.
[140] But journalists and author Tana Hasi Coates was assigned to do the screenplay for this.
[141] Now, usually with these projects, there's an announcement.
[142] And then you get the updates, casting news, director choices, maybe even publicity stills from the production.
[143] nothing has happened since then.
[144] There was a little bit of news saying that the project is still going forth, but other than that, we know nothing about it.
[145] So it could be years away.
[146] And if there's going to be a separate Superman film, a younger Superman, can these two films coexist?
[147] Will one lap the other?
[148] So I think the future is rather murky at this point.
[149] Now, as you mentioned, James Gunn is taking over the DC films and steering that entire ship.
[150] What do we know about his plan so far?
[151] Has he laid out a vision for the next phase of films?
[152] Well, I don't think we know a lot about the plan itself.
[153] It can be said that James Gunn is a smart choice because he's been involved with other films of this genre, including Guardians of the Galaxy.
[154] So he knows what he's talking about.
[155] He knows this whole realm.
[156] So I think if you're going to pick someone to be in charge of it, good choice.
[157] But I think we know more about what's not happening.
[158] We're not getting Henry Cavill back as Superman, at least not in the near future.
[159] We're also not seeing a Wonder Woman 3.
[160] That was in production, or at least in discussion.
[161] There was a plot.
[162] There was a screenplay involved.
[163] That is not moving forward.
[164] And there's even suspicions that Gal Gadot, who seemed so perfectly cast as Wonder Woman, may not proceed forward.
[165] We don't know.
[166] It just seems like there's a lot of chaos behind the scenes.
[167] And even things that seemed like sure things are suddenly up in the air.
[168] And just a quick note in that, there was supposed to be multiple cameos of superheroes in the upcoming Flash movie.
[169] That's a 2023 release coming this summer.
[170] But the cameo from Gal Gadot allegedly has been taken out of the movie.
[171] So why would they do that unless they were changing years along the way?
[172] Now, the Marvel movies have really set the gold standard for creating successful films that fit into a larger plan, a cohesive universe.
[173] But it seems they're not performing quite as well at the box office.
[174] How has Marvel fared in recent years?
[175] Well, that sort of unbelievably successful model apparently was hard to duplicate because they've struggled in the last year or two.
[176] This is the phase four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as they call it.
[177] And while there have been some successes at the box office, the numbers haven't been as big or robust as in the past.
[178] And there's been a lot of critical, I guess, attacks on the films or the fans have not been embracing them as robustly as previous models.
[179] And if you just look at the most recent films, what is the plan?
[180] They seem to be isolated stories with maybe a slight overlap here or there.
[181] it doesn't feel like something's come together that this new narrative at play.
[182] And that's what Marvel did initially.
[183] Of course, that ended with the Avengers films, including Infinity Wars and Endgame.
[184] That kind of cat, that entire saga.
[185] In often spectacular fashion, of course, it made tons of money in the box office, but it felt very satisfying for fans.
[186] But this new round of films, Phase 4, who's to say what the direction is?
[187] It seems like a bunch of different stories with little rhyme or reason.
[188] Well, it'll be interesting to see if the public maintains the same sort of appetite for superhero films as it did in Marvel's heyday a few years ago.
[189] Christian, thanks for coming on.
[190] That was Hollywood reporter, Christian Toto.
[191] Other stories we're tracking this week.
[192] The man being called the architect of the attempted kidnapping of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced to 19 years in prison, the longest sentence thus far.
[193] Starting January 5th, the U .S. will require COVID tests for travelers arriving by air from China.
[194] China, Hong Kong, and Macau.
[195] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[196] Thanks for waking up with us.
[197] We'll be back tomorrow with more news you need to know.