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Each year, the Pulitzer Prize award is given to those in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition for their achievements.
This year, for 2024, amongst the 45 journalists who have been selected as finalists, five people’s entries are AI-powered.
While the extent of the use of artificial intelligence in their submissions isn’t yet known, it is confirmed that the technology was used at various stages of their reporting processes.
Pulitzer Prize administrator Marjorie Miller told Nieman Lab that the board first began discussing how they’ll react to AI early last year: “AI tools at the time had an ‘oh no, the devil is coming’ reputation…”
Miller goes on to suggest the board’s approach from the beginning has always been exploratory and they’ve never considered restricting this as it could discourage newsrooms from ‘engaging with innovative technology.’
Often regarded as the highest award and honor in journalism, the Pulitzer Prize has now added a disclosure requirement for all journalism entrants. They must now share the use of AI during the process of researching, reporting, or telling their submissions.
More details about this usage may well be released when the finalists and winners are announced on May 8, 2024.
How the journalism industry is reacting to AI usage
As this technology becomes more prominent across different sectors, it’s understandable that award organizations and publishers are eager to put appropriate policies in place.
The George Polk Awards are considering how they’ll adapt rules for technology. Awards curator John Darnton spoke with Nieman Lab about his opinion: “If [generative] AI is an essential part of the whole project, I would look askance at it as an entry…
“Most investigative projects rely on some kind of moral judgment. And I wouldn’t trust [generative] AI to make that judgment.”
In July of 2023, the Associated Press signed a two-year deal with OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, to share access to select news content.
This was one of the first deals to be signed between an artificial intelligence firm and a major news company.
Featured image: Ideogram
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You can officially test if you’d make it working in the highest level of intelligence, as a top UK security agency releases a puzzle to appeal to potential recruits.
The opaquely named Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is a subsidiary of the country’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and it acts as an intelligence and security organization responsible for providing information assurance to the government and armed forces for the United Kingdom. The U.S. equivalent is the National Security Agency (NSA).
Posting on LinkedIn for the first time, the GCHQ has asked people if they’ve ‘got what it takes to be an intelligence analyst’ as they aim to reach possible new team members.
They worked with professional Manchester-based artist Justin Eagleton to create a puzzle with a hidden message.
A message is hidden in the puzzle image
Within the artwork are 13 elements that represent letters of the alphabet. All you have to do is identify those letters and assemble them to find the message.
Speaking further on the social media post, the team at GCHQ explain more about the requirement of having strong lateral-thinking skills: “Problem-solving is at the heart of what we do.
“Our people tackle the most complex of challenges every day to help keep the country safe. It’s only possible by bringing together a mix of minds – people who can see things differently or think outside the box.”
GCHQ is hiring on LinkedIn
Also in their LinkedIn debut is an introductory video by director Anne Keast-Butler who expands on their day-to-day and why they’ve chosen now to join the professional networking site: “So we’re on a journey to make sure that we reach out to and connect to people who’ve never thought of working with us…
“And I hope you’ll be inspired to think about careers with us. If you like problem-solving, if you’re great in teams, if you know your tech, if you just see the bigger picture and want to make a difference. These are all skills and qualities that we look for in the people who work with us.”
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Ethereum’s (ETH) development team is all hands on deck, preparing for the highly awaited Dencun update happening today.
This isn’t just another update, this is one of the biggest change implemented on the Ethereum blockchain in over a year. The Dancun name is a combination of the project names Deneb and Cancun, indicating a dual upgrade on Ethereum’s consensus and execution layers that were named this way.
The update is expected to go live around 13:55 UTC and the costs of transactions is expected to then take a dive. The effects should be even more noticeable on the burgeoning number of secondary networks, or layer-2 “rollups,” built on top of Ethereum.
What is Dencun?
At its core, Dencun introduces the long-awaited “proto-danksharding” with Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4844. This change is expected to significantly improve the network’s ability to handle the data generated by layer-2 solutions.
The road to Dencun travelled along a bumpy road, with the team originally eyeing a launch in late 2023. However, the implementation was slowed by technical challenges which pushed the target date forward. Still, following test network implementations — which had issues of their own — the roadmap is moving forward once again.
How to follow the Ethereum Decun upgrade?
The Ethereum community is buzzing with excitement, and the EthStaker developer group along with Nethermind, an Ethereum infrastructure firm, are hosting live streams to celebrate Dencun’s debut which you can watch below.

Dencun’s crown jewel is the aforementioned new feature called “proto-danksharding.” It’s introducing a whole new way to store transaction data on Ethereum through so-called “blobs.” Those blobs are then deleted when their data is not necessary anymore, significantly decreasing the strain on network resources and lower costs.
Proto-danksharding is Ethereum’s first attempt at “sharding,” a technique aimed at breaking the blockchain into smaller pieces to process transactions more cheaply. Though a full-blown sharding solution is likely still a few years away, this step could mean high fees can more easily be avoided through layer-2s in the meanwhile.
Moreover, this update will make life easier for a new breed of blockchains known as data availability (DA) layers, which L2s often use to store large quantities of transaction data. Proto-Danksharding could result in cheaper DA data downloads. Polygon’s co-founder, Jordi Baylina, told Coindesk in early March:
Prices should go down… it’s a matter of supply and demand.
The next steps for Ethereum
After Dencun, the team’s eyes will be on the next big thing, currently dubbed Electra + Prague (Petra). The EIPs that will be included in this update are not yet decided, but “Verkle Trees,” a new way to help nodes store data, is being considered. Karl Floersch, the brain behind OP Labs — the company behind the Optimistic Rollups layer-2 implementation Optimism (OP)  — explained:
Scalability is the key that unlocks permissionless collaboration.”
The development follows recent reports that United States-based publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase met with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to discuss the Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposed by asset manager Grayscale Investments.
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After over a decade of dormancy, 2K has officially spoken out about the release date of their upcoming tennis game ‘TopSpin 2K25.’
Announced via X yesterday (Mar. 12) the team behind the revival issued a sneak peek trailer of the gameplay, along with saying: ‘You’ve waited a long time for this, and so have we. #TopSpin2K25 4.26.24’

You’ve waited a long time for this, and so have we. #TopSpin2K25. 4.26.24 @serenawilliams @rogerfederer pic.twitter.com/MRzR7ZAmyj
— #TopSpin2K25 (@topspin2k) March 12, 2024

They went on to tag two tennis legends in the post, Serena Williams and Roger Federer. Both of whom will be featured in the ‘Grand Slam Edition’ too.
There’s a roster of over 24 playable pros and you can either step onto the court solo or with a friend in multiplayer mode.
Speaking via a press release on the 2K Newsroom, the gaming director at Hangar 13 Remi Ercolani said: “It has been several years since the last iteration of TopSpin and we’re proud to introduce TopSpin 2K25 while the popularity of tennis is at its peak,”
“Topspin 2K25 captures the spirit and the culture of the sport, offering deep personalization and enhanced gameplay.
“The team and I are proud to share TopSpin 2K25 with the world and look forward to seeing players enjoy the game.”
There are four variations of the game, spanning from the ‘Standard Edition,’ ‘Standard Cross-Gen Edition,’ ‘Deluxe Edition,’ and the ultimate ‘Grand Slam Edition.’
Fans respond to TopSpin 2K25 news
Fans are set to be excited as the last game was released in 2011, for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 generation. Now, it will be available for those on digital, PS5, PS4, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
The responses to the X post, confirming the scheduled worldwide release on Friday, April 26, are filled with excitement.

The King Is Back
— ꪜꪖꪀ (@VanTeamOM) March 12, 2024

One user thanked the team: ‘thank you 2K for allowing us to feel the top spin energy after so many years ! we missed u.’

thank you 2K for allowing us to feel the top spin energy after so many years ! we missed u
— . (@BestSS33) March 12, 2024

Others respond with ‘this is best news ever man!’ and ‘LOOKS AMAZING CAN’T WAIT.’
Although, amongst this is some skepticism from customers of the previous game as they worry that Top Spin 4 ‘looks better.’

Top Spin 4 looks better I’m just gonna be honest after watching some gameplay on YouTube
— tgc (@thegamechanging) March 12, 2024

Some users have taken to critique the characters leg positions too ahead of the upcoming release date.

On the serve of Alcaraz, legs position are not good and the ball is thrown too sideways (Tiafoe too). @topspin2k pic.twitter.com/pnj2wxFSpX
— Jules (@littlebigzouzou) March 12, 2024

Featured image: Via X from 2K
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