Neville Hobson joined FIR host Shel Holtz for the June edition of “The Hobson & Holtz Report” and conversation about these topics:

• An employee was mistakenly fired by an AI system and managers stood by powerless to correct the mistake. Was AI really to blame?
• IBM has introduced an AI designed for debate, which could mean there’s finally an unbiased devil’s advocate to point out the flaws in your business plan.
• There is no minimizing the threat to the Internet posed by the draconian copyright restrictions the European Parliament could vote into law as early as the first week of July.
• A couple of PRSA members are proposing an overhaul of ethics rules to make sure they apply to the group’s executive board (and making their case hasn’t been easy).
• The World Cup is using a Video Assisted Referee, which would have applications far beyond sports.
• Facebook is testing paid monthly Group subscriptions.
• Dan York reports on the impending identification by Google Chrome of all http sites as “not secure,” Google’s dedicated podcast app for Android, Instagram’s launch of IGTV (which accommodates videos up to an hour long), and an iOS update that adds some pretty cool audio editing directly from an iPad.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

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Links from this episode

• Man Was Fired By His Company’s AI System Due To Human Error, As Managers ‘Stood Powerless’
• The man who was fired by a machine
• When A Machine Fired Me
• Debating AI could be devil’s advocate for business
• Europe’s New Copyright Rules Will Be Devastating to the Internet as We Know It
• This Wednesday, an EU committee voted to break the Internet: this Sunday, Berliners take to the streets to say NO!
• Article 13 of the Copyright Directive Raises Serious Questions
• Save Your Internet
• PRSA’s Behind-the-Scenes Battle over Ethics
• What is the World Cup’s VAR Technology And How Does It Work?
• Facebook is testing paid monthly subscriptions for Groups
• Facebook tests monthly subscriptions for some Groups

Links from Dan York’s report

• Chrome will mark all HTTP sites as “not secure” starting in July
• Google launches dedicated podcast app for Android
• Instagram launches IGTV app for creators, 1-hour video uploads
• iWork apps updated with new audio features and Smart Annotation enhancements

(Photo at top by Matt Hoffman on Unsplash)