The decision by U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas sets the stage for what could be one of the first trials related to the unauthorized use of data to train AI systems. Tech companies including Meta Platforms, Stability AI and Microsoft-backed OpenAI are also facing lawsuits from authors, visual artists and other copyright owners over the use of their work to train the companies’ generative AI software.
Source: Thomson Reuters AI copyright dispute must go to trial, judge says
On the heels of some positive strike-related news for Hollywood entertainment writers, the actors union is going in another direction: SAG-AFTRA has voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against ten major video game companies. Union officials say many of the same issues that actors are focused on for that strike — higher wages and artificial intelligence — are also issues they want to address in a new video-game contract.
Source: MediaDailyNews: SAG-AFTRA Votes To Authorize Strike Against Video-Game Producers
The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. Among the accusations, the lawsuit alleges that Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices; degrade quality for shoppers; overcharge sellers; stifle innovation; and prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon.
Source: FTC Sues Amazon, Alleging Company Illegally Maintains ‘Monopoly Power’
The new Splits: Priority Payouts feature will allow artists to prioritize the order in which collaborators are paid. It grants creators the ability to allocate and distribute revenues for each track according to their preferences. Through the Splits program, self-releasing artists can now designate a specific sum for a collaborator, guaranteeing full payment before percentage-based splits are disbursed to other contributors, TuneCore said in a press release.
Source: TuneCore launches Splits ‘Priority Payouts’ program for customized royalty splits
A group of major music publishers insist that Elon Musk’s X is liable for the widespread music piracy that takes place on its platform. X asked the court to dismiss their lawsuit, but the music companies say the social media platform is clearly in the wrong. With roughly $250 million in damages on the line, this legal battle should run its course, they argue.
Source: X Clearly Profits from Widespread Music Piracy, Labels Argue * TorrentFreak
Founding partner Ted Kalo spoke at last week’s Ivors Academy Global Creators Summit in London, explaining more about the campaign, its seven core principles for AI applications, and how he sees the regulatory environment. He certainly didn’t pull any punches. “The stakes are high and things are moving quickly. And there’s something that’s distinctly Orwellian that I think is going on with generative AI,” said Kalo in his introduction.
Source: Human Artistry Campaign on AI music: ‘The stakes are high’ – Music Ally
OpenAI has rolled out highly anticipated upgrades that will allow its popular ChatGPT chatbot to interact with images and voices. This launch represents a major step towards OpenAI’s vision for artificial general intelligence that can perceive and process information from multiple modes, not just text. “We are beginning to roll out new voice and image capabilities in ChatGPT,” OpenAI said in its official blog post.
Source: OpenAI Upgrades ChatGPT: The AI Chatbot Can Now “See, Hear and Speak” – Decrypt
Amazon on Monday said it will invest up to $4 billion in cash in the high-profile startup Anthropic, in its effort to compete with growing cloud rivals on artificial intelligence. In a joint interview, the CEOs of Amazon’s cloud division and Anthropic said the immediate investment will be $1.25 billion, with either party having the authority to trigger another $2.75 billion in funding by Amazon.
Source: Amazon steps up AI race with up to $4 billion deal to invest in Anthropic
The Seattle-based company is taking a two-pronged approach to the threat and opportunity that AI poses to its business. First, it sued a leading purveyor of AI-generated images earlier this year for what it alleged was “brazen infringement” of Getty’s image collection. But on Monday, it also joined the small but growing market of AI image makers with a new service that enables its customers to create novel images trained on Getty’s own vast library of human-made photos.
Source: Photo giant Getty took a leading AI image-maker to court. Now it’s also embracing the technology
Described by the company in a press release on Monday (September 25), as “groundbreaking”, the new AI tool can translate podcasts into additional languages — all in the podcaster’s own voice. According to Spotify, by using this tech, it can “match the original speaker’s style, making for a more authentic listening experience that sounds more personal and natural than traditional dubbing”.