Google is the latest AI tech giant to announce a number of cash deals with leading publishers. Unlike other AI deals with publishers (done by companies including OpenAI, Meta and Microsoft) these arrangements don’t talk about licensing. Instead they are described as building on existing commercial partnerships with publishers, which currently mainly fall under the Google News Showcase scheme. Google says it pays publishers for “extended display rights and content delivery methods like APIs”.
Podcast industry under siege as AI bots flood airways with thousands of programs
AI can make podcasts sound better and cost less, industry insiders say, but the growing swarm of new competitors entering an already crowded market is disrupting the industry. Some podcasters are pushing back, requesting restrictions. Others are already cloning their voices and handing over their podcasts to AI bots. The slow encroachment of AI voices for one-off episodes, canned ad reads, sentence replacement in postproduction or translation into multiple languages has sparked anger as well as curiosity from both creators and consumers of the content.
Source: Podcast industry under siege as AI bots flood airways with thousands of programs
This Audio Startup Churns Out 3,000 AI Podcasts A Week
As the rise of artificial intelligence seems to affect most of the entertainment and tech sectors, at least podcasting remains safe, right? Wrong. Already, there are at least 175,000 AI-generated podcast episodes available on platforms like Spotify—thanks to startup Inception Point AI. The company, with just eight employees, is churning out a whopping 3,000 AI-generated podcast episodes a week.
Source: This Audio Startup Churns Out 3,000 AI Podcasts A Week
U.S. Congressman Asks FTC to Investigate Possible ‘Deceptive Acts’ by PROs
U.S. Representative Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday (Dec. 8) urging the examination of “potential unfair or deceptive acts or practices by performing rights organizations (PROs) which could constitute a violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.” Specifically, Fitzgerald’s letter, obtained by Billboard, centers its concerns on the two newest PROs in the U.S.: AllTrack and Pro Music Rights.
Google testing AI-powered article overviews on select publications’ Google News pages
News publishers participating in the pilot program include Der Spiegel, El País, Folha, Infobae, Kompas, The Guardian, The Times of India, The Washington Examiner, and The Washington Post, among others. The purpose of the new commercial partnership program is to “explore how AI can drive more engaged audiences,” Google said in a blog post. As part of the new AI pilot program, the company will work with publishers to experiment with new features in Google News.
More Evidence Points to a Sony Music v. Udio Impasse
A Sony Music-Udio settlement appears unlikely for 2025: In keeping with early evidence that the companies would continue litigating, a previously scheduled status conference has officially been axed. Technically, the major label and the AI music generator started December by asking the court to shelve their planned December 12th conference. In the same letter to the presiding judge, the parties, acknowledging “outstanding disputes,” requested yet another discovery document-production delay (the fifth overall).
Source: More Evidence Points to a Sony Music v. Udio Impasse
Inside the Creation of Tilly Norwood, the AI Actress Freaking Out Hollywood
Van der Velden says she is not out to replace real actresses. She is after something else—a new visual language of acid-trippy world building and uncanny realism only made possible by AI. She envisions “a whole new creative renaissance” for filmmakers and fewer financial barriers to new work. Most big movies today cost more than $100 million to make. Van der Velden thinks one done with AI would cost a fraction of that.
Source: Inside the Creation of Tilly Norwood, the AI Actress Freaking Out Hollywood
Indian Gov’t’s working paper on copyright and AI proposes hybrid licensing model
The Government of India has released a landmark working paper proposing a new policy framework to regulate the use of copyright-protected works for training Generative AI systems. The draft, prepared by a committee formed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), examines whether existing copyright laws adequately address challenges posed by AI technologies and recommends a hybrid statutory licensing model to balance innovation needs with creator rights.
Source: DPIIT releases working paper on copyright and AI, proposes hybrid licensing model
EU Report Distills AI-Training Lessons from Napster Piracy Era: Don’t Sue, License
An in-depth analysis on AI training and copyright, commissioned by the European Parliament, cautions against repeating the mistakes of the early 2000s when online piracy boomed. Instead of suing AI companies into oblivion or relying on “opt-out” mechanisms, the report sees “statutory licenses” as the optimal solution. This effectively authorizes the use of copyrighted works for AI training and should ultimately benefit creators and AI companies.
Source: EU Report Distills AI-Training Lessons from Napster Piracy Era: Don’t Sue, License * TorrentFreak
Penske Media Slaps Google With Amended Antitrust Lawsuit
Billboard owner Penske Media has fired off an amended antitrust lawsuit against Google over its AI search results and training. The company is accusing Google of leveraging its search “monopoly” by effectively compelling publishers to consent to providing content for AI summaries and training. With the ill-advised alternative being to exit Google’s search results outright, publishers are allegedly “caught between either permitting Google’s [AI features] underpayment or suffering existential search traffic declines.”
Source: Penske Media Slaps Google With Amended Antitrust Lawsuit