In a quarterly earnings call that was overwhelmingly about AI and Meta’s plans for it, Zuckerberg said that new, AI-generated feeds are likely to come to Facebook and other Meta platforms. Zuckerberg said he is excited for the “opportunity for AI to help people create content that just makes people’s feed experiences better.”
Source: Zuckerberg: The AI Slop Will Continue Until Morale Improves
A report from Enders Analysis has argued that generative artificial intelligence “will not alter the fundamental commercial reality for the news” as the shift online did previously. The research firm cautioned publishers to be “realistic” about the productivity and revenue gains possible from AI, but added that ignoring AI would be “a mistake”.
Source: How publishers use AI to boost productivity: From audio editions to exploiting archives
The company said on Monday (October 28) that the transaction would “fuel strategic growth and acquisition[s]” and that it underscores its “ongoing effort to strategically grow and monetize its music assets and position the company as a consequential force in the music industry”. Concord’s ABS transaction is securitized by royalties from its catalog of over one million compositions, master recordings, and related assets.
Source: Concord closes $850m Asset-Backed Securities transaction to ‘fuel strategic growth and acquisitions’
Kroll’s report cites an unnamed independent third-party valuation firm that valued the HSF portfolio at USD $2.36 billion as of August 1, 2024. That’s around $150 million more than the total amount HSF spent buying its portfolio over the years ($2.206 billion, according to financial documents). It’s also around$150 million more than the portfolio’s estimated enterprise value of $2.20 billion when Blackstone acquired it this summer.
That estimate comes from a new report by U.K.-based research firm Ampere Analysis. The spending across the six companies — Disney, Comcast, Google, Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix and Paramount Global — will reach a new high in 2024 and account for 51% of the total content spending landscape, up from 47% in 2020, according to Ampere.
Source: Six Biggest Companies to Spend Record $126 Billion on Content in 2024, up 9%, Led by Disney
Source: Microsoft’s AI demand under scrutiny as investors seek payday
One of the assurances we’re often given in responses to the fear that AI image generators could replace human artists is that there will always need to be a human involved. Generative AI needs a human creative to tell it what to do. But don’t tell that to Botto, a fully autonomous ‘AI artist’ who just raked in $351,600 in sales at the auction house Sotheby’s, setting a new milestone in the history of AI art.
Source: Forget AI image generators, an autonomous AI artist just made $351,600 at Sotheby’s
Meta’s AI chatbot will soon begin citing Reuters reporting while answering news-related queries. The two companies have struck what Axios describes as a “multi-year deal” that will allow Meta to use Reuters content for its chatbot responses. The deal is the first of its kind for Meta, in an era of news outlets agreeing to provide their content to AI companies.
OpenAI and Microsoft are funding projects to bring more AI tools into the newsroom. The duo will give grants of up to $10 million to Chicago Public Media, the Minnesota Star Tribune, Newsday (in Long Island, NY), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Seattle Times. Each of the publications will hire a two-year AI fellow to develop projects for implementing the technology and improving business sustainability.
Source: OpenAI and Microsoft are funding $10 million in grants for AI-powered journalism
Pink Floyd’s music rights sale has had plenty of twists and turns, like a screenplay stuck in development hell. But the legendary English rock band has agreed to sell its recorded music, name, image, and likeness to Sony Music for $400 million. But it’s rare to see a deal that large that doesn’t include publishing rights. Instead, this Pink Floyd deal should be looked at as a pure streaming revenue play given its focus on recorded music.
Source: Pink Floyd’s Complicated $400 Million Music Rights Sale to Sony