Headlines

NYC Council Set to Vote on Living Wage for Musicians Act

The United Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) group is the driving force behind the campaign for the act. It has organized events and petitions urging the NYC council to pass this resolution, highlighting the urgent need for fair compensation in the streaming era. The act has also received support from other labor and music advocacy organizations, which reflects their broad concern over the economic precarity introduced with the advent of AI.

Source: NYC Council Set to Vote on Living Wage for Musicians Act

Deepfake Laws Bring Prosecution and Penalties, but Also Pushback

Already this year, 26 laws governing various kinds of deepfakes have been enacted, following 80 in 2024 and 15 in 2023, according to the political database Ballotpedia. This month in Tennessee, sharing deepfake sexual images without permission became a felony that carries up to 15 years of prison time and as much as $10,000 in fines.

Source: Deepfake Laws Bring Prosecution and Penalties, but Also Pushback

YouTube’s Content ID payouts to rightsholders have passed $12bn

According to YouTube’s latest ‘Copyright Transparency Report’ the company had paid out $12bn of ad revenue to rightsholders as of December 2024 from content claimed and monetised through Content ID. That is up from more than $9bn at the end of 2023, suggesting Content ID payouts of $3bn last year. Bear in mind this isn’t all for music rightsholders: Content ID is also used by film studios, games companies and other media and entertainment rightsholders.

Source: YouTube’s Content ID payouts to rightsholders have passed $12bn

CreateAI CEO: AI revolutionizing digital entertainment industry

The revolution of artificial intelligence in digital entertainment content is a once in a life time opportunity, said Cheng Lu, president and CEO of Chinese artificial intelligence technology company CreateAI, adding that AI will reshape the industry landscape of video games and anime. “In Hollywood and Japan, top-tier studios are drowning from rising production costs, labor shortage and long development cycles,” Lu said.

Source: CreateAI CEO: AI revolutionizing digital entertainment industry

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

As policy makers in the UK weigh how to regulate the AI industry, Nick Clegg, former UK deputy prime minister and former Meta executive, claimed a push for artist consent would “basically kill” the AI industry. “I just don’t know how you go around, asking everyone first. I just don’t see how that would work,” Clegg said. “And by the way if you did it in Britain and no one else did it, you would basically kill the AI industry in this country overnight.”

Source: Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

AI needs better human data, not bigger models

Humans have nuanced awareness. They draw on their experiences to make inferences and logical decisions. AI models are, however, only as good as their training data. An AI model’s accuracy doesn’t entirely depend on the underlying algorithms’ technical sophistication or the amount of data processed. Instead, accurate AI performance depends on trustworthy, high-quality data during training and analytical performance tests.

Source: AI needs better human data, not bigger models

Stability AI releases an audio-generating model that can run on smartphones 

AI startup Stability AI has released Stable Audio Open Small, a “stereo” audio-generating AI model that the company claims is the fastest on the market — and efficient enough to run on smartphones. Stable Audio Open Small is the fruit of a collaboration between Stability AI and Arm, the chipmaker that produces many of the processors inside tablets, phones, and other mobile devices.

Source: Stability AI releases an audio-generating model that can run on smartphones | TechCrunch

Elon Musk’s apparent power play at the Copyright Office completely backfired

What initially appeared to be a power play by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to take over the US Copyright Office by having Donald Trump remove the officials in charge has now backfired in spectacular fashion, as Trump’s acting replacements are known to be unfriendly — and even downright hostile — to the tech industry.

Source: Elon Musk’s apparent power play at the Copyright Office completely backfired

Audible Expands Catalog with AI Narration and Translation Services

Audible is now offering AI-powered narration and production services to select audiobook publishers, with AI translation services to launch in beta later this year. “Audible believes that AI represents a momentous opportunity to expand the availability of audiobooks with the vision of offering customers every book in every language, alongside our continued investments in premium original content,” Audible CEO Bob Carrigan said.

Source: Audible Expands Catalog with AI Narration and Translation Services

Music Publishers Accuse Anthropic AI of ‘Hallucinating’ Citations

Today a federal judge in San Jose ordered Anthropic to address allegations that one of its expert witnesses referenced a non-existent academic paper in the company’s court filing. The citation is purportedly from the journal American Statistician and was included in the filing to bolster Anthropic’s argument that the reproduction of copyrighted song lyrics is a “rare event.”

Source: Music Publishers Accuse Anthropic AI of ‘Hallucinating’ Citations

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