Headlines

Hollywood Assistants Are Using AI Despite Their Better Judgment

And, as with previous introductions of new technology into Hollywood, from digital film to email, AI is percolating from the bottom up, starting with the assistant class — on track to become industry standard as today’s underlings (those that survive the continual layoffs, that is) rise to positions of power. Confronted with larger workloads and a shrinking headcount, AI — both the kind officially approved by companies and more surreptitious uses — has made its way via support staff into essential Hollywood workflows.

Source: Hollywood Assistants Are Using AI Despite Their Better Judgment 

WGA Reaches Surprise Deal With Studios a Month Before Contract Expires

The guild reached a tentative agreement on Saturday with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The deal will run for four years — instead of the typical three-year term — a significant benefit to the studios, which will get an extra year without the possibility of a strike. Details were not immediately forthcoming, but the deal was expected to include a major cash infusion into the guild’s teetering health fund, which has bled $200 million over the last four years.

Source: WGA Reaches Surprise Deal With Studios a Month Before Contract Expires

IMPALA says WMG’s Revelator acquisition is ‘bad news for artists, fans, and Europe’s diversity’

The statement, published on Thursday (April 2), came one day after WMG announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the independent music platform, which specializes in digital music distribution, rights management, royalty accounting, and real-time analytics. IMPALA acknowledged that the deal reflects well on the independent sector’s capacity for innovation, but argued that it continues a pattern in which independent infrastructure is absorbed by major label groups

Source: IMPALA says WMG’s Revelator acquisition is ‘bad news for artists, fans, and Europe’s diversity’

U.S. Lawmakers Work on Unified Site-Blocking Bill to Counter Online Piracy

Last week’s Supreme Court decision in Cox Communications reshaped the piracy liability landscape, creating new urgency for site-blocking legislation in Congress. This could be addressed by Senator Thom Tillis and Representative Zoe Lofgren, who have been working on bicameral legislation that would require ISPs and DNS resolvers to block foreign pirate sites under court order, TorrentFreak has learned.

Source: U.S. Lawmakers Work on Unified Site-Blocking Bill to Counter Online Piracy

Copyright in AI Prompts: Chinese Court Ruling on Generative AI and Originality

On the facts of the case, the Chinese court, in a case of first impression, held that copyright did not subsist in six sets of prompts submitted to Midjourney and hence the copying of those prompts could not infringe copyright. However, the court suggested that there could be copyright in a more elaborate and specific set of prompts that meets copyright’s standard for originality.

Source: Copyright in AI Prompts: Chinese Court Ruling on Generative AI and Originality

ElevenLabs releases a new AI-powered music-generation app

Voice AI company ElevenLabs has quietly released an iOS app called ElevenMusic that can be used to create music with AI and discover AI-generated music. The new app, which was listed on the App Store for a few weeks and finally released on April 1, suggests ElevenLabs wants to be more than just a voice model company. The company sees tools that use AI to create music and other mediums as a way to grow and protect itself from the eventual commoditization of AI audio models.

Source: ElevenLabs releases a new AI-powered music-generation app

CA’s Newsom Issues AI Executive Order After Trump Push Against ‘Cumbersome State AI Laws’

The executive order’s instructed development of “best practice guidance for departments and agencies to appropriately watermark” all “AI-generated or significantly manipulated images or video.” Longer term, making AI watermarks the norm across the board would, of course, be a sweeping step – and a step with multiple considerations beneath the surface. How would doing so affect the growing collection of creations incorporating, but not solely resulting from, generative AI?

Source: CA’s Newsom Issues AI Executive Order After Trump Push Against ‘Cumbersome State AI Laws’

Thousands of people are selling their identities to train AI – but at what cost?

These gig AI trainers – who upload everything from scenes around them to photos, videos and audio of themselves – are at the frontlines of a new global data gold rush. As Silicon Valley’s hunger for high-quality, human-grade data outpaces what can be scraped from the open internet, a thriving industry of data marketplaces has emerged to bridge the gap. From Cape Town to Chicago, thousands of people are now micro-licensing their biometric identities and intimate data to train the next generation of AI.

Source: Thousands of people are selling their identities to train AI – but at what cost?

Publishers Back Concord Music Group’s AI Suit

Four organizations representing various publishers and content creators have filed an amicus brief supporting Concord Music Group in its copyright infringement lawsuit against AI giant Anthropic. According to a joint statement from the leaders of the four organizations involved, “This case illuminates the critical, collaborative licensing markets that are developing among copyright owners and technology companies for consumer-facing AI products, driving better, safer, and fairer outcomes for all involved.”

Source: Publishers Back Concord Music Group’s AI Suit

RIAA, NMPA file amicus brief backing UMG, Concord and ABKCO in original Anthropic case

The coalition, which also includes A2IM, SoundExchange, SONA, BMAC, the Music Artists Coalition, and the Artist Rights Alliance, filed an amicus brief on Monday (March 30) urging a federal court to reject Anthropic’s fair use defense in the case brought by Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord Music Group, and ABKCO in October 2023. Its core argument is twofold: that AI-generated music already acts as a direct market substitute for human-created works, and that a functioning licensing market for AI training already exists.

Source: RIAA, NMPA file amicus brief backing UMG, Concord and ABKCO in original Anthropic case

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