Google has started replacing publisher links in its Discover feed with AI-written posts summarising related stories. The new feature, deployed sporadically so far, follows Discover changes which have already downgraded publisher posts in favour of content from X and Youtube. Publishers have seen a sharp drop in referral traffic from the news aggregation feed served to smartphone users.
Source: Google AI changes could deal further blow to publisher Discover traffic
Google has said it is exploring new “value exchange models” with publishers and accepted the need for independent regulation of AI. The tech giant’s paper, A Pragmatic Approach to AI Governance in America, has defended the use of publicly available online content for training AI models, but said it is “piloting novel ways to partner with websites whose content meaningfully contributes to the freshness and factuality of generative AI responses”.
Source: Google accepts need for ‘new value exchange’ with publishers
In 2023, concerns over the rise of generative AI animated the writers’ and actors’ strikes, with many rank-and-file workers fearful that it could put wide swaths of the entertainment industry out of work. Three years later, with those concerns still alive and well, some Hollywood workers have been moonlighting in AI training, working to help improve the tech, anyway. As the traditional film and television job market narrows, this kind of gig work is on the rise and current and former entertainment workers are taking part.
Source: Hollywood Workers Are Training AI Models as Job Prospects Grow Slim
As tech and AI companies push further into entertainment and media, their stewardship of that content (or lack thereof) is becoming a story into itself. At the same time, strategic maneuvers by Amazon, YouTube and Meta appear designed to take over the biggest screen in the home: The TV set, ultimately stealing time from legacy studios in what is effectively a zero sum game.
A new music technology company called Artist Included has launched in Los Angeles, aiming to let artists re-record classic tracks using AI-assisted vocal technology. The company claims that it is “creating a new model for legendary artists to reimagine classic recordings and create new, artist-owned masters for today’s market”.
Source: Tech startup Artist Included launches with plan to re-record classic songs using AI
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) revealed some worrying data tied to the sustained hit the industry has taken from streaming providers’ “bundles.” As Spotify (and similarly, Amazon Music) started reclassifying its “premium” subscription tiers as a bundle with other services such as audiobooks, royalties paid by both companies have been cut by approximately 30% over the past two years.
Source: Streamers’ Bundling Has Cost Music Publishers Nearly $500 Million Since 2024: NMPA
Publisher AI standards coalition SPUR has shared details of a proposed “common language” for tracking content usage by AI companies. SPUR aims to come up with a standard technical foundation for how AI platforms report on use of the content they scrape. This could be used by publishers when agreeing licensing deals. SPUR was launched at the start of the year by The Guardian, the Financial Times, BBC, Sky News and The Telegraph and has since added more than 20 other publisher members.
Source: SPUR publishes ‘common language’ for tracking AI use of publisher content
A new study sponsored by the Authors Guild examining the causes of the decline in authors’ earnings found that only 25% of print books and e-books read in the past month were bought new or through a paid subscription. The study, conducted by the Codex Group, notes that while books are available in more formats and channels than ever before, average author earnings, now pegged at about $10,000 annually, have declined about 42% since 2009, the year Kindles first entered the market.
Source: Authors Guild Looks at Why Author Incomes Are in Decline
On this day in June 1965, Sony Corporation made a bold leap into consumer electronics by introducing one of the world’s first home video tape recorders to the U.S. market. The device, known as the CV-2000 Videocorder, carried a suggested retail price of $995 and promised to revolutionize how families captured and replayed moving images in their living rooms. It marked a significant milestone as the first fully transistorized video tape recorder designed with home users in mind.
Source: 61 Years Ago Today: Sony Brings Video Recording into American Homes
The CMA hopes this will give publishers greater leverage in content deals with Google, by forcing the company to seek permission to use their intellectual property. The CMA will wait to see how its first wave of interventions pan out before it decides whether to act further. This announcement at least signals a direction of travel.
Source: What do UK watchdog’s new rules on Google AI results mean for publishers?