Meta — home to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — and Universal Music Group have announced an expanded agreement that addresses compensation and AI. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the announcement says the new agreement “reflects the two companies’ shared commitment to protecting human creators and artistry, including ensuring that artists and songwriters are compensated fairly.”
Source: Universal Music and Meta Announce ‘Expanded Global Agreement’ for AI, Monetization and More
Stars from Hollywood’s golden age are being reborn through celebrity estate AI voice cloning deals, a sign of how some of the “Wild West” concerns about unauthorized AI impersonation are being addressed by new business models. ElevenLabs, an audio technology startup, has penned multiple deals with the estates of legendary actors for its IconicVoices tool that allows users to have AI-generated voices read to them via an audiobook app.
Thomson said in a statement alongside the financial results: “Our landmark agreement with OpenAI is not only expected to be lucrative, but will enable us to work closely with a trusted, pre-eminent partner to fashion a future for professional journalism and for provenance. Meanwhile, we have begun to take legal steps against AI aggressors, the egregious aggregators, who are predatory in the confiscation of our content. ‘Open source’ can never be a justification for ‘open slather.’”
Source: News Corp has begun legal moves against ‘AI aggressors’, CEO reveals
Bodies representing the UK’s directors, writers and actors have written to big tech firms challenging them for using their work to train generative AI models. The Creators Rights Alliance (CRA) has today penned the letter, citing the need to “safeguard human creativity, truthful content and the rights of authors, creators, and performers.”
Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, Apple and Meta are facing heat from the U.K.’s creative community over the use of copyrighted material in AI development. The Creators’ Rights Alliance (CRA) has fired off a stern warning to these tech behemoths and others in the software development sector, demanding an end to the unauthorized use of creative works for AI training and operation.
Source: Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, Apple, Meta Targeted in U.K. Creators’ AI Content Crackdown
The RIAA and several other organizations condemn AI startup Anthropic for allegedly flaunting copyright law. The criticism appears in an amicus brief in support of a court injunction requested by music publishers, who want the AI company to stop using lyrics without permission. According to the RIAA, Anthropic’s defense relies on the same rhetoric as Napster once did.
Source: RIAA Backs AI Copyright Lawsuit Against Anthropic, Sees Similarities with Napster * TorrentFreak
A new AI start-up has signed deals with several major global news publishers convinced by its plan to share revenue each time their content is used to generate an answer – before it has even launched. The Financial Times, Fortune, Axel Springer and The Atlantic have all agreed to license their content to Prorata.ai.
Source: FT, Atlantic, Axel Springer and Fortune get behind AI start-up’s per-use compensation plan
Associations worldwide representing authors’ collective management organizations in the music and visual arts sectors — including CISAC, EVA, IFRRO, GESAC, and the SAA — have responded to Finland’s recent cut to its private copying compensation plan, urging the country to reverse the decision. The organizations have joined forces to express “great concern on behalf of both the Finnish authors and all European/international authors.
Source: Finland Slashes Its Private Copying Compensation Plan
ProRata.ai has invented tech that it claims enables gen AI platforms to accurately attribute and share revenues on a per-use basis with content owners. ProRata has raised$25 million in a Series A round for its tech, for which it has several pending patents. The company’s early investors include Revolution Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, Mayfield and Technology incubator Idealab Studio.
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) has announced a new collaboration with Beatdapp to “complement and enhance” The MLC’s existing streaming fraud detection capabilities. Beatdapp, a music streaming fraud detection company, announced a USD $17 million funding round in January. Beatdapp has previously said that its technology analyzes massive datasets to identify fraudulent streams, ensuring rightful payouts for artists and rights holders.
Source: The MLC partners with Beatdapp for streaming fraud detection services