Technology

Librarians are hosting viral ‘Avoiding AI’ workshops for people who are fed up with Big Tech

“Everybody’s on their phone at my program!” jokes Charlie Bailey, a librarian in South Philadelphia. He’s just asked his audience to pull out their phones so that he can walk them through the steps of disabling Apple Intelligence and Gemini. “I was inspired by the feeling of people’s frustration with AI tools being kind of forced onto them, and feeling like AI tools we didn’t ask for are suddenly everywhere in our lives,” Bailey told TechCrunch.

Source: Librarians are hosting viral ‘Avoiding AI’ workshops for people who are fed up with Big Tech

Hollywood fights AI in public while quietly building it into movies

Although few places are better than Hollywood at crafting a narrative and concealing what happens off-frame, a Los Angeles Times survey of job postings sheds light on what is happening offstage. Among hundreds of job postings in late June, more than one in 10 was likely connected to AI. The top studios’ public postings suggest they have been recruiting people to build AI tools. They are also recruiting teams to defend their intellectual property against unauthorized AI use.

Source: Hollywood fights AI in public while quietly building it into movies

Who owns an AI generated song? What we can learn from the phonograph

When recording technology emerged in the late 19th century, it transformed how people experienced music. Before Thomas Edison’s phonograph appeared in 1877, music was largely encountered through live performance or written notation. Recordings changed that. Performances could be captured, copied and distributed by machines. Today, recordings feel like an obvious form of creative property. But that was not how they were initially viewed.

Source: Who owns an AI generated song? What we can learn from the phonograph 

Claude’s ability to remix ‘liquid content’ is ‘serious challenge for news media’

Media research expert Nic Newman has warned the ability of AI models to provide “liquid content” in different formats is a “really serious challenge” to news media. He gave the example of asking Claude questions relating to the UK heatwaves, including where the UK stands in terms of air conditioning compared to other countries and previous temperature records. Claude was able to produce information in a Q&A format, generate graphs which were filterable by different parts of the world, and show Met Office warnings.

Source: Claude’s ability to remix ‘liquid content’ is ‘serious challenge for news media’

Viberate opens music data to ChatGPT, Claude and other AI bots via official MCP server launch

AI is changing the way music is created, licensed, and discovered. Viberate thinks it is about to change how the industry uses its data, too. The music data company has a prediction: within a couple of years, it says, more people will use its numbers inside an AI assistant than on Viberate’s own platform. To that end, the analytics company has launched an official MCP server that lets users of AI services tap its data by asking questions in plain language.

Source: Viberate opens music data to ChatGPT, Claude and other AI bots via official MCP server launch

29 Organizations Call on Labels and Publishers to End ‘Default Opt-Ins,’ ‘Forced AI Clauses’

Looks like the AFM’s lawsuit against Universal Music and Warner Music was just the beginning. Now, 29 organizations are calling on labels and publishers to prioritize “meaningful consent, fair remuneration and full transparency” in their AI licensing agreements. Those organizations, repping artists, songwriters, and music managers alike, today voiced several pressing concerns in an open letter. In their view, as gen AI pacts continue to pour in, creatives themselves “are not being meaningfully consulted” despite being “the primary holders of many of the rights at stake.”

Source: 29 Organizations Call on Labels and Publishers to End ‘Default Opt-Ins,’ ‘Forced AI Clauses,’

61 Years Ago Today: Sony Brings Video Recording into American Homes

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

Martin Scorsese Is Embracing A.I.

Martin Scorsese, the living embodiment of cinema as high art and a conscience for modern Hollywood, on Tuesday threw his weight behind an A.I. start-up that specializes in image generation. In a statement and an accompanying video made in his New York City office, Mr. Scorsese discussed how he had used technology from Black Forest Labs, a fast-rising A.I. venture, during preproduction for a new film. Black Forest Labs said Scorsese had signed on last year as a partner and an adviser.

Source: Martin Scorsese Is Embracing A.I.

Book publishing’s AI panic is here. And nobody knows what to do about it

Some have contended that AI may be having its Napster moment, when the music file-sharing software upended the economics and gatekeeping structures of the music industry in the late 90s by enabling millions of users to download and distribute copyrighted songs online. Now, generative AI is forcing book publishing into a long overdue reckoning over what counts as original human work and how the tech should be ethically deployed or disclosed at all stages of the book production pipeline. 

Source: Book publishing’s AI panic is here. And nobody knows what to do about it

YouTube will now automatically label AI videos

As AI video models become more powerful, YouTube is no longer solely relying on creators to label their AI videos — it will now automatically label videos on their behalf. The company announced on Wednesday that its internal systems will apply labels when it detects that “significant photorealistic AI” has been used. YouTube will also be making its AI labels more prominent, so they’re easier to spot across both long-form videos and YouTube Shorts.

Source: YouTube will now automatically label AI videos

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