Technology

In response to the ongoing discourse surrounding the rise of artificial intelligence-generated songs mimicking artists’ voices, the Independent Music Publishers International Forum (IMPF) has issued a new set of guidelines for AI developers. According to a statement, these so-called “ethical principles” around AI, endorsed by 200 independent music publishing companies worldwide, are aimed at ensuring “a more transparent collaboration” between indie publishers and AI tech firms.

Source: Global independent music publishers propose set of ‘ethical’ guidelines for AI developers

In the fast-changing landscape of generative AI, companies monetizing the tech — from startups to big tech companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft — are approaching IP risks from very different angles. Some vendors have pledged to defend, financially and otherwise, customers using their generative AI tools who end up on the wrong side of copyright litigation. Others have published policies to shield themselves from liability, leaving customers to foot the legal bills.

Source: Some gen AI vendors say they’ll defend customers from IP lawsuits. Others, not so much. | TechCrunch

In a joint statement addressed to French prime minister Elisabeth Borne, more than 70 French creative organizations signed an email titled “Let’s build world-class AI that respects literary and artistic property!” urging a more ethical approach to the rapidly advancing technology. The move is a response to the Prime Minister launching the country’s first-ever “Committee on Generative Artificial Intelligence” in late September focusing on the both the opportunities and threats posed by AI.

Source: French film industry joins forces to call on government for AI protections

Actor Tom Hanks, journalist Gayle King and YouTuber MrBeast said this week that their deepfake images are being used for sales or scams without their permission. It is unclear what entities were behind the deepfakes, or false images purporting to be real, that featured King’s and Hanks’s doctored footage. King’s post showed a logo for “Artipet,” for which a web search showed little online presence Tuesday evening.

Source: Celebrities warn followers not to be duped by AI deepfakes

OpenAI is claiming to offer artists a way to prevent, or “opt out” of, their work being included among the millions of photos, paintings, and other images that AI programs like DALL-E 3 train on to eventually generate images of their own. But opting out is an onerous process, and may be too complex to meaningfully implement or enforce.

Source: Artists Are Losing the War Against AI

As AI continues to develop, power and control over it are consolidating, creating a dangerous state of play. A few companies like Google and Microsoft are already leveraging their existing dominance to control critical AI applications and data sets, further limiting consumer choice and tightening their vice grip on tech innovation in America. This is especially true for Google, which holds over 90% of the market share in search in Europe and the United States.

Source: The age of AI is a time for antitrust

After initially pulling some material, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says the company will not ban AI-made music. He did, however, say that AI shouldn’t be used to impersonate real artists without their consent. But people are going to post those kinds of creations, anyway. Who will be in charge of policing that? Unclear.

Source: We need to talk about the latest developments with artificial intelligence and music | Globalnews.ca

Meta Platforms used public Facebook and Instagram posts to train parts of its new Meta AI virtual assistant, but excluded private posts shared only with family and friends in an effort to respect consumers’ privacy, the company’s top policy executive told Reuters in an interview. Meta also did not use private chats on its messaging services as training data for the model and took steps to filter private details from public datasets used for training.

Source: Meta’s new AI assistant trained on public Facebook and Instagram posts

Leading artificial intelligence firm OpenAI announced today that users of its ChatGPT generative AI tool will again be able to generate answers to prompts that search the web for the latest information. It’s a revival of a powerful feature that was removed from the service in July because it was being used to bypass paywalled content. OpenAI noted the relaunch reflects “useful feedback” from its first attempt.

Source: OpenAI’s ChatGPT Now Searches the Web in Real Time—Again – Decrypt

Spotify is OK with AI, after all. In a reversal from an earlier decision, the CEO of the world’s biggest music streaming service said Tuesday that it would not ban AI-generated music. This follows an announcement of AI-translated podcasts, giving both commercial and independent producers a way to reach international markets.

Source: Spotify Embraces AI, Eschews AI Music Ban and Adds AI Podcast Translation – Decrypt