Headlines

NAB Speakers Debate AI’s Impact On Jobs And Artists: ‘This is The Age of The Generalist’

The Future of Cinema Summit at the NAB Show opened Saturday morning with speakers who agreed that AI can make production faster and cheaper, but it can’t do everything. Meanwhile, the issue of jobs remained murky. “This is the age of the generalist,” suggested Eric Shamlin, CEO of AI-driven production studio Secret Level and co-chair of the TV Academy’s AI Task Force, during the SMPTE-produced summit.

Source: NAB Speakers Debate AI’s Impact On Jobs And Artists: ‘This is The Age of The Generalist’

CinemaCon Takeaways: Fights Over Theatrical Window, Fizzling Star Power 

CinemaCon is supposed to celebrate the magic of the big screen and the power of the cinematic experience. Instead, this year’s Las Vegas gathering was a tense, testy affair that threatened to resurface old tensions between studios and exhibitors. All the frustrations of the past five years, during which a pandemic and two labor strikes left the movie theater business a pale shadow of itself, nearly boiled over.

Source: CinemaCon Takeaways: Fights Over Theatrical Window, Fizzling Star Power and Amazon MGM’s Big Promise

NMPA CEO Talks AI Strategy, Warns Against Government-Led PRO Reform

National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) president/CEO David Israelite joined the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) to give his annual State of Music Publishing address on Wednesday (April 2) at Lawry’s in Beverly Hills. In his speech, Israelite discussed hot button issues for publishers, including Spotify bundling (“we are still at war”), AI concerns, PRO reform and more.

Source: NMPA CEO Talks Spotify Podcast Takedowns and AI Strategy, Warns Against Government-Led PRO Reform

OpenAI, Google reject UK’s AI copyright plan

Leading AI companies OpenAI and Google have rejected the U.K. government’s preferred solution to the thorny issue of AI and copyright. Their positions, set out in responses to a consultation which closed in February, will pile further pressure on the government over the proposals, which have already sparked protests from creatives and lawmakers.

Source: OpenAI, Google reject UK’s AI copyright plan

The Silent Collapse: Generative AI’s Erosion of Photo Licensing Revenue 

Shutterstock reported full-year 2024 revenues of $935.3 million (up 7%), partly driven by the acquisition of Envato and $104 million in AI content licensing revenue—a figure projected to rise to $250 million by 2027. Meanwhile, Getty Images’ Creative revenue declined by 4.5% in 2024 despite overall corporate growth. This decline in core stock licensing, offset by growth in editorial and AI-related services, suggests an internal shift rather than expansion.

Source: The Silent Collapse: Generative AI’s Erosion of Photo Licensing Revenue – Kaptur

Training AI Using ‘Pirated’ Content Can Be Fair Use, Law Professors Argue 

A group of prominent intellectual property law professors has weighed in on the high-stakes AI copyright battle between several authors and Meta. In an amicus brief, the scholars argue that using copyrighted content as training data can be considered fair use under U.S. copyright law, if the goal is to create a new and ‘transformative’ tool. This suggests that fair use could potentially apply to Meta’s training process, even if the underlying data was obtained without permission.

Source: Training AI Using ‘Pirated’ Content Can Be Fair Use, Law Professors Argue * TorrentFreak

Perhaps Google is really worth nothing to the news industry

The era of Google’s dominance in search and advertising hasn’t been one in which the news sector has thrived. In fact, it has coincided with a calamitous collapse in revenues and a dramatic contraction of the industry overall. What they’re worth to us has been, overall, less than zero. The news industry has gone backwards. Yet news businesses still can’t conceive of managing without them.

Source: Perhaps Google is really worth nothing to the news industry

UK plans fresh round of talks to take sting out of AI copyright proposals

Ministers are planning a fresh round of reviews they hope will mollify lawmakers nervous about controversial plans to overhaul U.K. copyright laws to facilitate AI innovation. The reviews will focus on finding technical ways to allow creators to easily and effectively “opt out” from AI companies training models on their work without permission and have more clarity about when their work has been used. However, technical solutions could take several months to emerge.

Source: UK plans fresh round of talks to take sting out of AI copyright proposals

Runway, best known for its video-generating AI models, raises $308M 

Runway, a startup best known for its suite of generative AI media tools, has raised $308 million in a new funding round. “Today marks an important milestone as Runway announces a significant next step towards our goal of creating a new media ecosystem with world simulators,” the company wrote in the press release. “[Our recent] advancements aren’t merely incremental improvements; they form the foundation for an entirely new approach to media.

Source: Runway, best known for its video-generating AI models, raises $308M | TechCrunch

UK needs to relax AI laws or risk transatlantic ties, thinktank warns

Tony Blair’s thinktank has urged the UK to relax copyright laws in order to let artificial intelligence firms build new products, as it warned a tougher approach could strain the transatlantic relationship. “Without similar provisions in the United States, it would be hard for the UK government to enforce strict copyright laws without straining the transatlantic relationship it has so far sought to nurture.”

Source: UK needs to relax AI laws or risk transatlantic ties, thinktank warns

Get the latest RightsTech news and analysis delivered directly in your inbox every week
We respect your privacy.