News publishers have disputed a claim from Google that using their content to “fine-tune” its AI models contains “no realistic prospect of harm” to them. Google told the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority that there is “no realistic prospect of harm to publishers in respect of training/fine-tuning of AI models for search and search generative AI features. “Fine-tuning helps the model learn how to process information rather than what current information to display.”
Universal Music Group (UMG) and Concord Music Group, along with Capitol Records and six Universal Music Publishing entities, have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against popular direct-to-consumer fashion startup Quince. According to the filing, Quince has used over 130 copyrighted works—including 67 sound recordings and 71 musical compositions—that were allegedly used without authorization in TikTok and Instagram posts.
Source: UMG, Concord Slap Quince with Major Lawsuit Over TikTok, Instagram Infringement Allegations
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes AI is a good thing for Hollywood and will not hurt the industry as much as critics of the technology may be worried about. “I think people really care about other people,” Altman [said] at the Breakthrough Prize Ceremony. “I think people really care about the human beings behind the stories and the art and the creative work that matters so much.”
Source: OpenAI CEO Says AI in Hollywood Will Get People to ‘Care More About Human Creators’
A recent Artsy survey of more than 300 gallery professionals underscores a widening gap between operational adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and cultural acceptance of AI as an artistic medium. Though galleries are integrating AI into back-office functions, artists, collectors and market professionals remain cautious of AI in the art industry. Works that blend human and machine inputs continue to complicate authorship, ownership and valuation analyses.
Soderbergh mentioned in an interview with Filmmaker Magazine that he used what sounds like generative AI to produce “thematically surreal images that occupy a dream space rather than a literal space” for his upcoming documentary about John Lennon and Yoko Ono. “I don’t think it’s the solution to everything, and I don’t think it’s the death of everything. We’re in the very early stages. Five years from now, we all may be going, ‘That was a fun phase.’ We may end up not using it as much as we thought we were going to.”
Source: Why are respected film-makers suddenly embracing AI?
Last week, Reese Witherspoon went viral (in the wrong way) for declaring “the AI revolution has begun” and suggesting that women should learn about the technology. “The jobs women hold are 3x more likely to be automated by AI, yet women are using AI at a rate 25% lower than men on average,” she wrote on Instagram. The post attracted a fair amount of backlash, with people pointing out the problems associated with data centers and intellectual property, and accusing Witherspoon of being paid by AI companies to promote generative tools.
Source: Reese Witherspoon Confronts Backlash Over AI Support
Welcoming AI and introducing DreamUp resulted in significant backlash from its community, and a number of artists left the platform entirely. But Levy says any claim that dA has lost artists and/or that it’s dying is “a convenient web troll narrative” that’s also dead wrong. “Let’s address this ridiculous nonsense once and for all. There has been no ‘downfall of DeviantArt,’ nor any mass exodus,” he wrote.
Source: deviantART says artists made $23 million on its platform last year, was 100 right to embrace AI
Until recently, to determine the origins of different elements of a painting, art experts relied on their own analyses of the minute details of brushstrokes, Jackie Flynn Mogensen reports for Scientific American. But this method is rife with error and has led to numerous misattributions over the centuries. The new study, led by anthropologist Andrew Van Horn of Purdue University, employed artificial intelligence to try to paint a more accurate picture of a painting’s history.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani saw renewed interest in his short-lived rap career after his mayoral candidacy. The music he recorded as Young Cardamom and Mr. Cardamom earned him $1,643 in royalties last year, according to The New York Times. But he actually had recent success as a rapper even before his mayoral run, reporting another $1,267 in royalties in 2024, while he was a member of the New York State Assembly.
Source: NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Earned Over $1,600 in Rap Royalties Last Year
Deezer announced on Monday that AI-generated tracks now represent 44% of all new music uploaded to its platform. The company said it’s receiving almost 75,000 AI-generated tracks per day and more than two million per month. The consumption of AI-generated music on the platform is still very low, at 1-3% of total streams, and 85% of these streams are detected as fraudulent and demonetized by the company.
Source: Deezer says 44% of songs uploaded to its platform daily are AI-generated