Given the labels’ dominance of the negotiating hierarchy, song rights revenue can never top 20% of the finite streaming revenue pot. Subscriber rate hikes mean the pot gets bigger (which Spotify and the labels love), but the song share of the pot doesn’t change. Against that reality, direct licensing of mechanicals won’t fix anything. It runs contrary to all principles of copyright law.
Time to Delete the Streaming Mechanical? (Opinion)
Video game performers reach agreement with 80 video games on AI terms
Video game performers have reached a turning point in their strike against developers with 80 individual video games signing agreements with the performers’ union and accepting artificial intelligence provisions they have been seeking. SAG-AFTRA announced the agreements with the 80 individual video games on Thursday. Performers impacted by the work stoppage can now work on those projects.
Source: Video game performers reach agreement with 80 video games on AI terms
YouTube is developing tools to detect AI-generated voices and faces in videos
In a blog post on Thursday (September 5), the video platform said it’s working on a “synthetic-singing identification technology” that will enable YouTube partners to automatically detect content that simulates singing voices. YouTube also said it’s working on a tool that will allow people from various industries, including musicians, actors, athletes and content creators, to “detect and manage” AI-generated content that shows their faces.
Source: YouTube is developing tools to detect AI-generated voices and faces in videos
Internet Archive Loses Landmark E-Book Lending Copyright Appeal Against Publishers
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has dealt a blow to the Internet Archive’s digital book lending program. The court upheld a lower court’s decision, stating that IA’s practice of scanning and lending copyrighted books without permission is not fair use. IA’s lending program directly threatens the revenues of publishers and violates copyright law, the judges ruled.
Source: Internet Archive Loses Landmark E-Book Lending Copyright Appeal Against Publishers * TorrentFreak
Google’s AI Overviews Slammed By News Publishers
Since its U.S. launch in May, Google’s AI Overviews feature has created controversy among news publishers. While offering users a new level of convenience, AI Overviews has been criticized for factual inaccuracies, lack of transparency in sourcing content, and disincentivizing clicks to original articles. Despite an initial scale-back, Google has doubled down – releasing Overviews in six more countries and additional languages in August.
Why creatives need a new alliance to face the existential threat of AI
The creative industries have not yet found a collective and practical response to the existential threats presented by AI tools such as AI image generators. Over the last two years, AI and big technology companies have challenged the existing conventions and thinking surrounding copyright and the ownership of art. The recently launched Creative Origin Alliance has been formed to give creators and artists a collective voice to protect their interests in the AI era.
Source: Why creatives need a new alliance toface the existential threat of AI
Why Procreate’s Anti-AI Pledge Is Resonating With Its Creators
At a time when seemingly every company is exploring AI in one form or another, Procreate’s pledge was surprising. Other industry giants like Adobe have been developing and rolling out different AI-powered features and tools for the past few years, touting the tech’s ability to enhance workflows and creation. For some Procreate users, its anti-AI stance was a welcome dissent.
Source: Why Procreate’s Anti-AI Pledge Is Resonating With Its Creators
The Threat to OpenAI Is Growing
Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft are in talks to invest in OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, at precisely the moment when it’s become apparent that the company will face tougher competition than ever in the burgeoning artificial-intelligence market. Much of that new competition is coming from startups that promise to undercut OpenAI’s services with ones that could be cheaper to use, and also better at certain narrow tasks.
Source: The Threat to OpenAI Is Growing
No One Wants Apple To Scrape Their Websites for AI Training
A slew of major news publishers and top social media websites are blocking Apple from scraping their websites for AI training purposes. Per the report, media companies that have altered their robots.txt files to lock Applebot out include The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Financial Times, Gannett, Vox Media, and Condé Nast. On the social media side, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr all confirmed that they’ve blocked Apple from scraping their sites, as did the enduring internet elder Craiglist.
Source: No One Wants Apple To Scrape Their Websites for AI Training
OpenAI in Talks for Funding Round Valuing It Above $100 Billion
OpenAI is in talks to raise several billion dollars in a new funding round that would value the startup behind ChatGPT above $100 billion. The new funding round would be the biggest infusion of outside capital into OpenAI since Microsoft invested around $10 billion in January 2023. Since then, an arms race has developed in Silicon Valley to build the most advanced artificial-intelligence systems in an effort to dominate an industry many say will revolutionize the economy.
Source: OpenAI in Talks for Funding Round Valuing It Above $100 Billion