Headlines

Big Tech Is Spending More Than Ever on AI and It’s Still Not Enough

Silicon Valley’s biggest companies are already planning to pour $400 billion into artificial intelligence efforts this year. They all say it’s nowhere near enough. “We’ve been short [on computing power] now for many quarters. I thought we were going to catch up. We are not. Demand is increasing,” said Amy Hood, Microsoft’s chief financial officer. “When you see these kinds of demand signals and we know we’re behind, we do need to spend.”

Source: Big Tech Is Spending More Than Ever on AI and It’s Still Not Enough

Hundreds of thousands of videos from news publishers were used to train AI models

YouTube channels from major news publishers and creators were in video data sets used by Microsoft, Meta, Snap, Runway, and Bytedance. For example, 11,604 videos from the official YouTube channel of The New York Times across 11 different data sets are in the database. Over 8,000 of these videos, though, came from a single training data source — Runway Gen-3.

Source: Hundreds of thousands of videos from news publishers like The New York Times and Vox were used to train AI models

Universal Music Group Announces Stability AI ‘Strategic Alliance’

Universal Music has unveiled a partnership deal with Stability AI, which is set to develop a suite of music creation tools with the major. Ultimately, said tools will advance “responsible innovation that supports both artists and rightsholders while preserving the integrity of the art form,” according to the companies. While those companies opted against shedding light on the products’ specifics, they did emphasize an objective of putting out “fully licensed, commercially safe AI music tools.”

Source: Universal Music Group Announces Stability AI ‘Strategic Alliance’

Universal Music settles copyright dispute with AI firm Udio

Universal Music Group said on Wednesday it has settled a copyright infringement case with artificial intelligence company Udio and that the two firms will collaborate on a new suite of creative products. Under the agreement, the companies will launch a platform next year that leverages generative AI trained on authorized and licensed music.

Source: Universal Music settles copyright dispute with AI firm Udio

Class Action Against Spotify Over ‘Mass Fraudulent’ Drake Streams

Spotify faces a new class action lawsuit that alleges the company has “turned a blind eye” to “mass-scale fraudulent streaming” on its platform. The lawsuit suggests that the use of bots is widespread on Spotify, but the only example it cites pertains to Drake. Filed in California District Court last night with rapper RBX (who is a cousin of Snoop Dogg) named as the lead plaintiff, the lawsuit alleges that foul play has led to Drake’s exorbitant streaming numbers.

Source: Class Action Against Spotify Over ‘Mass Fraudulent’ Drake Streams

Meta: Pirated Adult Film Downloads Were For “Personal Use,” Not AI Training 

Meta is using a classic BitTorrent defense in its legal battle with adult film producer Strike 3 Holdings. In its motion to dismiss, the tech company argues that IP-address evidence is insufficient to prove who the infringer is. Meta further counters that the “sporadic” downloads on its corporate network began years before its relevant AI research started. Instead of AI training, Meta argues the activity was likely just for “private personal use”

Source: Meta: Pirated Adult Film Downloads Were For “Personal Use,” Not AI Training * TorrentFreak

Bandsintown launches Marketplace to connect artists with distribution, data, and merch tools

Bandsintown introduced a new marketplace that links its 700,000 independent artists with third-party services for music distribution, fan data management, and merchandise sales, among others. The move comes as the New York-based company has reached 100 million registered users and seeks to help independent musicians navigate what it describes as “unpredictable algorithms” and help them avoid “overreliance on paid advertising.”

Source: After hitting 100m registered users, Bandsintown launches Marketplace to connect 700K artists with distribution, data, and merch tools

SDNY Judge Denies OpenAI Bid To Strike Authors’ Book-Download Claim 

OpenAI has suffered a legal setback in its copyright battle, as a federal judge ruled that authors can pursue claims the company unlawfully downloaded their books. U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein denied OpenAI’s motion to strike what the company characterized as a new “download claim” in a ruling Monday, finding that prior complaints adequately notified OpenAI of infringement allegations based on downloading and reproducing copyrighted books.

Source: SDNY Judge Denies OpenAI Bid To Strike Authors’ Book-Download Claim – Decrypt

Big Tech’s EU lobby budgets hit record levels

The digital industry’s lobby spending has grown from a 2023 spend of €113 million to €151 million annually today – an increase of 33.6 per cent in just two years. This increase is even more pronounced when compared with 2021, when Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl first mapped the tech industry’s firepower, showing a 55.6 per cent increase in just four years.

Source: Big Tech lobby budgets hit record levels

Udio’s bid to dismiss claims of ‘illegal scraping’ contains ‘fatal flaws,’ labels say

In a memorandum filed in a federal court in New York on Friday (October 24), lawyers for the record labels said Udio’s motion “mischaracterizes” the labels’ legal arguments “and the legal landscape.” The labels, representing all three of the major recording companies, amended their complaint against Udio in September, adding allegations that the AI company “illegally scraped” YouTube videos in order to collect content on which to train its AI models.

Source: Udio’s bid to dismiss claims of ‘illegal scraping’ from YouTube contains ‘fatal flaws,’ record labels say

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