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
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.
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
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
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
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 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
Once upon a time, the industry had a reliable growth engine and consolidated content offering in the form of the cable bundle that came with 40 percent-plus profit margins. Then the streaming wars began in earnest as Disney+, Paramount+, Max, Peacock and more jumped into the space occupied by Netflix. That has left Hollywood companies in dire financial straits.
Source: Hollywood Stocks Are Difficult Investments. What Could Make Them More Investable Again?
A report published earlier this month by NFTevening said that the market for NFTs has been in such a dramatic downturn since 2023 that 95 percent of them are considered “dead,” with the average NFT owner experiencing a 44.5 percent loss on their investment. According to NFTevening, the research was conducted with by examining more than 5,000 NFT collections and 5 million transactions from NFTScan.
Source: The Overwhelming Majority of NFTs Are ‘Dead,’ Report Says
Spotify has moved to dismiss with prejudice an unpaid-royalties lawsuit filed against it by the MLC over sweeping bundling reclassifications. “At the heart of this dispute is an easily answered question: Is audiobook streaming distinct from music streaming, offering greater than token value?” the motion sums up. “The answer is indisputably yes, and there is no need for federal court litigation to confirm it.”
Source: Spotify Asks Court to Toss MLC Bundling & Royalties Lawsuit