AI music platform Suno acquires WavTool, moving into DAW market

Suno announced the acquisition a day after its rival Udio released a visual editing workstation for AI-generated music. Suno’s acquisition of WavTool integrates the latter’s browser-based DAW technology into Suno’s existing AI music generation platform. In a press release Suno described WavTool as “the first browser-based DAW to combine professional-grade music production features” like VST plugin compatibility, sample-accurate editing, and live recording.

Source: AI music platform Suno acquires WavTool, moving into DAW market

Udio launches AI ‘visual editing workstation’

The tool called ‘Sessions,’ available to Standard and Pro-tier subscribers, allows users to manipulate song structures by moving, extending or replacing sections within tracks.  Udio explains in a press release that Sessions automatically identifies musical elements like choruses and bridges from audio waveforms, allowing for the editing of lyrics and sound through a “visual workstation”.

Source: Udio, still battling copyright lawsuit from music majors, launches AI ‘visual editing workstation’

Authors call on publishers to limit their use of AI 

An open letter from authors calls on book publishers to pledge to limit their use of AI tools, for example by committing to only hire human audiobook narrators. The letter argues that authors’ work has been “stolen” by AI companies: “Rather than paying writers a small percentage of the money our work makes for them, someone else will be paid for a technology built on our unpaid labor.”

Source: Authors call on publishers to limit their use of AI | TechCrunch

Getty drops key copyright claims against Stability AI, but UK lawsuit continues 

Getty Images dropped its primary claims of copyright infringement against Stability AI on Wednesday at London’s High Court, narrowing one of the most closely watched legal fights over how AI companies use copyrighted content to train their models. Getty sued Stability AI — the startup behind AI image generator Stable Diffusion — in January 2023 after alleging that Stability used millions of copyrighted images to train its AI model without permission.

Source: Getty drops key copyright claims against Stability AI, but UK lawsuit continues | TechCrunch

What comes next for AI copyright lawsuits?

The use of copyrighted works to train models is at the heart of a bitter battle between tech companies and content creators. That battle is playing out in technical arguments about what does and doesn’t count as fair use of a copyrighted work. But it is ultimately about carving out a space in which human and machine creativity can continue to coexist.

Source: What comes next for AI copyright lawsuits?

US Supreme Court to review billion-dollar Cox Communications copyright case

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide a copyright dispute between Cox Communications and a group of music labels following a judicial decision that threw out a $1 billion jury verdict against the internet service provider over alleged piracy of music by Cox customers. The justices took up Cox’s appeal of the lower court’s decision that it was still liable for copyright infringement by users of its internet service despite the decision to overturn the verdict.

Source: US Supreme Court to review billion-dollar Cox Communications copyright case

Authors take Microsoft to court in yet another AI v copyright battle

A group of authors, including Pulitzer prize winner Kai Bird, accuse Microsoft of using copyrighted works to train its large language model. The class action complaint filed by several authors and professors, including Pulitzer prize winner Kai Bird and Whiting award winner Victor LaVelle, claims that Microsoft ignored the law by downloading around 200,000 copyrighted works and feeding it to the company’s Megatron-Turing Natural Language Generation model.

Source: Authors take Microsoft to court in yet another AI v copyright battle

How SFGATE is making local news pay and filling California’s news gaps

It may help that ‘local’ for SFGATE is California (the world’s fourth largest economy). But with a focus on longer reads and in-depth reporting, it is proof that quality journalism can still thrive on the open web. In April, it was the 37th most popular news site in America, per Press Gazette’s top-50 ranking, with 27 million visits making it the most popular purely local news website in the US.

Source: How SFGATE is making local news pay and filling California’s news gaps

Getty drops copyright allegations in UK lawsuit against Stability AI

Getty Images dropped copyright infringement allegations from its lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Stability AI as closing arguments began Wednesday in the landmark case at Britain’s High Court. Seattle-based Getty’s decision to abandon the copyright claim removes a key part of its lawsuit against Stability AI, which owns a popular AI image-making tool called Stable Diffusion.

Source: Getty drops copyright allegations in UK lawsuit against Stability AI

California Legislative Leaders Agree on $750 Million in Funding for Film and TV Credit

California legislative leaders have accepted Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to more than double the film and TV credit, in a win for the industry. The state Senate and Assembly leadership have accepted Newsom’s proposed funding level, which more than doubles the program from $330 million. A vote is scheduled on Friday on a trailer bill to make it official, according to multiple sources.

Source: California Legislative Leaders Agree on $750 Million in Funding for Film and TV Credit

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