AI-generated media fundamentally alters how digital content is produced, distributed and consumed. AI models can now generate hyper-realistic images, videos and voices, raising urgent concerns about ownership, authenticity and ethical use. The ability to create synthetic content with minimal effort has profound implications for industries reliant on media integrity.
Source: AI-generated content needs blockchain before trust in digital media collapses
ChatGPT’s new image-generation tool led to a record number of users in April, forcing OpenAI’s boss to beg people to “chill out a bit”. With ChatGPT-4o, users can transform photos or memes into distinctive styles – making them look like they came straight out of The Simpsons, Rick And Morty or South Park. The internet has also discovered that the update makes it possible to recreate themselves in Barbie doll form.
Source: From AI Barbie to ‘Ghiblification’ – how ChatGPT’s image generator put ‘insane’ pressure on OpenAI
Late last month, Hollo, a conversational AI company, and Realbotix, which makes customizable humanoid robots, unveiled a version of the late actress. This synthetic twin is designed to mimic Suzanne Somers’ voice, personality and facial expressions. It’s loaded with a database of her performances. Alan Hamel, her widower and partner in buying and popularizing ThighMaster, claimed that they discussed this kind of idea before her death.
Source: Eternal Celebrities: The Multi-Billion Opportunity Coming
Embedding a social media post allows websites to share content without hosting the content themselves – but is such a tool a violation of copyright? A photographer wants the US Supreme Court to consider that question. In a petition for review filed on March 28, photographer Elliot McGucken is asking the court to consider if displaying a work without hosting the work using embedding tools violates copyright after lower courts dismissed the case.
Source: Does embedding an Instagram violate copyright? A photographer wants the Supreme Court to decide
The new bill is similar to last year’s, in that it effectively creates a right of publicity at the US federal level for the first time. The bill aims to reduce potential litigation by giving platforms featuring user-generated content (UGC) immunity if they quickly remove unauthorized deepfakes and notify the complainant once a deepfake has been removed. It also seeks to protect First Amendment rights by creating exemptions for such things as news reporting and satire.
Multiple years and twists later, the major labels’ copyright infringement lawsuit against the Internet Archive looks to be trending towards a resolution. That’s according to the litigants themselves, which just recently requested a 30-day stay in the case. The presiding judge promptly approved the sought pause, and as a result, we should know sooner rather than later whether the parties will finally put the matter to bed.
Source: Internet Archive, Major Labels ‘Optimistic’ About Lawsuit Settlement
Spotify has announced a plan to invest €1 million ($1.1 million) to boost audiobook production in languages other than English, starting with French and Dutch. Adoption of Spotify’s audiobook offerings has been relatively slow in the Netherlands and France. According to Spotify, only about 20,000 audiobooks in French compared to around 750,000 physical books. In the Netherlands, around 15,000 Dutch audiobooks are available out of a physical library of around 209,000 titles.
Source: Spotify Invests $1.1M to Ramp Up Non-English Audiobooks
OpenAI asked a federal court on Wednesday to bar Elon Musk from unfairly attacking it through a high-profile lawsuit he filed last year, the latest move in a bitter feud between the artificial intelligence start-up and the world’s richest man. In a filing in federal court in San Francisco, OpenAI said Mr. Musk had “made it his project to take down OpenAI.” The company asked the court to hold Mr. Musk responsible for any damage he has caused the firm.
Source: OpenAI Asks Court to Bar Elon Musk From Unfairly Attacking It
Investors are concerned that Alphabet’s dominance in search means it has nowhere to go but down, that the company has fallen behind its competitors in AI, that it is making substantial investments in AI, and that younger consumers are using AI services rather than traditional search, according to the report. Since January 2023, around the time OpenAI’s ChatGPT appeared, Alphabet’s share of the global market for search engines has slid from 92.9% to 89.6%, the report said.
Source: Alphabet Faces Investor Concern About AI Challenge to Search Business | PYMNTS.com
Meta announced on Monday that it’s going to train its AI models on public content, such as posts and comments on Facebook and Instagram, in the EU after previously pausing its plans to do so in response to regulatory pressure due to to data privacy concerns. The company will start training its AI on users’ content in the EU this week, it said. Users’ interactions with Meta AI will also be used to train its models.
Source: Meta to start training its AI models on public content in the EU | TechCrunch