On Thursday the company announced it will start rolling out AI-organized search results pages for users in the US. Importantly for both investors and advertisers, Google also said it’s adding ads to its AI-powered AI Overviews in Search, as well as an updated look for AI Overviews that the company says will improve traffic to linked websites.
Source: Google to begin organizing some search results using AI, bringing ads to AI Overviews
Similar to Perplexity, ProRata’s answer engine will cite its sources, but takes a slightly different approach. Built on Meta’s Llama as its foundational large language model, ProRata’s search will only perform retrieval-augmented generation on content that it has licensed. ProRata’s answer engine also uses proprietary attribution algorithms designed to calculate how much any given publisher’s content contributed to an answer.
Source: This new AI answer engine plans to pay media companies for their content
Warner Music Group has become the latest major music company to strike a fresh multi-year licensing deal with Facebook parent company, Meta. The new agreement includes Meta properties Facebook and Instagram, plus Messenger, Horizon, and Threads. WMG’s new deal with Meta also includes, for the first time, the technology giant’s popular messaging app, WhatsApp.
The Societies’ Council for the Collective Management of Performers’ Rights (SCAPR), now counting as members 61 collective management organizations from 45 countries, just recently published its 2023 report. All told, the mentioned member CMOs – referring to 47 “ordinary members” and 14 “associated members,” the likes of the U.K.’s PPL among the former – are said to represent over one million performers.
Source: SCAPR Reports $1.05B in 2023 Performer Royalties Collections
The IFRRO general assembly this week has been comprised of 150 members from 80 nations, and from that plenary, the organization has issued a statement that calls the recommendations of Access Copyright and Copibec, an ”initiative intended “to restore a viable market for the reproduction of copyrighted works in the Canadian educational environment, in line with international copyright commitments.”
Source: Canadian Copyright Crisis: IFRRO Calls on Ottawa For Reform
Novelist Christopher Farnsworth has filed a proposed class-action copyright lawsuit against Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab accusing the tech giant of misusing his books and others to train its Llama artificial-intelligence large language model. Farnsworth said in the lawsuit, opens new tab on Tuesday that Meta fed Llama, which powers its AI chatbots, thousands of pirated books to teach it how to respond to human prompts.Source: Meta hit with new author copyright lawsuit over AI training
EU politicians should remain on guard for the impact of the EU AI Act since its effects remain to be seen, the key negotiator behind a 148-day strike by Hollywood writers whose effects rippled beyond California warned in Brussels. Ellen Stutzman, executive director of the Writers Guild of America West (WGA), led negotiations on behalf of 11,500 screenwriters against producers of series and films.
Source: Hollywood writers AI strike negotiator warns EU, US to remain on guard
Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, sees the technology as a way to accelerate the work of Hollywood moviemakers and online creators. Like OpenAI, it has started testing the technology with a small group of professionals. Though many believe the technology could speed the work of seasoned moviemakers, it could also replace less experienced digital artists.
Despite decades of infighting and years of false starts, the members of Pink Floyd have agreed to sell music rights to Sony Music for $400 million. The deal apparently has finally concluded despite decades of ongoing infighting and bitter words between the bandmembers, notably chief songwriters Roger Waters and David Gilmour. The deal comprises recorded-music rights but not songwriting, which is held by the individual writers, as well as name-and-likeness, which includes merchandise, theatrical and similar rights.
Source: Pink Floyd Sells Music Rights to Sony for $400 Million
The music creator economy was thrust into the wider music industry’s limelight with the Covid lockdowns triggering a surge in new creators. Our latest music creator report shows that progressively more creators are starting with lower expectations for streaming. Their royalty expectations are already so low that this is no longer a pain point for them. Instead, they are becoming critical of streaming’s ability to further their careers, focusing on the medium’s closed door between them and their fans.