The video platform YouTube on Thursday announced a suite of creator tools — including a number of products that take advantage of generative artificial intelligence — in a bid to further bolster its leadership in the creator ecosystem. “AI will enable people to push the boundaries of creative expression by making the difficult things simple and the impossible dreams possible,” YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said at an event at Google’s New York office Thursday morning.
OpenAI unveils better image generator, DALL-E 3, as AI arms race deepens
OpenAI on Wednesday began previewing a new version of its DALL-E tool, which creates images from written prompts, and announced plans to integrate it into its popular ChatGPT chatbot, increasing the reach of a controversial technology at a time when lawmakers are calling for more restraint. Language advances allow DALL-E 3 to parse complex instructions, rather than jumbling up elements of a detailed request, researchers said Tuesday, during a short demo.
Source: OpenAI unveils better image generator, DALL-E 3, as AI arms race deepens
TikTok AI Content Labels Arrive As Execs Prep Automatic Tagging
TikTok has debuted new AI tags that creators can apply to their content manually, and execs are preparing to label AI media automatically. “The new label will help creators showcase the innovations behind their content,” claimed TikTok, “and they can apply it to any content that has been completely generated or significantly edited by AI. It will also make it easier to comply with our Community Guidelines’ synthetic media policy, which we introduced earlier this year.”
Source: TikTok AI Content Labels Arrive As Execs Prep Automatic Tagging
US and UK see new efforts to ensure AI doesn’t harm musicians
There are new moves afoot to avoid some of the negative impacts that creative AI technologies might have on musicians. In the US, this week sees the introduction of a revised version of the Protect Working Musicians Act. In the UK, meanwhile, today’s development comes from the Council of Music Makers, which is the umbrella body for The Ivors Academy, the Featured Artists Coalition, the Musicians’ Union, the Music Producers Guild and the Music Managers Forum.
Source: US and UK see new efforts to ensure AI doesn’t harm musicians – Music Ally
ASCAP Chairman: Protecting Songwriters In the Age of AI (Opinion)
ASCAP has embraced new and emerging advances in technology, and we have the capacity and infrastructure to manage it at scale. But it has remained painfully clear that any new technology needs to respect existing copyright law. Music creators are concerned about the threat to their livelihood and 8 out of 10 believe A.I. companies need better regulation.
Source: Protecting Songwriters In the Age of AI (Guest Column)
Stephen Fry ‘Shocked’ to Discover AI Stole His Voice From ‘Harry Potter’ Audiobooks
Stephen Fry recently revealed at the CogX Festival that his voice from the “Harry Potter” audiobooks was taken by AI software and replicated without his consent, much to the horror of both himself and his agents. He said the discovery of AI mimicking his voice led him to warn his agents, “You ain’t seen nothing yet. This is audio. It won’t be long until full deepfake videos are just as convincing.”
A BMI Sale Has the Music Industry On Edge — But Could It Benefit Songwriters?
BMI is looking for “a partner who can help us take advantage of new opportunities and provide a new level of investment and technological expertise,” according to a Sept. 5 letter from CEO Mike O’Neill to creators groups published on BMI’s website. New Mountain Capital, which is in an exclusive period to negotiate a deal with the performance rights organization, could be such a partner, executives familiar with the private equity sector suggest.
Source: A BMI Sale Has the Music Industry On Edge — But Could It Benefit Songwriters?
U.S. Recorded-Music Revenue Grows Almost 10% But Streaming Subscriptions Level Off
The U.S. music industry continued its robust growth in the first half of 2023, according to the RIAA’s latest mid-year report. Total revenues grew 9.3% at estimated retail value, reaching an all-time first-half high of $8.4 billion; at wholesale value, revenues grew 8.3% to $5.3 billion. Paid streaming subscriptions continued to be the strongest driver of revenue growth, according to the report, increasing by more than $550 million and growing to around 96 million subscriptions during the period.
Source: U.S. Recorded-Music Revenue Grows Almost 10% But Vinyl Sales, Streaming Subscriptions Level Off
Bill That Would Enable Indie Artists to Negotiate Better Streaming Rates Takes Aim at AI
Independent musicians will have more power to negotiate with artificial intelligence developers over “fairer rates and terms for the use of their music” if a newly introduced version of the Protect Working Musicians Act passes the U.S. House, according to Rep. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.). The revised act would allow artists to behave like plaintiffs in a class-action suit, she adds, “fighting for their rights” with a central attorney.
Digimarc adds copyright information to digital data
Software company Digimarc will now let copyright owners add more information to their work, which the company said will improve how AI models treat copyright in training data. In a statement, Digimarc said its new Digimarc Validate service lets users include ownership identification in the metadata. The company said this means that when copyrighted material becomes part of a generative AI training dataset, users can point to the digital watermark with intellectual property information.