Publishers Adopt AI Tools to Bolster Research Integrity

The $19 billion academic publishing industry is adopting AI-powered tools to improve the quality of peer-reviewed research and speed up production. The latter goal yields “obvious financial benefit” for publishers, one expert said. Since the start of the year, Wiley, Elsevier and Springer Nature have all announced the adoption of generative AI–powered tools or guidelines, including those designed to aid scientists in research, writing and peer review

Source: Publishers Adopt AI Tools to Bolster Research Integrity

How the China-Led “Vertical Film” Movement Wants to Upend the Way We See Cinema

China’s vertical short drama boom took center stage on Hong Kong Filmart’s opening day, with a collection of the creatives driving the trend extolling the opportunities being offered in a market they predict will soon be worth around $14 billion annually. For the uninitiated, the phase “vertical short drama” refers to series shot with a vertical rather than horizontal orientation so they can more easily be viewed on smartphones.

Source: Filmart: How the China-Led “Vertical Film” Movement Wants to Upend the Way We See Cinema

Word Collections Launches ‘Songwriter Collections’ Service

Five-year-old Word Collections just recently announced Songwriter Collections, which it says has direct pacts in place with Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and a variety of different DSPs. Overall, the arrangement enables member songwriters and publishers to receive “100% of their earned royalties from global digital streaming,” per Word Collections.

Source: Word Collections Launches ‘Songwriter Collections’ Service

OpenAI urges U.S. to allow AI models to train on copyrighted material

OpenAI is asking the U.S. government to make it easier for AI companies to learn from copyrighted material, citing a need to “strengthen America’s lead” globally in advancing the technology. The proposal is part of a wider plan that the tech company behind ChatGPT submitted to the U.S. government on Thursday as part of President Donald Trump’s coming “AI Action Plan.”

Source: OpenAI urges U.S. to allow AI models to train on copyrighted material

People are using Google’s new AI model to remove watermarks from images

People appear to be using Google’s new Gemini model to remove watermarks from images, according to reports on social media. Last week, Google expanded access to its Gemini 2.0 Flash model’s image generation feature, which lets the model natively generate and edit image content. It’s a powerful capability, by all accounts. But it also appears to have few guardrails.

Source: People are using Google’s new AI model to remove watermarks from images | TechCrunch

‘We Must Now Lead’ Warns TV Academy Governor Eric Shamlin at AI Summit

Eric Shamlin, Television Academy governor and chair of its AI Task Force, urged members to take on an advocacy role in developing AI policies and frameworks, during a keynote at Saturday’s TV Academy AI Summit. “We must now lead,” he asserted. “We can’t afford to sit back and wait for others to shape how AI is implemented into our industry.”

Source: ‘We Must Now Lead’ Warns TV Academy Governor Eric Shamlin at AI Summit

Comic artist Stanley ‘Artgerm’ Lau reflects on the dangerous impact of AI on art

Stanley ‘Artgerm’ Lau is one of the most established comic artists working today, he’s worked for Marvel, DC Comics and game publishers including Capcom and Square Enix. but the issues around generative AI and art haven’t escaped him. For Stanley, AI and its uses in art is a straightforward one – AI isn’t art, it can’t make art, and it isn’t creative. “I don’t agree that AI images are art,” Stanley states firmly.

Source: “In the future, there will be fewer artists like me – real artists” says Stanley ‘Artgerm’ Lau as he reflects on the dangerous impact of AI on art

Movie, Music and Sports Industries Urge EU to Keep Geo-Blocking in Place 

Threatened by potential EU regulatory changes, the movie, music, and sports industries are vehemently defending the practice of geo-blocking, as an essential part of their business models. Rightsholders argue that eliminating geo-blockades would devalue content, force price hikes for consumers in some countries, and ultimately reduce investment in content and localized services.

Source: Movie, Music and Sports Industries Urge EU to Keep Geo-Blocking in Place * TorrentFreak

Global recorded music revenues rose 6.5% to $36.2bn in 2024, says MIDiA Research

IFPI is expected to release the official global recorded music revenue results for 2024 this month, but in the meantime, the clever number crunchers at MIDiA Research have published their own estimates. And the headline stat from MIDiA’s new report: Global recorded music revenues rose 6.5% YoY to $36.2 billion. That marks a slowdown from 2023, when revenues rose 9.7% YoY, per MIDiA’s estimates.

Source: Global recorded music revenues rose 6.5% to $36.2bn in 2024, says MIDiA Research

Moonvalley’s Marey AI-video model was trained on licensed content

Amid all the arguments about AI and copyright, it’s encouraging to see some companies making ethical training part of their launch pitches. An example outside music this week is Moonvalley, a US startup that has just unveiled its Marey AI video model. It’s billed as “the first fully clean AI model” with the company claiming it has only been trained on “owned or fully licensed source data”.

Source: Moonvalley’s Marey AI-video model was trained on licensed content

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