An ‘Interview’ With a Dead Luminary Exposes the Pitfalls of A.I.; The New York Times, November 3, 2024

 Andrew Higgins, The New York Times; An ‘Interview’ With a Dead Luminary Exposes the Pitfalls of A.I.

"When a state-funded Polish radio station canceled a weekly show featuring interviews with theater directors and writers, the host of the program went quietly, resigned to media industry realities of cost-cutting and shifting tastes away from highbrow culture.

But his resignation turned to fury in late October after his former employer, Off Radio Krakow, aired what it billed as a “unique interview” with an icon of Polish culture, Wislawa Szymborska, the winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Literature.

The terminated radio host, Lukasz Zaleski, said he would have invited Ms. Szymborska on his morning show himself, but never did for a simple reason: She died in 2012.

The station used artificial intelligence to generate the recent interview — a dramatic and, to many, outrageous example of technology replacing humans, even dead ones."

Mark Zuckerberg Is Done With Politics; The New York Times, September 24, 2024

 Theodore Schleifer and Mike Isaac, The New York Times; Mark Zuckerberg Is Done With Politics

"Instead of publicly engaging with Washington, Mr. Zuckerberg is repairing relationships with politicians behind the scenes. After the “Zuckerbucks” criticism, Mr. Zuckerberg hired Brian Baker, a prominent Republican strategist, to improve his positioning with right-wing media and Republican officials. In the lead-up to November’s election, Mr. Baker has emphasized to Mr. Trump and his top aides that Mr. Zuckerberg has no plans to make similar donations, a person familiar with the discussions said.

Mr. Zuckerberg has yet to forge a relationship with Vice President Kamala Harris. But over the summer, Mr. Zuckerberg had his first conversations with Mr. Trump since he left office, according to people familiar with the conversations."

Mark Zuckerberg Isn’t Done With Politics. His Politics Have Just Changed.; Mother Jones, September 24, 2024

  Tim Murphy, Mother Jones; Mark Zuckerberg Isn’t Done With Politics. His Politics Have Just Changed.

"On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that one of the world’s richest men had recently experienced a major epiphany. After bankrolling a political organization that supported immigration reform, espousing his support for social justice, and donating hundreds of millions of dollars to support local election workers during the 2020 election, “Mark Zuckerberg is done with politics.”

The Facebook founder and part-time Hawaiian feudal lord, according to the piece, “believed that both parties loathed technology and that trying to continue engaging with political causes would only draw further scrutiny to their company,” and felt burned by the criticism he has faced in recent years, on everything from the proliferation of disinformation on Facebook to his investment in election administration (which conservatives dismissively referred to as “Zuckerbucks”). He is mad, in other words, that people are mad at him, and it has made him rethink his entire theory of how the world works.

It’s an interesting piece, which identifies a real switch in how Zuckerberg—who along with his wife, Priscilla Chan, has made a non-binding pledge to give away a majority of his wealth by the end of his lifetime—thinks about his influence and his own ideology. But there’s a fallacy underpinning that headline: Zuckerberg isn’t done with politics. His politics have simply changed."

Meta Fails to Block Zuckerberg Deposition in AI Copyright Suit; Bloomberg Law, September 25, 2024

 Aruni Soni, Bloomberg Law; Meta Fails to Block Zuckerberg Deposition in AI Copyright Suit

"A federal magistrate judge opened the door to a deposition of Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a copyright lawsuit over the tech company’s large language model, denying the social media giant’s bid for a protective order.

Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson denied the request to block the deposition because the plaintiffs supplied enough evidence that Zuckerberg is the “chief decision maker and policy setter for Meta’s Generative AI branch and the development of the large language models at issue in this action,” he said in the order filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Northern District."

AI lab at Christian university aims to bring morality and ethics to artificial intelligence; Fox News, June 17, 2024

 Christine Rousselle  , Fox News; AI lab at Christian university aims to bring morality and ethics to artificial intelligence

"A new AI Lab at a Christian university in California is grounded in theological values — something the school hopes will help to prevent Christians and others of faith from falling behind when it comes to this new technology.

"The AI Lab at Biola University is a dedicated space where students, faculty and staff converge to explore the intricacies of artificial intelligence," Dr. Michael J. Arena told Fox News Digital...

The lab is meant to "be a crucible for shaping the future of AI," Arena said via email, noting the lab aims to do this by "providing education, fostering dialogue and leading innovative AI projects rooted in Christian beliefs." 

While AI has been controversial, Arena believes that educational institutions have to "embrace AI or risk falling behind" in technology. 

"If we don't engage, we risk falling asleep at the wheel," Arena said, referring to Christian and faith-centered institutions. 

He pointed to social media as an example of how a failure to properly engage with an emerging technology with a strong approach to moral values has had disastrous results."

Adobe Responds to AI Fears With Plans for Updated Legal Terms; Bloomberg Law, June 12, 2024

Cassandre Coyer and Aruni Soni, Bloomberg Law; Adobe Responds to AI Fears With Plans for Updated Legal Terms

"“As technology evolves, we have to evolve,” Dana Rao, Adobe’s general counsel, said in an interview with Bloomberg Law. “The legal terms have to evolve, too. And that’s really the lesson that we’re sort of internalizing here.”

Over the weekend, some Adobe customers revolted on social media, crying foul at updated terms of use they claimed allowed Adobe to seize their intellectual property and use their data to feed AI models. 

The Photoshop and Illustrator maker responded with multiple blog posts over several days seeking to reassure users it wasn’t stealing their content, including a pledge to quickly rewrite its user agreement in clearer language. Rao said Tuesday that Adobe will be issuing updated terms of use on June 18 in which it will specifically state the company doesn’t train its Firefly AI models on its cloud content.

The unexpected online storm around the updates is the latest example of how sweeping technological changes—such as the rise of generative AI—have bolstered users’ fears of copyright violations and privacy invasions. That sentiment is part of the landscape the tech industry must navigate to serve a creator community increasingly on edge.

What happened is “more of a lesson in terms of how to present terms of use and roll out updates in a way that can address or alleviate customer concerns, especially in the era of AI and increased concern over privacy,” said Los Angeles-based advertising attorney Robert Freund."

‘The Hunt for Gollum’ Was Just Announced. It Was on YouTube in 2009.; The New York Times, May 22, 2024

Stefano Montali, The New York Times ; ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ Was Just Announced. It Was on YouTube in 2009.

"Early on, he had reached an agreement with the Tolkien estate ensuring that his project would respect its intellectual property, and that it would be freely available and noncommercial. “We were lucky that they looked kindly on it as something that was for the fan community,” Bouchard said.

But YouTube denied the appeal. So, like eagles over Mordor, the Ringers, as the fans are known, swooped in. They wrote articles and posted heated comments on Reddit and other sites, calling the removal “deplorable” and “despicable.” Bouchard noted his disappointment on X.

Bouchard quickly received a follow-up email from YouTube: The movie had been reinstated. In an email, Warner Bros. said it had no official comment. YouTube did not reply to requests for comment."

Reddit shares jump after OpenAI ChatGPT deal; BBC, May 17, 2024

 João da Silva, BBC; Reddit shares jump after OpenAI ChatGPT deal

"Shares in Reddit have jumped more than 10% after the firm said it had struck a partnership deal with artificial intelligence (AI) start-up OpenAI.

Under the agreement, the company behind the ChatGPT chatbot will get access to Reddit content, while it will also bring AI-powered features to the social media platform...

Meanwhile, Google announced a partnership in February which allows the technology giant to access Reddit data to train its AI models.

Both in the European Union and US, there are questions around whether it is copyright infringement to train AI tools on such content, or whether it falls under fair use and "temporary copying" exceptions."

AI hustlers stole women’s faces to put in ads. The law can’t help them.; The Washington Post, March 28, 2024

 

Nitasha Tiku

 and 

Pranshu Verma

, The Washington Post; AI hustlers stole women’s faces to put in ads. The law can’t help them.

"Efforts to prevent this new kind of identity theft have been slow. Cash-strapped police departments are ill equipped to pay for pricey cybercrime investigations or train dedicated officers, experts said. No federal deepfake law exists, and while more than three dozen state legislatures are pushing ahead on AI bills, proposals governing deepfakes are largely limited to political ads and nonconsensual porn."

Tennessee becomes the first state to protect musicians and other artists against AI; NPR, March 22, 2024

  Rebecca Rosman, NPR; Tennessee becomes the first state to protect musicians and other artists against AI

"Tennessee made history on Thursday, becoming the first U.S. state to sign off on legislation to protect musicians from unauthorized artificial intelligence impersonation.

"Tennessee (sic) is the music capital of the world, & we're leading the nation with historic protections for TN artists & songwriters against emerging AI technology," Gov. Bill Lee announced on social media.

The Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, or ELVIS Act, is an updated version of the state's old right of publicity law. While the old law protected an artist's name, photograph or likeness, the new legislation includes AI-specific protections."

Classical Musicians Victimized by Erroneous Copyright Claims; Violinist.com, December 19, 2023

Laurie Niles, Violinist.com; Classical Musicians Victimized by Erroneous Copyright Claims

""One or more actions were applied to your video because of a copyright match."

This was just one of two copyright claims that Amy Beth Horman received from Facebook Thursday, disputing ownership of videos of her daughter's violin performances. First, she received a copyright claim for a video of Ava's live performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto this week. Then, she got another for video she had posted in 2020 of then-10-year-old Ava performing "Meditation from Thais." These are both classical works that are in the public domain - not subject to copyright.

Nonetheless, classical musicians receive these kinds of dreaded messages on a regular basis if they post videos of their performances on social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram or YouTube.

Has the musician violated anyone's copyright? Almost never. These are automated copyright claims created by bots on behalf of big companies like Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group or Universal Music. If the bot finds that your performance has approximately the same notes and timing as one in their catalogue, they then claim that they own rights to your recording. But musicians have every right to perform and post a public domain work. Even so, musicians often find their recordings muted, earnings from ads on their performances given instead to the company filing the erroneous claim, and threats of having their accounts suspended or banned."

Prominent journal editor fired for endorsing satirical article about Israel-Hamas conflict; Science, October 24, 2023

 SCIENCE NEWS STAFF, Science; Prominent journal editor fired for endorsing satirical article about Israel-Hamas conflict

"Michael Eisen, editor-in-chief of the prominent open access journal eLife and a longtime critic of traditional journals, says he is losing that job for publicly endorsing a satirical article that criticized people dying in Gaza for not condemning the recent attacks on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas...

Eisen has previously been a frequent, feisty participant in debates about scientific publishing, doggedly supporting the development of free access to journal articles. In 2003, he co-founded the Public Library of Science (PLOS), whose journal PLOS ONE grew to become one of the largest open-access journals. Authors pay a fee so that their articles in PLOS journals are free to read when published. Eisen has criticized the paywalls still in place at many subscription journals as slowing the progress of science and the diffusion of useful findings. But critics of PLOS’s model have suggested author fees create an incentive for journals to maximize the number of papers published at the expense of adequate peer review and quality and can create barriers for authors with limited resources."

How to Submit a Removal Request on YouTube Due to Copyright; MakeUseOf, October 9, 2023

SAM WOLFE, MakeUseOf; How to Submit a Removal Request on YouTube Due to Copyright

"Ultimately, YouTube wants to protect creators who put in time and hard work to produce original content. If you find that someone is stealing your content or YouTube has found matches of your videos, don’t hesitate to turn in a removal request."

Local internet star wages cat fight over online copyrights; Monroe Journal, July 28, 2023

RAY VAN DUSEN, Monroe Journal; Local internet star wages cat fight over online copyrights

"After reporting the fake pages as infringing on her copyrights, she was previously able to have two of them taken down but said they have since reappeared online.

“That’s when the imposters started coming after me and started sending threatening emails to back off. When I didn’t back off, the imposters started reporting my videos as copyright infringement and said I was stealing my own YouTube videos from them,” she said."

Jason Aldean's 'Try That In A Small Town' music video edited due to copyright issues; Good Morning America (GMA), July 26, 2023

Angeline Jane Bernabe , Good Morning America (GMA); Jason Aldean's 'Try That In A Small Town' music video edited due to copyright issues

"Jason Aldean's "Try That In A Small Town" music video, which has faced controversy since its release last week, has been edited due to third party copyright clearance issues.

Last week, CMT told "Good Morning America" that it has pulled the music video from its rotation as Aldean faced backlash for the song from social media critics."

Instagram dodges photographers' copyright claims on appeal – but case likely continues; Reuters, July 18, 2023

 Alison Frankel, Reuters; Instagram dodges photographers' copyright claims on appeal – but case likely continues

"A class of photographers whose Instagram photos were embedded by other websites failed on Monday to convince a three-judge panel at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to set aside controversial precedent in order to hold Instagram liable for copyright infringement.

But the panel also said that the photographers had raised “serious and well argued” policy concerns about copyright holders’ ability to control and profit from their work. If lead plaintiffs Alexis Hunley and Matthew Scott Brauer want to challenge the precedent that controlled the outcome of this case, the panel said, they should petition the 9th Circuit for an en banc rehearing."

Does Section 230 cover artificial intelligence? Experts are not sure; ABC7, July 11, 2023

 GRAYCE MCCORMICK , ABC7; Does Section 230 cover artificial intelligence? Experts are not sure

"Burk said the decision over whether Section 230 covers generative AI boils down to whether the product is an informational product or a product with manufacturer liability...

It’s hard for us to imagine what social media would be like today without the protection of Section 230, or if it would have even been possible to develop without the risk of lawsuits.

On the other hand, there could be benefits to dictating how it’s developed, considering certain social media platforms’ documented harms.

“If you can identify discrete problems and you have an idea of the outcome that you would like to have or the outcomes you’re worried about, you can actually shape the development of technology into a socially desirable path,” Burk said. He cited products like automobiles and pharmaceuticals, which are now manufactured to be as safe as possible."

Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads; Semafor, July 6, 2023

 Max Tani, Semarfor; Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

"Twitter is threatening legal action against Meta over its new text-based “Twitter killer” platform, accusing the social media giant of poaching former employees to create a “copycat” application.

On Wednesday, Instagram parent company Meta introduced Threads, a text-based companion to Instagram that resembles Twitter and other text-based social platforms. Just hours later, a lawyer for Twitter, Alex Spiro, sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg accusing the company of engaging in “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.”

“Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information,” Spiro wrote in a letter obtained exclusively by Semafor. “Twitter reserves all rights, including, but not limited to, the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice to prevent any further retention, disclosure, or use of its intellectual property by Meta.”

Spiro accused Meta of hiring dozens of former Twitter employees who “had and continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information.”

Photo Agency Sues Twitter for $228.9 Million Over Copyright Infringement; PetaPixel, January 12, 2023

 PESALA BANDARA, PetaPixel; Photo Agency Sues Twitter for $228.9 Million Over Copyright Infringement

"Photo agency Backgrid and ten anonymous defendants have sued Twitter for allegedly failing to take down more than 1,500 photographs of celebrities owned by them and illegally posted to the platform by users.

According to the lawsuit filed on December 30, 2022, Backgrid alleges it sent over 6,700 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices to Twitter requesting the removal of its copyrighted photos, but Twitter failed to respond or take down a single image.

Furthermore, Backgrid claims that its images were posted continuously by some Twitter users, but the social media platform failed to suspend any accounts under its “repeat infringer” policy."

Music Labels are Ramping Up Enforcement Unlicensed Music in Brand Social Media Posts; SocialMediaToday, December 8, 2022

 Andrew Hutchinson, SocialMediaToday; Music Labels are Ramping Up Enforcement Unlicensed Music in Brand Social Media Posts

"The increasing enforcement of copyright for social media usage flags a new focus for the major labels. In recent years, big recording companies have employed entire teams to scour the online landscape for unlicensed usage of their clients’ work.

That’s been most present on YouTube, where labels had up till recently been able to claim revenue on any video that used their licensed music, providing an additional revenue stream within itself. YouTube has since changed its process, and now gives creators the opportunity to remove violative segments of their uploads, as opposed to simply reverting ad revenue to the labels. But the increased emphasis on music copyright infringement has made this a higher priority for rights-holding organizations.

And TikTok is now their key focus.

The short-form video platform has become a key avenue for music promotion, with popular tracks playing a big part in many viral trends, and even sparking entire careers off the back of TikTok momentum."