News/Copyright
Meta allegedly trained its AI models on pirated torrent content
Meta's use of pirated content from torrent sites to train its Llama large language model has been revealed through court documents, leading to copyright litigation. Key developments: Court documents in the "Kadrey et al. v. Meta Platforms" case have exposed internal communications suggesting Meta's use of unauthorized content for AI training. Novelists Richard Kadrey and Christopher Golden filed the lawsuit in 2023, alleging Meta used their copyrighted works without permission Judge Vince Chhabria ordered the release of unredacted documents that were previously hidden from public view Internal communications show Meta employees expressing concerns about downloading torrented content on corporate laptops...
read Jan 10, 2025Meta faces new lawsuit for using copyrighted books to train AI
Meta faces accusations of deliberately using pirated books to train its AI systems, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg allegedly approving the use of unauthorized content despite internal concerns. Key allegations: The lawsuit, filed by prominent authors including Ta-Nehisi Coates and Sarah Silverman, claims Meta knowingly used pirated books from the LibGen dataset to train its Llama language model. Internal Meta communications revealed that executives were aware LibGen contained pirated content The dataset was allegedly distributed through peer-to-peer torrents Documents produced during discovery suggest Zuckerberg approved the use of LibGen despite concerns from Meta's AI executive team Legal context: This case represents...
read Jan 9, 2025Meta secretly trained its AI models on a Russian ‘shadow library,’ court docs show
Meta's use of pirated books database LibGen to train its AI language models has been revealed through court-ordered document unredaction, marking a significant development in an ongoing copyright lawsuit filed by authors. The core revelation: Meta accessed and utilized Library Genesis (LibGen), a controversial pirated content database, for AI model training, despite internal concerns about the legality and optics of this approach. Internal company discussions about using LibGen data were escalated to CEO Mark Zuckerberg Meta employees expressed hesitation about accessing LibGen data from corporate laptops The company's AI team ultimately received approval to use the pirated materials Legal context...
read Jan 3, 2025Anthropic limits Claude’s use of copyrighted song lyrics in new deal with Universal
Anthropic has reached a settlement with major record labels to restrict its AI chatbot Claude from reproducing or generating copyrighted song lyrics. Key settlement terms: The agreement between Anthropic and music publishers including Universal Music Group and Concord Music Group establishes clear boundaries for AI interaction with protected song lyrics. Anthropic must prevent Claude and future AI products from reciting copyrighted lyrics or creating derivative works based on them The company will maintain existing blocks against reproducing protected lyrics Record labels retain the right to request modifications if they find AI responses unsatisfactory Current implementation status: Claude's behavior already reflects...
read Dec 29, 2024The NYT was developing its own internal AI chatbot in 2023, internal messages reveal
Breaking news development: The New York Times was developing its own ChatGPT-like tool in 2023, according to evidence revealed in ongoing legal proceedings between Microsoft and the media company. Legal discovery details: Microsoft's court filings in its AI copyright dispute with The New York Times have uncovered internal Slack messages that provide insights into the media company's AI development plans. The messages show NYT's product team instructing developers to avoid using external large language models (AI systems that can understand and generate human-like text) This directive was given because the company was preparing to roll out its own internal AI...
read Dec 27, 2024Brookings investigates the constitutional constraints on regulating AI
Key constitutional debate emerges: As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent, lawmakers and legal experts are grappling with complex constitutional questions about how to regulate AI technology while respecting fundamental rights. Core regulatory frameworks: Current approaches to AI regulation fall into three distinct categories: existing regulations that apply to AI-related harms, new AI-specific rules governing usage, and regulations targeting the underlying AI models themselves. California Senate Bill 1047 represents one of the most comprehensive state-level attempts at AI regulation, requiring developers to demonstrate their models won't cause significant harm Traditional regulatory frameworks are being tested as AI presents novel challenges that...
read Dec 23, 2024Universal and Amazon Music strike ‘Streaming 2.0’ deal with AI protection for artists
Amazon Music and Universal Music Group (UMG) have announced an expanded global partnership focused on streaming innovation, exclusive content creation, and enhanced artist protection measures. Key Partnership Details: The collaboration marks a significant shift in music streaming strategy, emphasizing value creation through diversified offerings rather than pure scale. The agreement will advance UMG's "Streaming 2.0" strategy, which focuses on multiple subscription tiers and expanded merchandise opportunities Both companies will explore new product opportunities designed to enhance fan experiences and benefit artists The partnership includes collaboration on audiobooks, audio-visual programming, and livestreamed content Technology and Protection Measures: The alliance places strong...
read Dec 22, 2024UK government announces initiative to solve AI’s copyright problem
The United Kingdom government has launched a public consultation to address the intersection of copyright law and artificial intelligence, seeking to balance the interests of its creative industries with the growing AI sector. Core objectives of the consultation: The UK government aims to create a legal framework that supports both its creative industries and AI sector while protecting intellectual property rights. The consultation focuses on establishing clear guidelines for AI training using copyrighted materials The process will run for 10 weeks, from December 17, 2024, to February 25, 2025 The initiative is part of the government's broader AI Opportunities Action...
read Dec 21, 2024If AI writes your code, do you still really own it?
The evolving legal landscape surrounding AI-generated code raises complex questions about ownership, copyright, and intellectual property rights in software development. Current legal framework: The intersection of AI-generated code with existing contract and copyright law presents unprecedented challenges for developers and businesses. Traditional copyright law requires human authorship, casting doubt on the copyrightability of code created solely by AI systems While complete applications containing AI-generated code may receive copyright protection, isolating which specific portions qualify remains problematic Contract law adds another layer of complexity, with AI companies taking varying stances on ownership rights Company policies and ownership claims: Different AI providers...
read Dec 20, 2024McCartney changes his tune after AI-generated Grammy win, warning AI could “wipe out” music
The continued integration of artificial intelligence into music production has sparked both enthusiasm and concern among legendary artists, particularly regarding its impact on the creative industry's future. Initial embrace and success: Paul McCartney and the Beatles recently achieved a historic milestone with their AI-assisted track "Now and Then," which became the first such recording to receive Grammy Award nominations. The song utilized AI "stem separation" technology to extract John Lennon's vocals from an old demo recording McCartney described hearing Lennon's voice as "crystal clear" and "emotional," while Ringo Starr called the experience "far out" The track was celebrated as "a...
read Dec 20, 2024The top decentralized AI projects returning control to data owners
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence has sparked debates about data ownership, privacy, and creative rights, leading to increasing interest in decentralized alternatives to traditional AI systems. Current landscape and challenges: The centralized nature of major AI systems has created significant tensions around copyright and data ownership. OpenAI has acknowledged it cannot train large language models like GPT-4 without accessing copyrighted work Microsoft, despite holding a significant stake in OpenAI, typically advocates for strong copyright protection Eight newspaper publishers have filed lawsuits against Microsoft and OpenAI over copyright infringement claims Decentralized AI emergence: Decentralized AI (deAI) presents an alternative approach...
read Dec 19, 2024New WIRED report dives deep into every major AI copyright lawsuit
There's been an unprecedented wave of AI-related copyright litigation in the United States, with content creators and publishers challenging AI companies' use of copyrighted materials for training their models. Historical context: The current wave of AI copyright litigation began in May 2020 when Thomson Reuters sued Ross Intelligence over alleged copyright violations involving its Westlaw legal research platform. The lawsuit against Ross Intelligence, though initially overlooked, marked the beginning of a broader legal battle between content publishers and AI companies Ross Intelligence has since gone out of business due to litigation costs, though the case continues with no clear end...
read Dec 18, 2024New research shows where Big Tech is getting all its AI training data
The increasing dominance of large tech companies in AI training data collection and management raises significant concerns about diversity, transparency, and power concentration in artificial intelligence development. Key findings from comprehensive audit: The Data Provenance Initiative, comprising over 50 researchers, conducted an extensive analysis of nearly 4,000 public AI datasets across 600+ languages and 67 countries, spanning three decades. The research revealed a dramatic shift in data collection methods since 2017, moving from carefully curated sources to widespread internet scraping More than 70% of video and speech training data comes from a single source, likely YouTube, highlighting Google/Alphabet's outsized influence...
read Dec 18, 2024How YouTube is giving creators more control over their likenesses
The increasing pervasiveness of AI technology in the creator economy has created new challenges for content creators and celebrities dealing with unauthorized AI-generated replicas of their likenesses across social media platforms. Latest developments: YouTube is forming a strategic partnership with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to develop and test tools for identifying AI-generated content that uses celebrities' and creators' likenesses without permission. The initial testing phase will begin in early 2024, focusing on celebrities and athletes before expanding to top YouTube creators and other creative professionals The technology will help identify AI-generated content that mimics faces, voices, and other personal characteristics...
read Dec 17, 2024YouTube partners with CAA to combat AI deepfakes of celebrities
The rise of AI-generated deepfakes has prompted major platforms and talent agencies to develop tools for protecting celebrities' digital likenesses and intellectual property rights. Key Partnership Announcement: YouTube and Creative Artists Agency (CAA) have formed a groundbreaking collaboration to help talent identify and remove unauthorized AI-generated content featuring their likenesses from the video platform. The initiative will launch in early 2025, initially focusing on celebrity talent, including award-winning actors and professional athletes from the NBA and NFL YouTube is developing specialized likeness-management technology that can detect AI-generated content featuring faces "at scale" The system will allow talent to submit takedown...
read Dec 16, 2024Authors Guild statement asserts authors control AI licensing rights
The evolving landscape of artificial intelligence in publishing has prompted new discussions about authors' rights and control over their intellectual property. Key position statement: The Authors Guild has released a comprehensive statement reinforcing that authors, not publishers or tech companies, should maintain control over AI licensing of their work. The organization emphasizes that authors must have the choice whether to allow their works to be used by AI and determine the specific terms of use This position follows HarperCollins becoming the first major trade publisher to establish an AI deal with a tech company The Guild expressed approval of HarperCollins'...
read Dec 16, 2024Will restricting access to copyrighted data stifle AI innovation?
The evolving intersection of artificial intelligence and copyright law has sparked intense debate about the ethical and practical implications of using copyrighted material to train large language models (LLMs). Core controversy at hand: The fundamental question centers on whether using copyrighted content to train AI models should be considered a violation of intellectual property rights. The debate draws parallels to how humans learn from copyrighted materials, like developers reading technical documentation LLMs process data through unsupervised learning, creating mathematical representations rather than direct copies The technology relies on transformer-based architectures and tokenization to understand language contextually Search engine parallel: Current...
read Dec 16, 2024YouTube creators can now opt in to AI training of their content
The introduction of YouTube's new AI training permissions feature marks a significant shift in how content creators can control the use of their videos for artificial intelligence development. Key development: YouTube is introducing an opt-in system that allows creators to permit third-party companies to use their video content for AI model training. The feature will be accessible through YouTube Studio and is switched off by default, ensuring creators must actively choose to participate Creators can either grant access to specific companies from an approved list or allow all third-party companies to use their content Unauthorized scraping of content remains prohibited...
read Dec 16, 2024AI regulation in UK may give artists new ‘personality rights’
The United Kingdom is preparing significant regulatory changes to protect artists' intellectual property rights in response to the growing use of their work in AI training datasets, marking a potential shift in how creative content is governed in the AI era. Current developments: The UK government is launching a consultation on updating copyright rules for AI training content, coinciding with OpenAI's release of its Sora text-to-video generation tool. Ministers will begin discussions on Tuesday to evaluate new copyright protections for artists The proposed regulations are expected to be implemented within two years OpenAI's Sora, released December 16, can generate 20-second...
read Dec 16, 2024Writers Guild demands studios prevent tech companies from unauthorized AI training
The growing tension between Hollywood's creative community and artificial intelligence companies has reached a new inflection point as writers seek to protect their intellectual property from unauthorized AI training. Key development: The Writers Guild of America has formally demanded that major Hollywood studios take legal action against tech companies that are using copyrighted content for AI training without permission or compensation. The guild's leadership sent letters to major studios including Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Paramount Global, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures, and Amazon MGM Studios WGA cited existing collective bargaining agreements that require studios to defend copyrights on behalf of writers...
read Dec 15, 2024WGA urges studios to sue AI companies over plagiarism
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has initiated a confrontation with major Hollywood studios over the unauthorized use of copyrighted scripts by artificial intelligence companies, marking a significant escalation in the ongoing debate about AI's role in creative industries. Key developments: The WGA's east and west chapters have issued formal letters to top executives at major studios including Amazon MGM, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros. Discovery. The letters were delivered on Thursday to prominent industry leaders including Bob Iger, Ted Sarandos, and David Zaslav The Guild explicitly references a November 18 article from The Atlantic that...
read Dec 11, 2024A new AI sheriff is in town and it wants to enforce web scraping rules
The rise of AI web scraping has created new challenges for website owners seeking to protect their content from unauthorized use in AI training datasets. Current landscape: Cloudflare has introduced an enhanced AI Audit tool that helps website owners identify and block AI bots that violate their content usage rules. The tool reveals which AI crawlers are ignoring robots.txt directives and shows detailed information about their scraping activities, including request volumes and targeted pages Website owners can implement new firewall rules through the platform to block non-compliant AI bots The service is now accessible to all Cloudflare customers Technical context:...
read Dec 4, 2024Why AI companions are disappearing from Character.AI
The rising popularity of AI chatbot platform Character.AI faces a significant shift as copyright concerns force the removal of beloved fictional character interactions. Regulatory compliance and policy changes: Character.AI is implementing sweeping changes to its platform to address copyright concerns and enhance safety measures. The company has updated its terms and conditions to strengthen content moderation policies and enforce copyright law compliance A new proactive detection system, combined with industry-standard blocklists, helps identify and remove potentially infringing characters The platform is particularly focused on ensuring child safety alongside these copyright enforcement measures Impact on user experience: The removal of popular...
read Dec 1, 2024Canadian news giants sue OpenAI for copyright infringement
The battle between media outlets and artificial intelligence companies continues to escalate as prominent Canadian news organizations take legal action against OpenAI over copyright concerns. The core issue: Five major Canadian news outlets have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging unauthorized use of their journalistic content to train AI models like ChatGPT. Postmedia, the Globe and Mail, Torstar, the Canadian Press, and CBC/Radio-Canada collectively initiated legal action in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice The outlets claim OpenAI is profiting from their intellectual property without permission or compensation The 84-page lawsuit seeks damages and a permanent injunction to prevent unauthorized...
read