AI

CEO Robert Thomson — a vocal critic of AI firms that have effectively stolen content from news organizations to train chatbots that produce “rubbish” — said “crucial negotiations are at an advanced stage” as prominent media firms seek fair compensation for their copyrighted works. Thomson said News Corp. believes “courtship is preferable to courtrooms” to solve the hotly debated issue.

The social network wants to promote standardized labels to help detect artificially created photo, video and audio material across its platforms.

Viant Technology said that it has added new artificial intelligence-based tools and services to its data platform. The tools are designed to help advertisers get more out of their relationships with publishers while maintaining consumer privacy.

The move follows a pilot program started last summer. Sinclair said: “TopLine combines AI technology with sales research and data-driven presentations, empowering sales teams to extend into new categories, get more appointments and reach new types of buyers.”

The tech giant is paying an undisclosed but significant sum to the media company as it launches “Signals.” The feature intends to “offer readers diverse, sophisticated perspectives and insights on the biggest stories in the world as they develop,” Semafor wrote on Monday.

Realistic-looking shampoo bottles and seltzer cans are popping up on videos from digital creators on TikTok and YouTube in a new form of old advertising. Pictured: A screenshot of a recent TikTok from the dancer Melissa Becraft that used AI to digitally superimpose a poster for Bubly, the sparkling water brand owned by PepsiCo, onto the wall of her apartment.

WME said the partnership would help its clients get fake images of themselves removed or receive compensation for use of their likenesses. Pictured: The real Taylor Swift in concert last spring. Recent A.I.-generated images of the singer have brought attention to likeness theft.

The publication is hiring engineers and editors for a new team that will experiment with uses for generative AI, but says journalists will still write, edit and report the news.

The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday it is investigating how partnerships between large tech businesses and artificial intelligence companies could affect competition. The agency sent so-called “6b” orders — equivalent to subpoenas — to the tech companies Microsoft, Amazon and Google, and artificial intelligence businesses OpenAI and Anthropic. Those orders seek information about deals between  Microsoft and OpenAI, Amazon and Anthropic, and Google and Anthropic.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday asks that a judge order the podcast outlet, Dudesy, to immediately take down the audio special, George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead, in which a synthesis of Carlin, who died in 2008, delivers commentary on current events. (Gregory Bull/AP)

The office is reviewing how centuries-old laws should apply to artificial intelligence technology, with both content creators and tech giants arguing their cases.

Nearly 90% of top news outlets like The New York Times now block AI data collection bots from OpenAI and others. Leading right-wing outlets like NewsMax and Breitbart mostly permit them.

he National Telecommunications and Information Administration is planning to release its artificial intelligence accountability report “this winter,” the agency’s top official said on Monday. The NTIA first requested comment in April 2023 on what policies should be put in place to ensure the trustworthiness of AI systems. More than 1,400 commenters weighed in, which is a lot for the agency, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said at a Knight Foundation event.

Google has introduced a conversational experience in Google Ads powered by its Gemini AI model that can run on everything from mobile devices to servers in data centers. Conversational experience enables advertisers to generate relevant ad content such as creative and keywords from a website URL. The tool — initially announced in May during the company’s Google Marketing Live event — has now rolled into a Beta project and is available to English-language advertisers in the U.S. and U.K.

Forward-looking station groups including Gray Television, E.W. Scripps and Graham Media are forming internal policy groups to tackle the challenges that will come with adopting generative AI in their newsrooms.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced the company’s next steps toward investing in artificial intelligence — highlighting plans to open-source the emerging technology; build an infrastructure; fuse the company’s two leading AI research groups; and connect Meta’s efforts to its ongoing metaverse development vision. “Our long term vision is to build general intelligence, open source it responsibly, and make it widely available so everyone can benefit,” Zuckerberg posted on Threads.

Berlin, Germany-based research company Eye Square said it launched Memex Jr., a generative artificial intelligence tool designed to explain complex marketing topics and provide insights that can improve advertising performance.

Artificial intelligence is easily the biggest buzzword for world leaders and corporate bosses diving into big ideas at the World Economic Forum’s glitzy annual meeting in Davos. In a sign of ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s skyrocketing profile, CEO Sam Altman made his Davos debut to rock star crowds, with his benefactor, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, hot on his heels. Pictured: A huge advertising banner with a slogan about AI is fixed at a building at the Davos Promenade, alongside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The AI technology has taken a large and growing slice of attention in Davos, this year the theme of Artificial Intelligence “as a driving force for the economy and society” will get about 30 separate sessions. (Markus Schreiber/AP)

With AI advancements proliferating and its role in media growing, media companies should step back and ask some key questions about the data being used to fuel its advancements.

The 4A’s has issued its annual “Look Ahead” report for 2024 and not surprisingly, helping members “tame the AI beast” is a top priority for the organization.  A lot of focus on the impact of AI (and more recently generative AI) on agencies has been about the creative impact but as 4A’s CEO Marla Kaplowitz notes, the technology will affect “every area within the agency ecosystem” from operations, talent, new business, creative, media, compensation models and more.

ChatGPT and other generative AI applications rely on copyrighted material to do what they do. But rather than compensate creators, the companies are turning to one of Silicon Valley’s most reliable playbooks: claiming what they do is legally fair use. (Richard Drew/AP)

As AI generators like Midjourney are increasingly able to replicate movies frame by frame, it won’t be long until they can re-create the Avengers: Endgame with an alternate finale. Will Hollywood just let that happen?

After a year filled with hearings and forums discussing the risks and benefits of AI as the technology expands into critical sectors, experts say it is time for Congress to act — while some warn that lawmakers are already behind.

IATSE President Matthew Loeb did not mince words Tuesday when asked if his local unions were willing to strike if this spring’s contract negotiations with the AMPTP did not go well. “Nothing’s off the table, and we’re not going to give up our strength and our ability because they sapped us,” said Loeb to cheers at a CES panel of Hollywood labor leaders. “Everybody’s bank account got sapped because they were unreasonable for months and months. My folks aren’t going to just settle.”

The artificial intelligence start-up said that it collaborated with news organizations and that The Times, which accused it of copyright infringement, was not telling the full story.

Waymark’s AI tech will roll out across all 61 Scripps broadcast stations. The launch comes after successful local advertising pilot program at select Scripps stations.

With the Iowa Republican Caucus happening in mid-January and dozens of additional primaries and caucuses to follow before the 2024 general election, broadcasters need to be aware of the use of artificial intelligence, deepfakes and synthetic media in political advertising and the various laws at play when such content is used. These laws seek to ensure that viewers and listeners are made aware that the person they are seeing or the voice they are hearing in political advertising may not be who it looks like or sounds like.

Fox Corp. has unveiled Verify, a technical protocol available on an open-source basis that lets media companies register their content and grant usage rights to AI platforms along with enabling consumers to verify content authenticity.

A congressional committee made the demand of the Commerce Department after the New York Times reported on concerns among U.S. intelligence officials over the Emirati company, G42.

OpenAI is firing back at The New York Times after the company was sued for copyright infringement over the use of the publisher’s articles to train its artificial intelligence chatbot. In a blog post, the Sam Altman-led firm said that the Times is “not telling the full story” and claimed it “intentionally manipulated” prompts to make it appears as if ChatGPT generates near word-for-word excerpts of articles.

The AI-driven planning and activation technology will leverage new investments in automation and data to provide advertisers “effective and unduplicated reach across screens.”

In the hands of anonymous internet users, AI tools can create waves of harassing and racist material. It’s already happening on the anonymous message board 4chan.

The AFL-CIO is pushing for Disney and Apple to explain how they use artificial intelligence.