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AI Spotlight

8 Newspapers Sue OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I.

Copyright Battles in the Digital Age: A lawsuit filed by eight newspapers owned by Alden Global Capital against OpenAI and Microsoft centers on serious allegations of copyright infringement. These newspapers, including The New York Daily News, The Chicago Tribune, The Orlando Sentinel, The Sun Sentinel of Florida, The San Jose Mercury News, The Denver Post, The Orange County Register, and The St. Paul Pioneer Press, accuse the tech giants of utilizing millions of their copyrighted articles without permission to train and feed their AI products, such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. This misuse allegedly includes presenting full texts of articles behind paywalls, reducing the urgency for readers to subscribe, thereby depriving the publishers of crucial subscription and licensing revenues. This issue highlights a broader tension in the media industry as it grapples with the implications of AI technologies that rely heavily on extensive data pools, which often include copyrighted material.

Tech Giants Under the Legal Spotlight: OpenAI and Microsoft’s differing responses to the accusations reflect the complex landscape of the tech industry’s engagement with copyright issues. OpenAI acknowledges its ongoing partnerships with news organizations to explore beneficial uses of AI in journalism, whereas Microsoft has remained silent on the matter. Meanwhile, some media outlets are choosing negotiation over litigation, like The Financial Times, which recently reached a compensation agreement with OpenAI. This theme highlights the divergent strategies within the tech sector in dealing with legal challenges and the potential for future collaborations or conflicts with content creators.

Journalism at a Crossroads: The implications of AI on journalism extend beyond legal concerns, touching on the ethical responsibilities of technology in preserving the integrity of news. The misuse of copyrighted content by AI not only threatens the financial viability of newspapers but also risks distorting public discourse through the dissemination of inaccurate or fabricated news attributed to trusted sources. Examples include AI misattributing endorsements of dangerous products or completely fabricating research findings. This theme captures the critical conversation around the role of AI in journalism, emphasizing the need for responsible technology that upholds the accuracy and trustworthiness of information in civic life.

Trending AI Technologies

How are the latest personal AI devices performing? 

Inspired by the iconic communicators from Star Trek, the Humane AI Pin enters the market with a hefty price tag of $699, along with a recurring $24 monthly service fee. This wearable device aims to offer a futuristic experience by combining generative AI software, a laser, and a camera to assist in daily tasks through voice interaction. However, initial reviews have been less than favorable. Critics argue that the device offers limited functionality relative to its high cost. Users have reported that the pin’s responsiveness and utility in everyday scenarios do not justify its price point. Reviews highlight the device’s tendency to struggle with more complex queries and tasks, which can lead to a frustrating user experience. This has raised concerns about the practical value of the Humane AI Pin, especially when smartphones can perform similar or better functions without the additional cost.

In collaboration, Ray-Ban and Meta have developed AI-enabled glasses priced at $299, which are now undergoing public beta testing. These glasses integrate advanced technology like voice commands and camera functionalities to interact with the digital world seamlessly. The design includes the “Skyler” frames, which feature an “iconic” cat-eye aesthetic, appealing to style-conscious consumers. However, despite these innovative features, the glasses have not yet hit the mark for general consumer readiness. Reviewers note that while the integration of multimodal AI is promising, the execution is inconsistent. The AI sometimes struggles to accurately respond to voice prompts or effectively use the camera for real-world analysis. It’s mentioned that the AI features are a hit-or-miss, which suggests that while the technology has potential, it requires further refinement to meet daily reliability standards.

The Rabbit R1 is an intriguing entry into the personal AI device market. Priced at $199, this device is about half the size of a standard smartphone and equipped with a 2.8-inch screen, an 8-megapixel camera, 128GB of storage, GPS, and motion sensors including an accelerometer and a gyroscope. It offers a variety of features, such as the ability to call an Uber, order dinner from DoorDash, translate conversations, record voice memos, and play music from Spotify. Despite its compact size and multiplicity of functions, the Rabbit R1 primarily competes with smartphones, which already offer these capabilities. The value proposition of the Rabbit R1 lies in its promise to perform these tasks in a faster and more intuitive way. After spending some time with the device, reviewers note that while it successfully executes its advertised features, it doesn’t necessarily outperform a typical smartphone in these tasks. Moreover, the Rabbit R1 has been described as a fun and fresh addition to the gadget world but also as somewhat frustrating at times. Users have enjoyed its novel approach and simple design but have also expressed concerns about whether there’s a need for such a gadget when most of its functions are already well-handled by smartphones.

AI Data Point

Generative AI revenue is projected to experience a steep climb from $14 billion in 2020 to a staggering $1,304 billion by 2032. This represents not just a surge in revenue but also an increasing share of the overall technology spend—from 3% in 2020 to 25% by 2032. Such growth signals generative AI’s expanding influence within the tech sector. By 2030, the sector is expected to surpass the $1 trillion revenue threshold, illustrating its rapid expansion and deeper integration into various tech applications.

Company Watch

Mystery and Speculation Surround the Brief Appearance of “gpt2-chatbot”

Over the weekend, the AI community was stirred by the sudden appearance and subsequent disappearance of a mysterious AI model known as “gpt2-chatbot” on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena website. This model quickly caught the attention of users and experts for its potential to match or even surpass OpenAI’s GPT-4 in certain capabilities.

The “gpt2-chatbot” was available only for a few days before being taken offline due to unexpectedly high traffic, as confirmed by LMSYS on X (formerly Twitter). Despite the short testing period, early evaluations by users suggested that the model’s capabilities were on par with, or possibly superior to, GPT-4, especially in solving complex mathematical problems.

There is ongoing debate about whether “gpt2-chatbot” represents a significant advancement over current large language models like GPT-4.5 or Claude 3 Opus from Anthropic. Ars Technica, after its own evaluation, expressed doubts about the model being OpenAI’s next big release, GPT-5.

The model’s sudden appearance led to speculations about its origins. Some, including programmer and AI researcher Simon Willison, suggested that it might be an OpenAI stealth preview of an upcoming model. This theory is supported by a cryptic post from Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, expressing his fondness for “gpt2.” However, others believe it could be a marketing stunt, given the lack of official announcements and the secretive nature of the release.

The unannounced release and quick disappearance of “gpt2-chatbot” have highlighted frustrations within the AI research community regarding the opacity of LLM research and development. Simon Willison criticized the non-scientific approach to evaluating the model, which he sees as indicative of broader issues in the field. The fleeting presence of “gpt2-chatbot” has left more questions than answers, fueling both excitement and skepticism about the future of AI development.

Practical AI

NotebookLM: NotebookLM gives you a powerful new interface that lets you shift effortlessly from reading to asking questions to writing, with an AI thought partner helping you at every turn.

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