Anthropic agrees to work with music publishers to prevent copyright infringement

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1. Anthropic agrees to work with music publishers to prevent copyright infringement

Anthropic has partially resolved a legal disagreement with the music industry over its Claude AI model. In October 2023, a group of music publishers filed a copyright infringement complaint against Anthropic, alleging that the company trained its model on at least 500 songs they held rights to, allowing it to reproduce the lyrics.

In a court-approved stipulation, Anthropic agreed to maintain its existing copyright protections and implement the same measures when training future AI models. However, the original disagreement remains unresolved, with the publishers still seeking an injunction to prevent Anthropic from using unauthorized song lyrics.

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2. A Book app used AI to 'roast' its users. It went anti-woke instead

Fable, a book app, introduced an AI-powered end-of-year summary feature in 2024, which generated offensive content. Users reported receiving comments on race, gender, and sexual orientation.

Fable apologized and announced changes, but some users deleted their accounts. This incident highlights ongoing issues with AI tools, such as OpenAI's Dall-E and Google's Gemini, and calls for more rigorous testing and safeguards.

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3. Instagram users discover old AI-powered “characters,” instantly revile them

Meta, a social media platform, created Facebook and Instagram profiles for 28 AI characters with unique interests and personalities. However, the last of these profiles is being removed amid viral revulsion.

The AI-powered profiles, which included AI-generated imagery and human-created content, were scrapped less than a year later due to lack of interest. Meta's vision for "social media filled with AI-generated users" has led to a surge of interest in these AI-powered profiles.

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4. Roborock's new flagship robot vacuum has an arm that can grab small objects

Roborock, a Chinese company, has introduced the Roborock Saros Z70, an AI-powered robot vacuum that can pick up small objects like socks, sandals, and dog toys. The OmniGrip, with five axis, can lift objects under 300 grams. The vacuum uses precision sensors, cameras, and LED light to determine its position and weight.

The robot can be activated through the Roborock app, and it will be available for purchase this year. Roborock also launched two more robot vacuums, handheld wetdry vacuum cleaners, and three all-in-one washer-dryers.

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5. ByteDance could spend $7bn to access Nvidia Blackwell chips outside China

Chinese company ByteDance has been renting Nvidia's best chips from Oracle for AI computing, despite the US government's sanctions on China. The Information reports that ByteDance co-founder Zhang Yiming has discussed gaining access to Nvidia's Blackwell chips in Southeast Asia.

The Biden administration has already banned exports of Nvidia and AMD's latest GPUs to countries in the Middle East and Africa. ByteDance plans to spend over $20 billion next year on AI chips, data centers, and infrastructure, including undersea cables, but this figure could change once the company finalizes its 2025 budget.

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