An Instacart delivery driver and his girlfriend were shot at while trying to deliver groceries in South Florida. According to police reports, Waldes Thomas Jr., 19, and his girlfriend, Diamond Darville, 18, pulled into the wrong driveway while trying to find a customer’s address.
Canadian synth-pop artist Grimes says AI artists can use her voice without worrying about copyright or legal enforcement. “I’ll split 50% royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice. Same deal as I would with any artist i collab with,” she tweeted on Sunday. “Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings.”
The musician’s declaration comes in the wake of streaming platforms removing an AI-generated song using simulated voices of Drake and The Weeknd. Universal Music Group (UMG), which represents both artists, called for the purge after “Heart on My Sleeve” garnered over 15 million listens on TikTok and 600,000 on Spotify. UMG argued that publishing a song trained on its artists’ voices was “a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law.”
Grimes takes a considerably more open approach, adding that she has no label or legal bindings. “I think it’s cool to be fused [with] a machine and I like the idea of open sourcing all art and killing copyright,” she added.
I’ll split 50% royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice. Same deal as I would with any artist i collab with. Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings. pic.twitter.com/KIY60B5uqt
— 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 (@Grimezsz) April 24, 2023
This isn’t Grimes’ first time weighing in on AI. The artist collaborated with mood music startup Endel to launch an AI-generated lullaby app in 2020. She was inspired to create “a better baby sleeping situation” for her son, X Æ A-XII. In addition, she predicted in 2019 that generative AI could mean “the end of art, human art,” continuing by saying, “Once there’s actually AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), they’re gonna be so much better at making art than us… once AI can totally master science and art, which could happen in the next 10 years, probably more like 20 or 30 years.”
In addition to music, generative AI is already disrupting numerous industries, including visual art, writing, online media and voiceover work. After its sudden arrival — and rapid improvements — within the past year, AI content creation has set off numerous legal, ethical and copyright firestorms. Unfortunately, it will likely worsen before society and copyright laws settle on any consensus. In March, the US Copyright Office said AI art, including music, stemming from a text prompt couldn’t be copyrighted. But it left the issue far from settled as it left the door open to granting copyright protections to works with AI-generated elements.
Grimes’ offer to split royalties says it would apply to any “successful” AI song using her voice, leaving some confusion over where that cutoff is. Either way, she sounds ready to back up the offer with tools artists can use, promising, “We’re making a program that should simulate my voice well but we could also upload stems and samples for ppl to train their own.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/grimes-invites-ai-artists-to-use-her-voice-promising-50-percent-royalty-split-165659578.html?src=rss
BeReal, Apple’s iPhone app of the year for 2022, wants you to know that it’s still going strong. The app sends users a notification at a different time each day, prompting them to drop everything and share photos taken with their phone’s front and rear cameras simultaneously. You have a two-minute window to do this, with the idea that you’ll share authentic updates from your life (you likely won’t have enough time to fix your hair or find a spot with great lighting first). Your friends are notified when you post late or retake your photos.
This approach has caused some teething issues. It has led to people sharing mundane photos of their computer screens or taking out their phones simultaneously during a class, as The New York Times reported recently. Citing data from an analytics company, the publication suggested that the app’s user numbers have nosedived by around 61 percent in recent months to under six million as the novelty factor waned and biggerrivals started to copy BeReal.
On its new blog, BeReal claims it actually has more than 20 million daily active users. In its inaugural post, the BeReal team notes it has been quiet as it’s been busy. “But [that] means people have been guessing about what we’ve been up to and how things are going, and not always accurately,” the post reads.
Meanwhile, BeReal has debuted a feature that could lead to an uptick in engagement and perhaps keep wavering users onboard. Bonus BeReal, which the company is testing in the UK before expanding to the rest of the world soon, allows users to post two extra snapshots per day at times of their choosing — as long as they share their regular BeReal on time.
The move could undercut the spontaneous authenticity that BeReal strives for, as it will give users a chance to pose for and edit their extra posts. However, BeReal notes that it may make changes to the feature.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bereal-says-it-has-more-than-20-million-daily-active-users-172721921.html?src=rss
North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed legislation Monday banning abortion at six weeks of pregnancy.
Star Trek: Picard’s final season felt as much like a hello as it did a farewell, as Picard and his friends handed the torch to a new generation of Starfleet heroes. It’s felt much the same off screen too, as showrunner Terry Matalas and his cast have told anyone who will listen to them that they really really really want
Microsoft has agreed to stop bundling its Teams remote collaboration software with its Office productivity suite, according toFinancial Times. The company’s move attempts to head off an official EU antitrust investigation as it deals with its most significant regulatory concerns in over a decade.
FT’s sources say companies will eventually be able to buy Office with or without Teams installed, “but the mechanism on how to do this remains unclear.” Talks with EU regulators are reportedly ongoing, and “a deal is not certain.” Microsoft told FT, “We are mindful of our responsibilities in the EU as a major technology company. We continue to engage cooperatively with the commission in its investigation and are open to pragmatic solutions that address its concerns and serve customers well.”
Competing remote-work platform Slack, now owned by Salesforce, complained to EU regulators in 2020, asking officials to make Microsoft sell Teams separately from its ubiquitous Office suite. Slack’s general counsel said at the time, “We’re asking the EU to be a neutral referee, examine the facts and enforce the law.”
Microsoft is facing its first regulatory issues in a decade. The company agreed to a settlement with the European Commission in 2009, agreeing to offer European customers a choice of web browsers; it was then fined €561 million in 2013 for failing to adhere to that consistently. Of course, its most famous antitrust shakeup came around the turn of the millennium when it was initially forced to break up into two companies, a ruling later overturned by an appeals court. Microsoft and the DOJ settled in 2001, agreeing to restrictions like sharing APIs with third-party developers and letting PC manufacturers install non-Microsoft software on their products.
In recent months, the company has been scrambling to receive regulatory approval for its planned $69 billion purchase of game publisher Activision Blizzard. The company is reportedly expected to receive a green light from the EU and UK, and it has until July to appease the US Federal Trade Commission. Microsoft offered 10-year legal agreements to provide Call of Duty on Nintendo consoles and cloud-streaming platform Boosteroid to help ease those concerns. Sony reportedly declined a similar offer.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-will-reportedly-unbundle-teams-from-office-to-avoid-antitrust-concerns-183139403.html?src=rss
The sudden departure of cable’s top news host shocked the country. But his legacy won’t disappear so quickly.
You can pair the DualSense Edge to any of Apple’s devices, whether you’re on a Mac, iPad, iPhone, or even an Apple TV.
Apple has proven victorious over Epic Games in the drawn-out battle over its App Store and rules about payments … for the most part, that is.
The first steps are scheduled to begin starting at approximately 11:40 a.m. EDT, when the Hakuto-R will begin its descent to the moon’s surface.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
