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The Atlanta rapper is hitting the road in support of 2023’s A Great ChaosView the full article

The event returns to the Empire Polo Club in California next AprilView the full article

The rapper was a late addition to the California festival’s second weekendView the full article

Our weekly playlist highlights songs that our writers, editors, and contributors are listening to on repeatView the full article

Yorke will share his full soundtrack to the Daniele Luchetti film this weekView the full article

Tierra Whack, Arooj Aftab, Kae Tempest, Sega Bodega, billy woods, Empress Of, Shame, Mabe Fratti, Moor Mother, and many others will perform at the festivals in NovemberView the full article

Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, and Kool & the Gang round out the performer inductees, with Jimmy Buffett, Big Mama Thornton, MC5, and others receiving special honorsView the full article

The Toronto rapper also praises Taylor Swift effusively on his “Taylor Made Freestyle”View the full article

Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles co-star with Swift and Malone in the first Tortured Poets Department music videoView the full article

Find out when to catch Lana Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator, Doja Cat, No Doubt, Kid Cudi, and moreView the full article

A newly released report alleges Big Tech's ad transparency tools are failing across the board — with X scoring the worst at providing meaningful data that can help users, journalists, and advocates keep a watchful eye on scams and disinformation. If "ad transparency" isn't a familiar term, that's probably because it's a somewhat counterintuitive concept. With TV ads, you generally know the sponsor — it's announced front and center. Digital ads are more slippery. Even when the fact that something is an ad is disclosed, exactly who is advertising what, and why still may not be clear. If a platform fails to provide robust digital ad transparency information to those who request it, it's harder to track hoaxes and scrutinize sketchy or scammy ad practices. SEE ALSO: The return of political campaign ads to X/Twitter raises important questions for users A report 'stress-testing' tech platforms' ad repositoriesThe digital survey was conducted by Mozilla and CheckFirst, a software solutions company providing tools to counter and monitor disinformation. It analyzed a dozen ad transparency tools created by tech platforms to aid advertising monitors, including those on X, TikTok, LinkedIn, Alphabet’s Google Search, and Meta and Apple sites. Using guidelines from the European Union’s 2023 Digital Services Act (DSA) and Mozilla's in-house ad library guidelines, the organizations scanned the platforms' ad repositories for things like public availability, the contents of advertisements, payer details, and user targeting details. "Ad transparency tools are essential for platform accountability — a first line of defense, like smoke detectors," said Mozilla EU advocacy lead Claire Pershan. "But our research shows most of the world’s largest platforms are not offering up functionally useful ad repositories. The current batch of tools exist, yes — but in some cases, that’s about all that can be said about them.” Not one of the analyzed advertising repositories tested well, and few if any were easy to find to begin with. Before researchers can even begin testing whether ad transparency measures are accurate, they must wade through incompatible, opaque services, the report explains. X stood out as the worst scorer on data accessibility and search capabilities, only providing watchdogs with a single CSV file. "X’s transparency tools are an utter disappointment," explained Pershan. "Its repository offers no filtering and sorting capabilities; ads can only be accessed through a cumbersome CSV export file; the content of ads is not disclosed (only a URL to the ads), and there are gaps in targeting parameters and recipient data. And searching for historical content is nearly impossible. All this may be why the European Commission has included X’s ad repository in its formal proceedings against the platform under the DSA." The report also found common, glaring gaps in ad transparency tools across the board, including: Ads missing from repositories that were visible to users. Inconsistent public access to ad information. Poor search functions impeding ad oversight. Another concerning fact: "Only a handful of the platforms analyzed have a repository for branded or influencer content, even though many allow for influencer content on their services," the researchers report. SEE ALSO: AI might be influencing your vote this election. How to spot and respond to it. The ups and downs of the advertising landscape These figures are especially worrisome in a contentious election year, one that is already stoking fear about intentional disinformation campaigns, the role of AI, and the influence of Big Tech leaders on candidate advertising and voter awareness. Last year, X CEO Elon Musk announced the site was reversing its previous election policy banning political advertising from campaigns and political parties. Disinformation watch dogs went on alert immediately. Other platforms, like Meta and Google, have added new advertising policies ahead of the election to assuage generative AI threats. Advertising across Big Tech platforms has become a hot-button topic in a sporadically regulated industry. On sites like TikTok and X, ads are crowding out user-generated content. In June 2023, Google's advertising business came under fire from both the U.S. government and the European Union, accused of violating both unions' antitrust laws. In recent months, Google has amped up its advertising scrutiny, most recently announcing a ban on ads that feature fake endorsements, an apparent response to a Mashable investigation. But there's been a positive shift along this bumpy road: In the five years since Mozilla and a panel of independent researchers released its advertising API guidelines in 2019, 11 of the world’s largest tech companies have introduced ad repositories. According to the report, both Google and Facebook have since updated their services with ad targeting criteria, engagement and historical data, and better filtering. "Who pays for ads and how they’re targeted is crucial in helping watchdogs look out for the public interest — whether that's fair elections, public health, or social justice," said co-founder and chief technology officer for CheckFirst Amaury Lesplingart. "In short, if you see an ad telling you that climate change is a hoax, you might be interested to know if that ad’s paid for by the fossil fuel industry." View the full article

Arcadian actors Jaeden Martell and Maxwell Jenkins sit down for a game of "Slash or Pass" with Mashable entertainment editor Kristy Puchko. Arcadian hits theaters April 12, 2024. View the full article

The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe. With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it. So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered. SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for April 16 SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for April 16 Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Tuesday, April 16, 2024: AcrossThere are 10 in this puzzleThe answer is clues. Try to sack, as a quarterbackThe answer is runat. With 8-Across, post-touchdown attemptThe answer is extra. See 7-AcrossThe answer is point. Lock of hairThe answer is tress. DownMoved stealthilyThe answer is crept. Las Vegas hotel shaped like a pyramidThe answer is Luxor. Remove, as a stringThe answer is untie. Makes on the jobThe answer is earns. Fodder for a sports wonkThe answer is stats. View the full article

Not only is the orgasm gap between men and women real — so is the research gap. Women's health lacks research funding, according to science journal Nature, and there are many more studies about "male ejaculation" than "female orgasm" on the PubMed database (1,980 pages of results for the former, and 438 pages for the latter). Flo Health, a women's health app with over 60 million global users, is hoping to bridge that gap. Today, Flo launches a worldwide study of female orgasms. In partnership with adjunct professor of clinical psychology and health psychology at the University of Utah, Jordan Rullo, Flo will assess anonymized insights from tens of thousands of women, according to the app's press release. Rullo is also Flo's medical expert and cerified sex therapist. SEE ALSO: Why you can orgasm from masturbation but struggle to come during sex Flo's study is open to most app users who are 18 and over and use the app in English, according to Flo Health's director of science, Dr. Liudmila Zhaunova. Users can self-report on their sexual behaviors, experiences, lifestyle factors, and their demographic. "Flo's science team will meticulously analyze the results over a three-month timeframe to better understand women's sexual practices and how these, and their personal circumstances, relate to sexual pleasure, orgasms, and sexual satisfaction," Zhaunova told Mashable. The current largest orgasm study survey — about the differences in orgasm frequency among different populations, published in 2017 — had around 25,000 female participants, Zhaunova said. Because Flo has over 60 million users, Zhaunova and the Flo team are aiming to recruit a globally representative audience of over 25,000 respondents. If they succeed, this would be the largest global study of female orgasms to date. This study, and more education about women's pleasure, is sorely needed. Sex education in the U.S. and elsewhere is lacking: As of 2023, only 18 states require sex ed to be medically accurate, according to the Guttmacher Institute. In the UK, LGBTQ sex education is under threat by conservatives. Previous surveys from Flo indicate the need for more education on the topic. Nearly one-third, 30 percent, of women aged 18 to 55 falsely believe that the more sex one has, the "looser" their vagina becomes (according to a survey of 2,000 women in the U.S.). Fifteen percent wrongly think masturbation can make their period come faster — while 18 percent overall and 30 percent who identify as conservative consider masturbation itself to be shameful or wrong. Twelve percent simply assume new information they learn about sex and reproduction is accurate, and don't take extra steps to confirm it's true; 43 percent go to Google or another search engine to confirm if this info is accurate. We're uneducated and yet we want our sex lives to improve. In another survey, this one of 2,100 U.S. women aged 18 to 45, 30 percent want to improve their sex life. Among those, 60 percent want to improve how they communicate their desires. But, 66 percent don't think their male partner has a good understanding of their reproductive health. Flo has surveyed men as well. Just above half, 51 percent, think they have a good understanding of the female body — but they haven't heard of the orgasm gap. Nineteen percent go to porn to learn about the female body, while 18 percent learn from YouTube or Reddit. Over half don't think the sex ed they received as teens was sufficient, in a survey of 1,800 U.S. men aged 18 to 50 conducted in August 2023. SEE ALSO: Top 5 NSFW sites to learn what porn didn't teach you Results from this new survey are expected this summer, said Flo Health senior research scientist and medical writer, Dr. Yella Hewings-Martin. Flo isn't the first app to study women's orgasms. Lioness, a smart vibrator that gathers opt-in data, released Pleasure Wrapped at the end of 2023. Lioness found that orgasms lasted 24.01 seconds on average, and the typical masturbation session was around five minutes. Lioness, however, focused on data obtained by usage of its smart sex toy. Flo will rely on self-reported survey data from thousands of women. "We hope that the results of our study will enhance women's understanding of navigating their sexual experiences and pleasure, supported by real-life data from peers worldwide," said Zhaunova in Flo's press release. "This year, we look forward to helping close this glaring research gap and aim to contribute toward improving the sexual experiences of millions of women around the world." View the full article

ChatGPT vs. Gemini is the AI showdown I've been itching to stage – and now I’m finally pitting the most popular chatbots in a head-to-head, nail-biting match. ChatGPT, a brainchild of AI startup OpenAI, is far from the first AI chatbot to hit mainstream popularity, but I’d argue it was the first in recent years to kick off a fierce AI race. After it launched in November 2022, its traffic peaked at a whopping 1.8 billion users, according to analytics firm Similarweb (via TheWrap). Soon after, a proliferation of AI began. From Snapchat AI and Meta AI to Samsung Galaxy AI and X’s Grok, it seemed like there was a chatbot launching every day. However, only one seems to be a true ChatGPT rival: Google Gemini (formerly Google Bard). Like Microsoft-backed ChatGPT, Gemini is supported by one of the most prominent tech giants — and has plenty of rich data to tap into, including Google Maps, Google Search, Google Translate, and more. But the question is, does Gemini beat ChatGPT? We put both to the test in a five-round match. SEE ALSO: I spent a week using AI tools in my daily life. Here's how it went. ChatGPT vs. Gemini: MethodologyI used ChatGPT and Gemini's free tiers for this showdown. I tested both AI chatbots using the same question across the following five topics: food, finance, travel, creativity, and historical information. Ding, ding, ding! Let’s see who wins. Round 1: FoodBased on what's in my kitchen, let's see which AI chatbot can offer the best recipe suggestion. Here's my prompt: I have the following in my kitchen: green plantains, whole-grain linguine and rotini, garlic, onion, granulated chicken bouillon, kidney beans, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, soy sauce, brussel sprouts, tomatoes, lime, lemon, tomatoes, spring onions, carrots, butter, milk, oil, garlic powder, salt, cumin, cayenne pepper, and paprika. Name one recipe I can make that uses as much as these ingredients as possible. ChatGPT's response Credit: Mashable / ChatGPT Gemini's response Credit: Mashable / ChatGPT I may be biased because I have a Caribbean background, but Gemini's recipe suggestion sounds far tastier. ChatGPT's recommendation, however, seems a bit haphazard. The veggies in my kitchen don't seem ideal for stir fry — at least, not for my picky taste. Winner: Gemini Round 2: FinancesUsing a fictitious person called "Joe," I used the following financial-focused prompt for ChatGPT and Gemini: Joe makes $3,000 a month (after taxes) in Brooklyn, New York in 2024. Between housing, transportation, groceries, dining out, savings (retirement), and disposable income, create a monthly budget chart. ChatGPT's response ChatGPT will have Joe eating Ramen every month. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Gemini's response Gemini's response seems a little more realistic. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable To be fair, this is a head-scratching conundrum. Even humans struggle with creating a monthly budgets for themselves, particularly those with five-figure yearly incomes in high-cost-of-living cities. As such, it's no wonder that ChatGPT and Gemini botched their responses. I couldn't help but exclaim "Huh?!" after reading ChatGPT's chart. Why is it carving out a budget for rent that is higher than the allotted $3,000? I'd also argue that $177 for transportation too low, but I'm willing to look the other way if Joe is a remote worker (or owns a bicycle or scooter). Plus, spending less than $90 a week on groceries would be quite the challenge. I'd probably allocate more dining out and retirement money for supermarket shopping. Although Gemini's $1,050 monthly rent suggestion is laughable, with a roommate (or two), it's feasible. There's too much in the transportation budget, particularly for someone with access to public transportation. I would cut down some of that and add it to groceries pool. Dining out could use a reduction, but the rest is tolerable. Winner: Gemini Round 3: TravelI used ChatGPT for a trip to Costa Rica — and it failed miserably. I don't have any upcoming vacations, but I asked ChatGPT and Gemini to create a weekend itinerary for my local area. It's Saturday and I live in Valley Stream. I want to have an active, adventurous day with lots of entertainment. Create an itinerary for me from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Start with breakfast at the best spot in Valley Stream and end with dinner at the best spot in Valley Stream. ChatGPT's response Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Gemini's response Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Save for Valley Stream State Park, all of ChatGPT's suggestions are out of town. I also specifically stated that I did not want lunch included in the itinerary, but it deliberately disobeyed me. Oh well. On the plus side, Frank's Steaks sounds very delicious. Gemini, on the other hand, listed locations that are actually in town, including Valbrook Diner and Ben's Crab. However, there's a four-hour gap in the itinerary. Am I supposed to just twiddle my thumbs between rock climbing and dinner? Also, it seems like Gemini completely made up "Rockaway Adventure Zone" — I can't seem to find this establishment via Google. Winner: Draw Round 4: CreativityLet's test ChatGPT and Gemini's creativity. In the voice of Eminem, tell me how TikTok is affecting society. ChatGPT's response Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Gemini's response Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Gemini has the better response. It has a flow that is more reminiscent of the "Lose Yourself" rapper. Plus, the expletives are very on brand. Winner: Gemini Round 5: Historical factsI thought it'd be interesting to test ChatGPT and Gemini's accuracy with fashion history. Which decade was it fashionable and popular to wear one's name on a chunky statement belt? ChatGPT's response You finally got it right, ChatGPT. Congratulations. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Gemini's response Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Finally, ChatGPT prevailed over Gemini in this round. The answer I'm looking for is early 2000s. Winner: ChatGPT ChatGPT vs. Gemini: Which is the winner?The clear winner of this five-round match is Gemini. In three rounds, Google AI chatbot provided better answers. However, if you ever need any help with fashion history, ChatGPT's your best bet, I guess. View the full article

Oh, you thought the possibilities of generative AI were already terrifying enough? Well, we've got some bad news for you. Adobe has just released a video showcasing its Adobe Firefly video model, and it comes with a whole host of unnerving generative AI tricks. "Adobe is using the power of generative AI to deliver the most advanced and precise editing tools ever in Premiere Pro," says the cheerful over-the-top narration, before showcasing how AI will soon be used to generate objects that weren't there before, delete unwanted objects, extend scenes and create generated backdrops. The video stresses that "content credentials" will "always make transparent whether AI was used", but obviously that only goes so far as the Adobe programme itself. With streamers and movies already coming under fire for sneaking AI into their final products, it seems inevitable that advancing technology like this is only going to make it harder and harder to tell what's real on our screens. View the full article

Since returning to host The Daily Show on Monday, Jon Stewart has spent quite a bit of time discussing the ongoing war in Gaza. On Monday, with the situation having escalated over the weekend when Iran launched a drone and missile attack on Israel, Stewart returned to the topic — and during a direct address to the Middle East, he took aim at the West's historical and ongoing interference in the region. "Listen, I hope this doesn't sound patronising, but when we in the West drew your regions' borders and set you up with perfectly functioning dictatorships, we expected a little better," says Stewart in the clip above. "See the agreement was, we would make up a whole new bunch of countries, some of which made sense, and in return you would give us your delicious oil. That was the deal. You give us your delicious oil, and we...take it. We certainly didn't expect to get drawn in to all the drama that our actions created. "And now, these wars have got us all turned around! At one point we're helping Iraq fight Iran, and then we're invading Iraq, and now we're helping Iran fight ISIS, and then we're using ISIS to help fight Houthis who are backed by Iran, and I mean fuck! In Gaza we're actually bombing them and feeding them, how do you think that makes us feel?" You can see more recent segments from The Daily Show here. View the full article

Andy Samberg pretty much makes any late night interview better, and that goes double when it involves gleefully roasting his old SNL pal Seth Meyers. In the clip above Samberg crashes Meyers' appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to heckle Meyers' new podcast, The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, which features Samberg himself. "Here's the thing about podcasts," Samberg relents, eventually pulling up a backpack chair to join Meyers and Kimmel. "Even though they suck, ours is great. You gotta check it out." View the full article

Harold Halibut — the debut game of Germany-based indie studio Slow Bros. — feels like a warm batch of cookies that grandma made on a nice, Sunday afternoon. There's a labor of love that radiates within that made my 10+ hour playthrough more enjoyable than it should've been. Adventure games have fallen out of popularity, but the highs of Halibut are so high at times, that it's almost forgiven how dull the game can feel in most moments. In development since 2012, the narrative-adventure game is a love letter to stop-motion and the dry, snappy humor a Wes Anderson-esque film. If Isle of Dogs and The Life Aquatic had a child, I'd figure it'd be Harold Halibut. Credit: Slow Bros. Welcome to the FedoraThe story follows the game's namesake, Harold Halibut, a "young" lab assistant on board the Fedora I, a colony ship that left Earth in the 70s. Some odd 200 years later, it has crashed landed into an ocean planet, remaining submerged in water for 50 years. Harold is a simple and sincere man. He's a daydreamer who longs for a life more meaningful than his menial existence as a handyman aboard the Fedora. Credit: Slow Bros. Harold has a bit of empty-minded optimism and sincerity to him that makes him weirdly charming — and also makes him the unwitting therapist to the quirky cast of seafaring characters Thus, the bulk of the gameplay in this narrative adventure is walking between conversations as Harold acts as a handyman to the crew in more ways than just technical. I'd imagine, a lot of Harold's grief in life extends to always helping and never being helped. To his credit, the narrative presents Harold as happy to do the work. He loves and respects the crew — even as, at the worst of times, some characters treat Harold with contempt. The ship's police officer thinks you're always trying to get in trouble, several characters refuse to remember your name at the start, and the scientist you work under, Jeanne Mareaux, is constantly talking down on you any chance she gets. It's weird how much these characters rely on Harold despite, at times, feeling like they don't even like the guy. Even weirder how sincere the game's plot treats said characters. Wake up Mr. Halibut, wake up!Minor spoilers for some of the side stories during the game, but throughout the narrative, you, as Harold, will be asked to handle tasks such as helping the general store owner deal with his marriage; figuring out the riff between a quadruple of elderly twins; and helping your ex-girlfriend convince the hot dog vendor to change locations because it's interrupting her fledgling cupcake business. These conversations can get boring at times, but there are flashes of strong writing when characters muse about deeper themes like religion, life's meaning, and late-stage capitalism. In these moments, I found myself the most interested in what Harold Halibut had to say — but those instances were brief and weren't ever really challenged by the narrative. For example, the game starts with Harold being held by the ship's police officer for an unpaid fine for using the wrong pass to travel the tube systems. The tube system, an underwater variation of a subway owned by the capitalistic All Water company, is the main form of transportation around the ship. Despite being stranded in the middle of the ocean and having not had any form of contact with Earth since leaving 200 years ago, the crew still has to pay for food, energy, and transportation. This is an absurdity that is talked about and pointed out on many occasions but only by literal kids. Harold rightly points out that paying to use the tubes is absurd and that All Water changes the pass requirements so much it seems designed to get people caught so they can pay fines. The story doesn't really challenge this, and because Harold is saying this, most of the characters think he's being dim. Credit: Slow Bros. In another moment, and without getting too "spoilery," a character explains to Harold how they live without money and that the community just helps each other out in contrast to the banal existence on board the Fedora. To which Harold replies "I don't get it." And that's that — it's never mentioned again. Adventure awaitsI haven't talked about gameplay much because there's not much game to play. Harold Halibut is a tried-and-true adventure game that takes full advantage of being operated in an immersive 3D environment. All the characters and environments that you'll interact with are handcrafted and the game reveals in the little details. As the narrative progresses, so too will the environments to reflect the various changes Harold and Co. have had to change and adapt too It's more an experience than a video game, which is like most adventure games, but without a lot of puzzles to solve. The game itself fully acknowledges this with characters jokingly poking jabs at the common tropes of adventure games. During my interaction with Brigit, the energy scientist of the Fedora, I was tasked with taking a rock sample to her lap. After her experiments were done, she messaged me saying the rock was ready to be analyzed in Mareaux's lab. Normally, adventure game logic dictates that you have to go to Brigit's office to grab the rock then travel back to Mareaux's lab. However, when I got there, Brigit was surprised and said the rock was sent through the conveyor system and that it'd be evil of her to make me go back and forth like that. Another time, I was tasked with borrowing some books from a local vendor. However, I needed to find something to carry them. Actually no, though, because the vendor had a grocery bag right next to him. It was moments like this that made me appreciate the humor and writing despite how dull things can get at times. Is Harold Halibut worth it?Throughout the six chapters of Harold Halibut, I found a lot of it was spent on my phone. And while that may sound harsh, I think the game itself just has some severe pacing issues that make it hard to get into the story at times. Plus, the repetitiveness of the back-and-forth walking throughout made me long for a better game – just like Harold longs for a better life outside the Fedora. However, the spectacular visuals kept me hooked and there are moments in the game that suggested a bolder, more radical story beneath the surface. That story isn't fully fleshed to my liking, and if the game was just a tad bit shorter, I would fully recommend this to anyone nostalgic for the golden age of adventure games. As it stands now though, I think you can get a lot of bang for your buck with Harold Halibut, but if you're prone to fast bouts of boredom, I'd skip this one. View the full article

There are volcanoes erupting hundreds of millions of miles beyond Earth. And a NASA spacecraft is watching it happen. The space agency's Juno probe, which has orbited Jupiter since 2016, swooped by the gas giant's volcanic moon Io last week, its last close planned flyby. The craft captured a world teeming with volcanoes, which you can see in the footage below. "We're seeing an incredible amount of detail on the surface," Ashley Davies, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who researches Io, told Mashable in February after a recent Io flyby. "It's just a cornucopia of data. It's just extraordinary." SEE ALSO: NASA scientist viewed first Voyager images. What he saw gave him chills. These impressive views are processed (removing noise and distortion, etc.) by both professional and amateur image processors, some of whom work for NASA or related space research programs. The darker spots are usually volcanoes or hot spots. Two volcanic plumes recently spotted on the Jovian moon Io. Credit: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / CC BY 3.0 Unported The Jovian moon Io, in the foreground, with the ice-clad moon Europa in the distance. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill / CC BY 3.0 Unported The volcanic moon Io as captured on April 9, 2024. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Ted Stryk / CC BY 3.0 Unported Io is blanketed in erupting volcanoes because it's relentlessly locked in a tug-of-war between nearby objects, including the colossal Jupiter. "Not only is the biggest planet in the solar system forever pulling at it gravitationally, but so are Io’s Galilean siblings — Europa and the biggest moon in the solar system, Ganymede," NASA explained in a statement. "The result is that Io is continuously stretched and squeezed, actions linked to the creation of the lava seen erupting from its many volcanoes." This volcanic world, a world a little bigger than Earth's moon, is ceaseless erupting. Just in recent months, Juno observed a hazy plume over the volcano Prometheus. NASA's Galileo mission also captured a plume above these fields of lava in the year 2000. And the first-ever observations of Io, captured by the pioneering Voyager 1 craft, spotted at least eight different active volcanoes. Indeed, it's a land of lava, plumes, and extreme eruptions. Featured Video For You NASA spacecraft gets extremely close to volcanic world, snaps footage View the full article

For a long time, pirate site blocking was regarded as a topic most U.S. politicians would rather avoid. That’s no longer the case… In recent years calls for a U.S. site-blocking regime have started to flare up. Last week, MPA CEO Charles Rivkin used his keynote speech at CinemaCon to double down on this demand, urging U.S. lawmakers to seriously consider site blocking, now that it’s proven to work in dozens of other countries. Exhibit A: FMovies MPA’s boss wasn’t secretive about the top target either. At a previous hearing in Congress, MPA’s Karyn Temple already gave lawmakers a walkthrough of the popular pirate streaming site FMovies and, in his CinemaCon speech, Rivkin put the same site under the spotlight. “One of the largest illegal streaming sites in the world, FMovies, sees over 160 million visits per month and because other nations already passed site blocking legislation, a third of that traffic still comes from the United States,” Rivkin said. Rightsholders can dramatize statistics but, in this case, the ‘threat’ might even be somewhat underplayed. According to SimilarWeb’s most recent traffic statistics, FMovies had more than 190 million visits in March. Nearly 40% of those visits are attributed to U.S. visitors. More Visits Than Disney+ The site’s popularity continues to grow; FMovies just climbed to the 9th spot in SimilarWeb’s U.S. “Streaming & Online TV” category. This top ten listing is even more impressive if we consider the level of competition the pirate site is up against. The top three slots are occupied by YouTube, Max, and Netflix, which are all multi-billion dollar operations. FMovies doesn’t come close to these, but it beats Disney+ in 10th place, and Crunchyroll just behind at 11th. Top ‘Streaming & Online TV’ sites These comparisons don’t show the full picture. While FMovies has more U.S. web-based visits than the other two, app traffic isn’t counted. Disney+ likely has more app-related traffic. Still, the top ten listing signals that FMovies is massively popular in the United States. U.S. Congress Visit At the House Subcommittee Hearing last December, many lawmakers were surprised to see how easily the site can be accessed. U.S. Representative Ted Lieu tested this live as he accessed FMovies on his phone during the proceeding. “I just went on my phone and went on FMovies and it’s still up. And I can watch Willy Wonka for free without paying for it. Why don’t the online service providers block it right now, like today?” Lieu asked. With no Internet providers present at the hearing, this question remained unanswered. However, ISPs are not likely to act voluntarily, at least not without assurances. One of the main reasons why site blocking hasn’t come to the U.S. yet is the absence of no-fault injunctive relief. That would allow for court orders, compelling Internet providers to take action, without imposing any type of liability. Lots to Gain, Much to Lose The recent traffic numbers confirm that FMovies is a major threat to Hollywood and we expect it to serve as “Exhibit A” in the site blocking discussions going forward. Blocking access to websites isn’t a perfect anti-piracy tool and rightsholders know that. There are plenty of options to circumvent these measures, as we have seen in other countries where these were implemented. That said, blockades undoubtedly make it harder to access websites and academic research suggests that the overall effects on legitimate consumption are positive. While FMovies hasn’t responded to the controversy, there must be some concern there too. The site isn’t fazed by copyright law but does rely on advertising revenue, and it’s no secret that advertisement rates for U.S. traffic are the highest, by far. If U.S. traffic tanks, that will certainly be felt. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Despite intense pressure from the United States, including criticism as part of the USTR’s reports on notorious pirate sites and foreign trade barriers, actions against online piracy are still relatively rare in Bulgaria. Whether the Bulgarian government had any hand in the closure of RARBG last year remains unclear but its hoped that August 2023 amendments to Bulgaria’s Criminal Code will at least make pirate site investigations more straightforward. A new operation tackling music piracy may be an opportunity to demonstrate progress. GDBOP Team Up With Europol The General Directorate Combating Organized Crime (GDBOP) is a specialist unit within Bulgaria’s Ministry of Interior. GDBOP is most closely associated with the disruption of organized crime groups and transnational criminal networks, which often sees the unit take action in coordination with international partners. In a recent action to disrupt music piracy, GDBOP carried out an operation under the supervision of the Sofia District Prosecutor’s Office, in coordination with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, more commonly known as Europol. “Employees of the Cybercrime Directorate (GDBOP) conducted an operation to prevent the illegal use of music as an object of copyright and related rights,” a GDBOP announcement reads. “In the course of the special operation, the cybercrime police established the identity of the owner of 12 sites that he built and maintained to offer their users access to popular music in different countries, providing the possibility to download them in .mp3 format.” Sites Targeted Display Seizure Banner The domains of the dozen music piracy sites targeted “due to numerous violations of intellectual property rights” are reported by GDBOP as follows: downloadmp3bg.com, baixarmp3gratis.com, www.tekstove.org, mp3pesme.com, mp3piosenki.com, descarca-muzica.com, indirsarki.com, mp3kostenlos.com, mp3hitove.com, mp3greek.gr, xn--3-wtbj.net, mp3aghani.com The domains now display a seizure banner in Bulgarian (translation alongside) Considering the words used in the domains, it seems likely that in many cases they targeted an international audience. Baixar, for example, is a Portuguese term for ‘download’ while descarca-muzica suggests downloading music and may have been directed at a Romanian audience. Most likely targeted at a German audience, mp3kostenlos translates to mp3free, indirsarki.com was intended for Turkish consumption, while mp3greek speaks for itself. xn--3-wtbj.net is an internationalized domain name (IDN) using Punycode, a system used to encode domains containing non-ASCII characters; in this case the domain мп3.net. Nine of the targeted domains are registered at Dynadot in the United States. Action within the EMPACT Framework In coordination with Europol, the action was carried out within the EMPACT framework (European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats) an initiative to “identify, prioritize and address threats posed by organized and serious international crime.” Participants in EMPACT include law enforcement authorities, the judiciary, EU agencies, customs and tax offices, and various private partners. According to the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust), around 200 operational actions are carried out each year under EMPACT. The specific reasons for targeting these particular dozen sites under EMPACT hasn’t been revealed by the authorities. The operator of the sites has reportedly been identified, but no arrests have been reported. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

If the vision for the creation of the web included a day one feature that could restrict access to content, people working on their own specialist topics, catering to their own niche audiences, would’ve happily pressed the button. A hundred or a thousand thriving communities, small utopias in their own right, with no connection to each other, would’ve been seen as a feature, not the failure of the internet we otherwise see today. The openness of the early days of today’s web, the ability to see most other sites and communities while being exposed to creativity and information like never before, was the easiest elevator pitch in history. Come and see, everything you want for free, was the dream made reality and people couldn’t wait to experience it. Some things for free, but you have to pay for everything else, would’ve changed everything. Regardless, that’s what we have as our internet today, although the definition of ‘free’ has been adjusted over time, mostly to mean no money changes hands. Just watch a few ads, allow the content providers to share your data with the world, and enjoy a lifetime of ‘free’ content. Unfortunately, a ‘lifetime deal’ on the internet is subject to change too and when ads and other mechanisms stop paying the bills, the doors get locked until payment is made for the key. Paywalls and News If the whole piracy debate is put to one side just for a moment, paying for music, movies, and books, doesn’t sound especially ridiculous. Yet when it comes to paying to read news, a majority suddenly get a little offended, annoyed even. They read a handful of articles a day, and they’re not paying for that, period. Certainly, they’re not paying a full subscription to several online newspapers on the basis they might have something worth reading this month. And to be frank, who can blame people for that sentiment? The days of someone sitting back in an armchair with a single newspaper, from which they consume all news, are largely gone. And good riddance too. Consuming news from multiple sources is the only way to filter out the political biases, balance opinions, and get closer to the truth. Yet increasingly, large swathes of information, crucial to broader insight and analysis, can only be found behind paywalls. The conundrum is currently unsolvable; a news business requires revenue, just like any other. Ads don’t work and while paywalls are broadly disliked, they pay the bills. People want access to news, information about their world, current events that affect their lives. The only issue is that when asked to pay for it, people mostly don’t want to. If the streaming service market is fragmented, news takes it to a whole new level. Bypass Paywalls Clean Bypass Paywalls Clean (BPC) is a browser extension that bypasses many of the paywalls put in place by most of the world’s news publishers. While that’s an accurate description, it’s really an indication of a wider problem. BPC restores the news landscape to one that people can enjoy again, in keeping with news delivery of the last couple of decades. It removes the irritations of news articles appearing in search engines with excerpts promising everything, only to transform into a ‘subscribe now’ bait-and-switch popup, of which there was no mention earlier. BPC removes the need for credit card hunts, not to mention the pain of any subsequent data breaches. BPC removes the need for usernames, passwords, logins authorized by 2FA, and eliminates the barrage of follow-up spam news publications suddenly feel permitted to send; pressure to sign up for longer, and for more money, not to mention the price increases of this year and the year after, plus ‘special offers’ that nobody wants. For these and other closely related reasons, users of BPC are very upset right now. In a post to X yesterday, the software’s developer revealed why his project is no longer available; someone filed a DMCA takedown notice against his repo on GitLab. BPC has not published a copy of the DMCA takedown notice, GitLab doesn’t appear to have shared it either. In fact, the URL where the repo could be previously found returns only a 404 error; there’s no indication that a DMCA complaint was even received, let alone who sent it and what it said. DMCA Abuse or Something Else? The absence of information has led to some speculation that the notice may have been abusive. Only the developer can say for sure but on the assumption that a DMCA notice was indeed responsible for taking BPC down, some point to the BPC code while shouting ‘foul’. They claim that since the BPC code is the unique creation of its developer, a DMCA notice would need to wrongfully claim copyright of his code. While that could be a worthy topic of discussion, these scenarios can be immediately addressed using a DMCA counter-notice. BPC’s creator can simply file one with GitLab and in less than two weeks’ time, the platform would have to restore it, if whoever sent the original notice didn’t sue the developer in the United States. Diving into a potential legal quagmire is rarely attractive or sensible. Here, however, there are signs to suggest the option has been rendered unavailable. The repo no longer exists according to GitLab, but that seems like a minor detail when compared to the status of the developer’s account. There’s no information close to hand on GitLab that attempts to explain why magnolia1234 is ‘blocked’ and no reason supplied on the developer’s account on X either. Responses from BPC users are limited to those who @Magnolia1234B specifically mentions, so discussion is somewhat limited. More than One Type of DMCA Notice The developer’s earlier comment, “another day another DMCA takedown notice” tends to suggest receipt of two, three or potentially more DMCA notices. On which platforms they were received isn’t specified but if those all relate to GitLab, it raises the question of whether a ‘repeat infringer’ policy came into play. That could explain the ‘blocked’ account status but since details aren’t being made available, it’s difficult to say for sure. However, DMCA takedown notices come in more than one flavor and the ‘remove this copy of my content’ type may not even be the best fit here. It’s certainly possible that if a DMCA notice is responsible, it could be an anti-circumvention notice for which there is no counter-notice option available. Whether BPC amounts to a tool that circumvents a “technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected by copyright” rendering it illegal under 17 U.S. Code § 1201, cannot be answered without a proper technical analysis. Websites use all kinds of methods to restrict access to content but whether some, any or all qualify for protection is mostly uncharted territory. There’s also the question of intent, i.e what BPC was designed and marketed for; that has the potential to matter a lot. Blame the Game, Not the Player In the physical world, a locked door is a pretty clear sign that whatever lies behind it is currently unavailable for access. Some people might give the handle a couple of tries to be sure but, in ordinary circumstances, people don’t immediately start searching for security weaknesses or pull out a lockpicking set. In the online environment, where there’s an underlying assumption most things are free, a paywall popup with an article just visible underneath, is a signal that whoever published the article cannot afford to deliver it in any other way. Yet in many cases it has already been delivered, because the text is already right there. Is it legally acceptable to remove the blocking element in your own browser or is this really about respecting the people who spent time and money creating the content, regardless of how good their security is? Or could this be more about the online news situation in general, where anyone can setup a website that automatically copies everything a news site publishes in public, the moment it’s published, and then pumps it out as their own content to generate revenue? Maybe the terrible ad networks that many illegal and indeed legal news platforms foist upon their readers are the real problem? Or perhaps the response to this barrage of unwanted ads causes most damage; exhausted readers simply rejecting ads altogether, blocking the good and bad in one swoop? With no ad revenue, news sites can either shut down completely or turn to a paywall. So rather than viewing BPC as a parasite that stops creators getting paid for their work, perhaps a broader look at the news ecosystem itself is in order. Who’s Really Taking Available Revenue? Considering the volume of news available at any one moment, much of it simply rehashed or otherwise trash copies of reports produced by a limited number of original publishers, the real parasites driving paywall uptake aren’t found in the form of a browser extension. They’re the publications that pass news off as their own, sometimes completely rewritten by AI, who then spend ten times more money on SEO, because getting low quality junk to the top of search results is clearly more important than journalism. They take news articles already being offered for free yet their only contribution is to make whatever they take worse. The world is awash with them yet search engines seem incapable of doing anything about most. Removing these sites from the market would return more of the revenue to those that should’ve received it in the first place, hopefully negating the need for more paywalls and any future for tools like BPC. If news consumers want fewer paywalls, boycott the parasites, plagiarists, and those bombarding your browser and inboxes with spam. Adding them to a hosts file or making a firewall rule is fairly painless but a convenient, open source browser extension might be a fitting solution under the circumstances. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Over the past year-and-a-half, artificial intelligence has been enjoying its mainstream breakthrough. The instant success of ChatGPT and other AI-based tools and services kick-started what many believe is a new revolution. By now it is clear that AI offers endless possibilities. While there’s no shortage of new avenues to pursue, most applications rely on input or work from users. That’s fine for the tech-savvy, but some prefer instant results. For example, we have experimented with various AI-powered image-generation tools to create stock images to complement our news articles. While these all work to some degree, it can be quite a challenge to get a good output; not to mention that it costs time and money too. StockCake But what if someone created a stock photo website pre-populated with over a million high-quality royalty-free images? And what if we could freely use the photos from that site because they’re all in the public domain? That would be great. Enter: StockCake… StockCake is a new platform by AI startup Imaginary Machines. The site currently hosts more than a million pre-generated images. These images can be downloaded, used, and shared for free. There are no strings attached as all photos are in the public domain. AI-generated public domain photos A service like this isn’t of much use to people who aim to generate completely custom images or photos. All content is pre-made and there is no option to alter the prompts. Instead, the site is aimed at people who want instant stock images for their websites, social media, or any other type of presentation. Using AI to Democratize Media TorrentFreak spoke with StockCake founder Nen Fard to find out what motivated him to start this project and how he plans to develop it going forward. He told us that it’s long been a dream to share media freely online with anyone who needs it. “My journey towards leveraging AI for media content began with a keen interest in the field’s rapid advancements. The defining moment came when I observed a significant leap in the quality of AI-generated content, reaching a standard that was not just acceptable but impressive. “This realization was pivotal, sparking the transition from ideation to action. It underscored the feasibility of using AI to fulfill a long-held dream of democratizing media content, leading to the birth of StockCake,” Fard adds. The careful reader will pick up that Fard’s responses were partly edited using AI technology. However, the message is clear, Fard saw the potential to create a vast library of stock photos and added these to the public domain, free to the public at large. And it didn’t stop there. StockTune Shortly after releasing StockCake, Fard went live with another public domain project; StockTune. This platform is pretty much identical but focuses on audio instead. The tracks that are listed can be used free of charge and without attribution. StockTune It’s not hard to see how these two sites can replace the basic use of commercial stock footage platforms. While they are still in their infancy, the sites already offer quite a decent quality selection. At the same time, there are also various AI filters in place to ensure that inappropriate content is minimized. The AI technology, which is in part based on OpenAI and Stability AI, also aims to ensure that the underlying models are legitimate. While there are always legal issues that can pop up, both services strive to play fair, so they can continue to grow, perhaps indefinitely. Ever-Expanding Libraries At the time of writing, StockCake has a little over a million photos hosted on the site, while there are nearly 100,000 tracks on StockTune. This is just the beginning, though, as AI generates new versions every minute, then adds them to the site if the quality is on par. Theoretically, there’s no limit to the number of variations that can be created. While quality is leading, the founder’s vision has always been to create unrestricted access to media. This means that the libraries are ever-expanding. “The inception of StockCake and StockTune was driven by a vision to revolutionize the accessibility of media content. Unlike traditional platforms, we leverage the limitless potential of AI to create an ever-expanding, diverse set of photos and songs,” Fard says. Both stock media sites have something suitable for most general topics. However, you won’t find very specific combinations, such as a “squirrel playing football.” AI-rendered versions of some people, Donald Trump, for example, appear to be off limits too. Monetizing the Public Domain? While the above all sounds very promising, the sites are likely to face plenty of challenges. The platforms are currently not monetized but the AI technology and hosting obviously cost money, so this will have to change. Fard tells us that he plans to keep access to the photos and audio completely free. However, he’s considering options to generate revenue. Advertising would be one option, but more advanced subscription-based services are too. Or to put it in his AI-amplified words; “As our platforms continue to grow and evolve, they will naturally give rise to opportunities that support our sustainability without compromising our values. We aim to foster a community where creativity is unrestrained by financial barriers, and every advancement brings us closer to this goal,” Fard says. AI-generated ‘wealthy cat’ (bonus audio) For example, the developer plans to launch a suite of AI-powered tools for expert users, to personalize and upscale images when needed. That could be part of a paid service. However, existing footage will remain in the public domain, without charge, he promises. “Looking ahead, we plan to introduce a suite of AI-powered tools that promise to enhance the creative possibilities for our users significantly. These include upscaling tools for generating higher-resolution photos, style transfer tools that can adapt content to specific artistic aesthetics, and character/object replacement tools for personalized customization.” The C Word It’s remarkable that a small startup can create this vast amount of stock footage and share it freely. This may also spook some of the incumbents, who make millions of dollars from their stock photo platforms. While these can’t stop AI technology, they can complain. And they do. For example, last year, Getty Images sued Stability AI, alleging that it used its stock photos to train its models. This lawsuit remains ongoing. While Fard doesn’t anticipate any legal trouble, he has some thoughts on the copyright implications. “At Imagination Machines, the driving force behind StockCake and StockTune, we believe that the essence of creativity and innovation should be accessible to all. This belief guides our approach to AI-generated media, which, by its nature, challenges traditional notions of copyright,” Fard says. The site’s developer trusts that the company’s AI partners respect existing copyright law. And by putting all creations in the public domain, the company itself claims no copyrights. “Currently, AI-generated content resides in a unique position within copyright laws. These laws were crafted in a different era, focusing on human authorship as the cornerstone of copyright eligibility. However, the remarkable capabilities of AI to generate original, high-quality photos and music without direct human authorship put us at the edge of a new frontier. “We operate under the current legal framework, which does not extend copyright protection to works created without human ingenuity, allowing us to offer this content in the public domain.” Both StockCake and StockTune have the potential to be disruptors, but Fard wants to play fair and remain within the boundaries of the law. He also understands that the law may change in the future, and plans to have his voice heard in that debate. “Our goal is not just to navigate the current legal issues but also to actively advocate for laws that recognize the potential of AI to democratize access to creative content while respecting the rights and contributions of human creators,” Fard concludes. With AI legal battles and copyright policy revving up globally, there’s certainly plenty of opportunity to advocate. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

In his 1962 book, Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke noted that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” At the dawn of the 80s, when computers thrived on a single kilobyte of RAM, any enthusiast with access to Clarke’s book would’ve read his words, gazed at the 1,024 bytes of available RAM, and envisioned a galaxy of opportunity. As expectations have grown year-on-year, mainstream users of technology today are much less easily impressed, and fewer still experience magic. Yet, there are solid grounds for even the most experienced technologists to reevaluate almost everything based on current AI innovation. Released on Wednesday, the astonishing Udio produces music from written prompts and seamlessly integrates user-supplied lyrics, regardless of how personal, frivolous, or unsuitable for work they are. Udio and other platforms dedicated to generative AI are the kind of magic that can’t be undermined by looking up a sleeve or spotting a twin in the audience. Indeed, the complexities under the hood that generate the magic are impenetrable for the layman. One thing is certain, however; Udio didn’t simply boot itself up one day and say, “I know Kung Fu (Fighting by Carl Douglas).” It was continuously fed existing content from unspecified sources before singing (or rapping) a single note. If a new bill introduced at the U.S. House of Representatives gains traction, Udio’s makers will have to declare every single song Udio was trained on, retrospectively. The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act Introduced by Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) this week, the bill envisions “groundbreaking legislation” that would compel companies to be completely transparent when training their generative AI models on copyrighted content. From Sciff’s website: The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act would require a notice to be submitted to the Register of Copyrights prior to the release of a new generative AI system with regard to all copyrighted works used in building or altering the training dataset for that system. The bill’s requirements would also apply retroactively to previously released generative AI systems. “AI has the disruptive potential of changing our economy, our political system, and our day-to-day lives. We must balance the immense potential of AI with the crucial need for ethical guidelines and protections,” Rep. Schiff explains. “My Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act is a pivotal step in this direction. It champions innovation while safeguarding the rights and contributions of creators, ensuring they are aware when their work contributes to AI training datasets. This is about respecting creativity in the age of AI and marrying technological progress with fairness.” The bill has huge support; the RIAA says that “comprehensive and transparent recordkeeping” are the “fundamental building blocks” of effective enforcement of creators’ rights, a stance echoed by ASCAP and, in broad terms, all groups listed at the end of this article. Since the Directors Guild of America says it “commends this commonsense legislation,” a common sense perspective on the proposals shall be applied here. Artists & Creators Deserve to Get Paid. Period There can be no debate: the removal of existing art from the generative AI equation is impossible. The latter simply cannot exist without the former; the big legal debate seems to hang on whether consumption was protected under the doctrine of fair use, or was straightforward copyright infringement. If the court finds in favor of fair use, it seems likely that no copyright holders will receive compensation. A finding in the other direction is likely to lead to copyright holders getting paid in some way, shape, or form. Yet while the architects of the Bill claim that it “champions innovation while safeguarding the rights and contributions of creators,” the only realistic beneficiaries longer-term will be copyright holders with a significant enough profile to be identified for subsequent reporting. In most developed countries, copyrights automatically apply as soon as creative works are created. This means there could easily be a billion creators with valid, albeit unregistered copyrights, in tens of billions of images, photos, videos, and music tracks, available online today. The Bill claims to act on behalf of creators but in reality can only ever benefit an identifiable subset, with registered copyrights, for the purposes of “effective enforcement of creators’ rights,” according to the RIAA. Join The Big Team or Get Nothing Much like the proposal to “blow up the internet” in the movie Four Lions, the Bill hasn’t even considered what can and can’t be achieved. A centralized database, of all copyrighted works and their respective owners, doesn’t exist. Even if an AI development team wanted to report that a certain copyright work had been used, how can ownership of that content ever be established? And then at some point, almost inevitably, content created with elements of other content, permissible under the doctrine of fair use, will be reported as original copyrighted content, when no payment for that use is required under law. This leads to a number of conclusions, all based on how rights are currently managed. At least initially, if compelled to identify all copyright works used to the Copyright Office, that will only be useful to the subset of creators mentioned earlier. In the long-term, smaller creators – who feel that they too deserve to get paid – will probably have to join the future equivalent of a Content ID program for AI. Run by those with the power to put such a system in place, these entities have a reputation of making the rules and keeping most of the money. The bottom line is extremely straightforward: if creators should be rewarded for their work, then all creators should be rewarded for their work. There cannot be discriminatory rules that value one copyright holder’s rights over those of another. More fundamentally, don’t propose legislation without considering the burden of future compliance, and then double up with exponential difficulties associated with retroactive compliance, as the Bill lays out. It’s a Kind of Magic, But Not Actually Magic AI may achieve magical things, but it is not actually magic. The Bill requires AI companies, entities, to provide a “sufficiently detailed summary of any copyrighted works used in the training dataset” to the Register of Copyrights, not later than 30 days before the generative AI system is made available to the public. Or, read differently, enough time to prevent release with an injunction. On the basis that this task simply cannot be achieved for all copyright holders, right across the board, the proposal fails. A ChatGPT instance didn’t reject the Bill or its proposals outright when given the details by us today. However, considering its dataset, and allowing a handling time of one second for each copyright work to be identified in theory, could take over 31 years to complete. “This crazy number highlights the immense scale and complexity of the task. It emphasizes the need for innovative solutions, automation, and cooperation among stakeholders to navigate the challenges of copyright in the AI era,” one of the reasons for the debate concludes. The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act can be found here (pdf) The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act is supported by the Recording Industry Association of America, Copyright Clearance Center, Directors Guild of America, Authors Guild, National Association of Voice Actors, Concept Art Association, Professional Photographers of America, Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Writers Guild of America West, Writers Guild of America East, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, American Society for Collective Rights Licensing, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Society of Composers and Lyricists, National Music Publishers Association, Recording Academy, Nashville Songwriters Association International, Songwriters of North America, Black Music Action Coalition, Music Artist Coalition, Human Artistry Campaign, and the American Association of Independent Music. Image Credit From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article