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This Week in AI: OpenAI and Publishers Team Up

Keeping up with the fast-paced world of AI is challenging. To help, here’s a roundup of recent AI news, notable research, and experiments.

OpenAI and News Corp Partnership

This week, OpenAI announced a significant partnership with News Corp, the company behind The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and MarketWatch. Under this agreement, OpenAI will utilize articles from these publications to train its large language model. In exchange, OpenAI will showcase News Corp logos in its apps like ChatGPT whenever responses are sourced from News Corp content. This multi-year, historic deal reportedly brings over $250 million to News Corp, providing a financial boost amid tough times in the media industry.

For OpenAI, this partnership helps avoid legal battles over copyright issues, as it's already facing disputes over fair use. But the deal has an end date, which is common in media licensing to allow for renegotiation. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has suggested that in the future, AI models might need less training data, potentially reducing the dependence on such partnerships. If AI models become less reliant on new data, publishers might face challenges once OpenAI has utilized their archives.

Other AI Stories of the Week

Spotify’s AI DJ Goes Multilingual
Spotify is expanding its AI DJ feature, which offers personalized song selections, to include a Spanish-speaking version.

Meta’s AI Advisory Council
Meta announced an AI advisory council but faced criticism for including only white men, ignoring the diverse groups most affected by AI technology.

FCC Proposes AI Disclosure in Political Ads
The FCC is considering a rule that would require political ads using AI-generated content to disclose this fact, aiming for transparency without banning AI use in ads.

Truecaller’s AI-Powered Call Response
Truecaller, known for its caller ID service, is partnering with Microsoft to let users answer calls in their own voice using AI.

Humane Seeks Buyer
Humane, the company behind the AI Pin, is looking for a buyer, valuing itself between $750 million and $1 billion after a lukewarm product launch.

TikTok Introduces Generative AI for Ads
TikTok is launching the TikTok Symphony AI suite to help brands create and enhance ads using generative AI.

Seoul AI Safety Summit
Officials and industry leaders at a summit in Seoul agreed on basic safety measures and an international safety research network for AI.

Microsoft’s AI-Enhanced PCs
At its Build developer conference, Microsoft unveiled Copilot+ PCs and new AI-powered features like Recall, which helps users find past content.

OpenAI’s Voice Controversy
OpenAI is removing a voice from ChatGPT’s text-to-speech feature after users noticed it resembled Scarlett Johansson, prompting legal inquiries from the actress.

UK Autonomous Driving Law
The UK has officially passed regulations for autonomous cars, marking a significant step towards integrating self-driving technology.

Interesting AI Research

A notable development from the University of Washington features noise-canceling headphones that block out everything except the voice you want to hear. By pressing a button and looking at the person speaking, the headphones filter out background noise and other voices, enhancing personal conversations in noisy environments.

Stay tuned for more AI updates and our upcoming AI newsletter.