RecordLabel.Pro

Elon Musk’s pursuit of a free speech-oriented content moderation approach is encountering hurdles, with the European Union (EU) launching formal proceedings to scrutinise his X platform’s potential breaches of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA imposes strict guidelines on major digital platforms, encompassing the control of illegal content and the mitigation of misinformation. Citing concerns about X’s compliance, the EU is delving into Musk’s novel strategies under the DSA.

In a deliberate move towards incorporating AI in its offerings, Spotify has revealed an experimental feature allowing users to create playlists using AI prompts. Originally identified in October, the “AI playlists” feature is now undergoing user testing, as evidenced by a recent viral TikTok video.

A month after its debut in the US and UK, TikTok’s ‘Add To Music App’ feature extends its reach to 19 additional countries, including Germany, Japan, and Spain. This innovative feature enables users to seamlessly save discovered songs on TikTok to their preferred streaming platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify.

Meta has unveiled its Audiobox generative AI project, providing a publicly accessible demonstration of its voice replication capabilities. Following a preview last month, Audiobox employs a fusion of voice inputs and text prompts, showcasing Meta’s research in audio generation. This innovative model facilitates the creation of custom audio for diverse applications, blending voices and sound effects seamlessly.

In a landmark move, the European Union Council, Commission, and Parliament solidified an agreement on AI transparency principles, establishing a potential global benchmark for AI legislation. GEMA and IFPI, representing music industry interests, expressed support for the agreement, emphasizing the need for AI providers to transparently disclose training data. The AI Act, a pioneering legislative initiative, seeks to harmonize rules for AI, focusing on safety, fundamental rights, and adherence to EU values. Because of the recent lack of clarity in the realms of AI, the agreement addresses societal concerns surrounding AI’s potential harm, presenting a risk-based approach. Carme Artigas, Spain’s State Secretary for Digitalization and AI, hailed the agreement as a historical achievement.

As the three main European Union institutions – the Council, Commission, and Parliament – conclude negotiations on the final draft of the EU’s landmark AI Act, intense last-minute lobbying continues. Tech giants and music industry stakeholders alike hope to shape regulations governing artificial intelligence systems, particularly on copyright protections and disclosures in foundational models.

In response to Spotify’s recent announcement to overhaul its royalty calculations, European independent music body Impala has released a comprehensive response, expressing both approval and reservations. The streaming giant’s plans aim to redirect around $1 billion towards emerging and professional artists over five years. Impala commends the crackdown on fraud and the restrictions on functional content but voices concerns about the proposed royalties threshold.

A recent English High Court ruling has overturned a decision by the UK Patent Office, impacting AI companies, including music-tech startups, seeking to patent their technologies. Venture studio Time Machine Capital Squared (TMC2) successfully contested the ruling, heralding a significant shift. The legal shift permits the patenting of both the training of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and the ANNs themselves in the UK, making AI companies more attractive to investors. This legal development holds particular relevance for TMC2’s portfolio of 12 AI companies, including Emotional Perception AI Ltd and AI-music startup Daaci.

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital platforms, the integration of generative AI elements is a strategic focus, particularly through facilitated chatbot creation. A notable entrant into this domain is ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, poised to launch a platform enabling AI chatbot customisation. This trend gains momentum in the Chinese market, exemplified by ByteDance’s rival, Baidu, introducing a chatbot development system tailored to businesses’ products and services.

The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) has joined the chorus of voices urging European lawmakers to embed unequivocal transparency obligations in the final iteration of the European Union’s AI Act. This appeal, put forward on Friday, precedes pivotal discussions scheduled in Brussels this week.