Artists’ copyrights, free Apple Intelligence, and Google’s “future in your pocket” — the top 3 AI news stories of the week

Intro

The heat of August features some cool AI news. By this point, we are already used to “wow” announcements in the AI arena. We expect qualitative changes in AI, not just the generation of funny pictures. But even we were surprised to see that the issues surrounding artists’ copyrights in the context of AI development have moved forward on the litigation front.

#1 — Artists vs AI — 1:0

Imagine that you are an artist, and you discover that your work is being stored on the systems of image-generation companies to train their AI. How do you like that?

A group of visual artists* filed a lawsuit last year against Midjourney, Runway, Stability AI, and DeviantArt — AI-based generators of images and video. This week, California U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick allowed some of the plaintiff’s claims to proceed. During the discovery phase of the litigation, the artists’ lawyers will be able to study the defendant companies’ documents and learn how the AI was trained.

The question of ownership is critical. Who owns the authorship: the developers of AI, the users, or the AI itself? We await the new era of copyright!

* The group includes Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, Karla Ortiz, Hawk Southworth, Grzegorz Rutkowski, Gregory Manchess, Gerald Brom, Jina Zhang, Julia Kay, and Adam Ellis.

#2 — Apple’s “smart” strategy

Apple tested some of its AI ideas without public statements, while other companies pumped up their research budgets and publicized their results. Since Apple entered the AI race later than its competitors, to catch up with them, it needs to focus on marketing.

Apple insider from Bloomberg, Mark Gurman, said that Apple Intelligence will be free at least until 2027. Apple has not yet officially confirmed this. We can only wait for the next developments.

#3 — Google and AI: the future is already here

Google showed the “future in your pocket” at its annual “Made by Google” event this week, which was held earlier than usual this year — perhaps to get the jump on Apple’s introduction of AI-powered devices later this fall.

The Pixel 9 smartphone algorithms learn on the fly, optimize photos, predict actions, and help users become more productive. And the new foldable model Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a wider display and improved camera specifications compared to Pixel 9. Google once again raises the bar — this time for the AI industry.