Major publishers Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier, and author Scott Turow have sued Google, accusing it of using millions of copyrighted books to train Gemini without permission or payment, in "one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history." The Guardian reports: The publishers argue that Google repurposed books that had been supplied for limited services such as Google Books, Google Play Books and Google Scholar. Those services allowed Google to use the works in specific ways -- for example, to display searchable snippets or sell ebooks -- but not, the lawsuit claims, to copy them for training commercial AI products. "Desperate to maintain its online dominance, Google abandoned its early motto of 'Don't be evil' and engaged in one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history," the suit states (PDF). According to the complaint, the tech company made copies of copyrighted books to train Gemini without permission or payment, despite internal discussions acknowledging the legal risks. The filing claims Google flagged internally that it could face "$10Bs-$100Bs in potential fines" for using texts provided by publishers for Google Play Books. The publishers say Google's actions are harming authors and the wider publishing industry, arguing that AI-generated content could negatively impact book sales. It notes that, for example, Gemini could generate "a 100-page murder mystery set in a quiet seaside town filled with secrets, that substitutes for an original copyrighted murder mystery on which Gemini trained" in 20 minutes for 39 cents. "No publisher or author can compete with that." The lawsuit names a number of specific books that the publishers allege were among the copyrighted works used without permission, including NK Jemisin's The Fifth Season, and Lemony Snicket's Who Could That Be at This Hour?
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Lawmakers dubious of answers from Kathryn Ruemmler, whose name appeared thousands of times in released files
Democrats said Kathryn Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel under Barack Obama, was not “completely truthful” with lawmakers during her Wednesday testimony before the House committee on oversight and reform about her ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Ruemmler, who testified as part of the panel’s investigation into the convicted sex offender, said in her opening remarks that Epstein “used” her “to legitimize his standing” and that “it was a mistake to deal with” him. She insisted she never witnessed criminal activity.
Continue reading...The leader of an Australian right-wing party is seeking publicity through an interview with a British right-wing nationalist.
*Dr Imogen Richards, a criminology researcher at Deakin University, said announcing or appearing on podcasts with contentious counterparts was akin to a "pseudo event" that's as much about the publicity as it is about the [substance].
"The aim of these types of manoeuvres by more fringe, or formerly more fringe, political actors is to shift the Overton window and move the parameters of public political debate rightward."*
Mamdani is working on a New York City rule aimed at banning hidden junk fees and at requiring that cancelling subscriptions be easy.
People in Tehran talk about their relatives killed by the regime's bullies during the protests in January. They hate the regime with a passion.
*We know how to mourn other humans – but what about ecological grief?
In Iceland, people commemorated its first glacier formally declared lost to climate change. Western culture needs more of these rituals.*
The bullshitter gets his power from demonstrating that he will violate all rules, norms, and standards of decency in the course of bullying.
This gives him he power to sabotage any functioning system that depends on mutual trust and trustworthiness -- by blatantly abusing that trust, thus compelling other countries to develop new systems based on suspicion and distrust.
You can see a similar attitude in other right-wing leaders such as Pauline Hanson in Australia and Barage of the Deform UK Party.
Calling on the UK to clean up its political donation system by limiting the donations from any individual to a political party to a fixed maximum per year.
This new rule would be a step forward, but does the UK have anything comparable to PACs? If so, I expect the billionaires to use them to work around the rule, so they will need to extending the rule to cover them.
Spotify is testing a new "Talk to Spotify" AI feature for Premium subscribers that will let them chat with an AI assistant to explore music, podcasts, and audiobooks. The feature can answer questions about what users are listening to, adjust playback through follow-up prompts, and offer more personalized recommendations. The Verge reports: Amazon Music introduced a similar feature last year when it integrated Alexa Plus into the service. Spotify's chatbot goes a step beyond providing AI-powered recommendations and general trivia, however, because it references your playlists, favorite artists, repeat listens, and listening data when responding to requests. That means you can ask questions about your own listening history to check when you first heard a specific song, or see what genres you've been into lately if you can't hold out for the annual Wrapped insights. The updated AI capabilities are more conversational than older features like Prompted Playlist, which automatically builds playlists based on descriptions. Now, you can ask the Spotify chatbot to "play some songs I haven't heard before," and control what's being played with further instructions like requesting specific artists or asking to make it "more upbeat." Spotify says the new conversational experience aims to make the platform "more personal and useful for every listener," making this one of several ways that the company is trying to address complaints about its algorithm. You can also ask the Spotify AI general questions about whatever you're listening to, making the feature feel similar to using chatbot services like Google's Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. That includes asking for when a song was released, exploring other titles an author has written when listening to one of their audiobooks, or checking if a podcast guest has appeared on other audio shows.
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Backing by 103 Democrats underscores how sentiment in party towards Israel and Netanyahu government has soured
The House on Wednesday defeated a measure to slash military aid to Israel, but more than 100 House Democrats voted for it in a significant rebuke of the longtime US ally as accusations that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government green-lit genocide in Gaza continue to convulse the party ahead of November’s midterm election.
The amendment proposed by Republican congressman Thomas Massie to a spending measure would have halted $3.3bn in planned aid – much of which would have gone to Israel’s military. But it was rejected by a 104-314 vote, with 10 lawmakers voting present. Massie was the sole member of the GOP to vote yes.
Continue reading...During confirmation hearing Wednesday, Trump’s pick tells Senate health committee she will ‘never betray the science’
Erica Schwartz, the Trump administration’s latest nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), faced sharp questioning from senators who pressed her to say whether she would stand up to her boss, the health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
During her confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Schwartz, a deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration, told the Senate health committee she “will never betray the science” and pledged to use “radical transparency” to rebuild public trust. But she repeatedly deflected questions about how she would handle pressure from Kennedy, a leader in the anti-vaccine movement who has overseen months of turmoil at the agency and made controversial changes to US vaccine policies.
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