\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tAs astonishingly rapid as the evolution<\/a> of generative AI is, the legal and licensing frameworks building around it have struggled mightily to catch up to the pace with which the technology advances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhich made the month of June all the more interesting considering the flood of relevant developments shaping a marketplace that by even the most optimistic estimates will take years to come together. To wit: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two rulings made by federal courts last week illuminate how the murky concept of fair use applies to book publishers suing Anthropic and Meta for copyright infringement<\/li>\n\n\n\n

Hollywood fired its first long-awaited shot toward an AI firm, Midjourney, in the form of a lawsuit from Disney and NBCUniversal<\/li>\n\n\n\n

Major music labels have reportedly begun negotiations to strike licensing deals with AI startups Suno and Udio<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tAnd yet while this might seem significant in laying down ground rules for the licensing of all forms of content for the purpose of gen AI training, a panel discussion I moderated last week at the UCLA Entertainment Law symposium<\/a>, featuring execs on the frontlines, made clear that these developments don\u2019t quite add up to much of a leap forward into a future that remains hazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe implications of the Anthropic<\/a> and Meta<\/a> rulings have kicked up much debate about how influential they will end up being in the long run considering they are just two of a larger pool of a varied mix of lawsuits that have roiled this nascent industry over the last year. (VIP+ subscribers can access a full updated listing<\/a> of these lawsuits.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cWith around 40 lawsuits surrounding AI training, we\u2019re not yet at any kind of consensus,\u201d said panelist Seth Goldstein, general counsel & VP of business & legal affairs at Music AI. \u201cIt’s going to be an interesting couple of years to see where all this goes given what\u2019s going on in different district (courts) and different circuits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhile the panel was careful to parse the nuanced differences between text, audio and video media categories, each having its own distinct demands as they pertain to licensing, the conversation was dominated by news publishers, who are a prolific source of the lawsuits targeting the AI firms alleged to have scraped their content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhat seems to be at play here is that the lawsuits<\/a> really are just leverage brought to the negotiations by the publishing companies, which could just as easily settle their legal differences if an equitable licensing deal was placed in front of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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