2024 may be the year online disinformation finally gets the better of us; Politico.eu, March 25, 2024

SEB BUTCHER , Politico.eu; 2024 may be the year online disinformation finally gets the better of us

"Never before have AI-powered tools been more sophisticated, widespread and accessible to the public.

Generative AI, in its broadest sense, refers to deep learning models that can generate sophisticated text, video, audio, images and other content based on the data they were trained on. And the recent introduction of these tools into the mainstream — including language models and image creators — has made the creation of fake or misleading content incredibly easy, even for those with the most basic tech skills.

We have now entered a new technological era that will change our lives forever — hopefully for the better. But despite the widespread public awe of its capabilities, we must also be aware that this powerful technology has the potential to do incredible damage if mismanaged and abused.

For bad actors, generative AI has supercharged the disinformation and propaganda playbook. False and deceptive content can now be effortlessly produced by these tools, either for free or at low cost, and deployed on a mass scale online. Increasingly, the online ecosystem, which is the source of most of our news and information, is being flooded with fabricated content that’s becoming difficult to distinguish from reality."

YouTube to offer option to flag AI-generated songs that mimic artists’ voices; The Guardian, November 14, 2023

Dan Milmo , The Guardian; YouTube to offer option to flag AI-generated songs that mimic artists’ voices

"Record companies can request the removal of songs that use artificial intelligence-generated versions of artists’ voices under new guidelines issued by YouTube.

The video platform is introducing a tool that will allow music labels and distributors to flag content that mimics an artist’s “unique singing or rapping voice”.

Fake AI-generated music has been one of the side-effects of leaps forward this year in generative AI – the term for technology that can produce highly convincing text, images and voice from human prompts.

One of the most high-profile examples is Heart on My Sleeve, a song featuring AI-made vocals purporting to be Drake and the Weeknd. It was pulled from streaming services after Universal Music Group, the record company for both artists, criticised the song for “infringing content created with generative AI”. However, the song can still be accessed by listeners on YouTube."

Biden Issues Executive Order to Create A.I. Safeguards; The New York Times, October 30, 2023

 Cecilia Kang and David E. Sanger, The New York Times; Biden Issues Executive Order to Create A.I. Safeguards

"President Biden signed a far-reaching executive order on artificial intelligence on Monday, requiring that companies report to the federal government about the risks that their systems could aid countries or terrorists to make weapons of mass destruction. The order also seeks to lessen the dangers of “deep fakes” that could swing elections or swindle consumers."

AI voice clones mimic politicians and celebrities, reshaping reality; The Washington Post, October 13, 2023

Pranshu Verma

 and 

Will Oremus

, The Washington Post; AI voice clones mimic politicians and celebrities, reshaping reality

"Rapid advances in artificial intelligence have made it easy to generate believable audio, allowing anyone from foreign actors to music fans to copy somebody’s voice — leading to a flood of faked content on the web, sewing [sic] discord, confusion and anger.

Last week, the actor Tom Hanks warned his social media followers that bad actors used his voice to falsely imitate him hawking dental plans. Over the summer, TikTok accounts used AI narrators to display fake news reports that erroneously linked former president Barack Obama to the death of his personal chef.

On Thursday, a bipartisan group of senators announced a draft bill, called the No Fakes Act, that would penalize people for producing or distributing an AI-generated replica of someone in an audiovisual or voice recording without their consent...

Social media companies also find it difficult to moderate AI-generated audio because human fact-checkers often have trouble spotting fakes. Meanwhile, few software companies have guardrails to prevent illicit use."

Is Old Music Killing New Music?; The Atlantic, January 23, 2022

Ted Gioia, The Atlantic ; Is Old Music Killing New Music?

"A series of unfortunate events are conspiring to marginalize new music. The pandemic is one of these ugly facts, but hardly the only contributor to the growing crisis.

Consider these other trends:...

When a new song overcomes these obstacles and actually becomes a hit, the risk of copyright lawsuits is greater than ever before. The risks have increased enormously since the “Blurred Lines” jury decision of 2015, and the result is that additional cash gets transferred from today’s musicians to old (or deceased) artists.

Adding to the nightmare, dead musicians are now coming back to life in virtual form—via holograms and “deepfake” music—making it all the harder for young, living artists to compete in the marketplace."