In this week’s Week in Review: a very strong showing from AI companies, with the release of two powerful new video generators from OpenAI and Pika and an update to Google’s flagship Gemini model, which the tech giant says heralds the start of the agentic AI era. Elsewhere, Meta wades into OpenAI’s battle to become a for-profit company, taking the side of Elon Musk, music stars Paul McCartney and Kate Bush join the fight to protect artists’ work from scraping by AI firms, and the BBC slams Apple over its false AI news summaries.
Tech
OpenAI Finally Releases Sora
OpenAI finally released its much-hyped video generator this week. After months of anticipation and a rocky preview phase, OpenAI said it was making Sora available “everywhere ChatGPT is available,” except for the UK, Switzerland and EU countries, where the tougher regulatory environment frequently deters tech giants. Intense demand marred the rollout and within hours of launching chief executive Sam Altman said the company had paused signups and slowed generation speeds.
The generative AI tool, available free of charge to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users, joins a growing market of video and image generators from rivals including Meta, Google, Microsoft, Runway, Pika and Stability. The tools have sparked outcry from creative industries and publishers, many of whom claim they are trained on stolen data, and activists who fear they could facilitate misinformation and abuse.
OpenAI said it was releasing an imperfect product in order to “give society time to explore its possibilities and co-develop norms and safeguards that ensure it’s used responsibly as the field advances,” will block any sexual deepfakes and child sexual abuse materials and add metadata and watermarks to identify content as artificial. The Microsoft-backed firm said it was also limiting uploads of people at launch, though it is unclear how long it plans to keep this policy in place.
Pika Challenges OpenAI’s Sora With New Video Model
While Sora got a lot of attention, it was not the only hyped AI video tool released this week. California startup Pika with the launch of Pika 2.0. The updated version of the popular video model cements Pika’s position as a leader in the field. The company boasted “superior text alignment,” “stunning visuals” and “scene ingredients” that allow users to upload images of themselves, people, places and things. “It’s almost like twelve days worth of gifts in one,” Pika wrote on X, a thinly veiled jab at rival OpenAI, which is in the midst of a 12-day streak of product launches it is calling “shipmas.”
Google Welcomes AI ‘Agentic Era’ With Gemini 2.0
Google celebrated the launch of Gemini 2.0 this week, the latest version of its flagship AI model. It can generate images, text and audio and is faster and more efficient than other models, Google said. The tech company hailed the release as the start of the agentic AI era, referring to AI bots that can effectively go and act on your behalf, such as using a web browser or helping navigate video games’ virtual worlds.
Gemini 2.0 is still “experimental” and Google said is only releasing a lower-end version, Gemini 2.0 Flash, to Gemini users at the moment, though it has big plans to integrate the model throughout its products like AI Overviews and will be “rolling it out more broadly early next year.”
The announcement comes days after Google unveiled Willow, a state-of-the-art quantum chip that has been lauded as a milestone in the quest to develop quantum computers.
Reddit Tests AI Search Tool
Social platform Reddit launched a new AI-powered search tool, Reddit Answers, it says can help users find answers, advice and information from its trove of “real conversations and communities.” The feature will initially roll out to limited users in the US in English, Reddit said, with plans to expand to other locations and languages in the future. Other generative AI tools from companies like Google already tap Reddit as a source of information and the feature will help the platform stay relevant.
Law, Regulation and Policy
Paul McCartney, Kate Bush Join AI Copyright Fight As UK Considers Approach
Former Beatle Paul McCartney and singer-songwriter Kate Bush this week joined a growing chorus of creatives campaigning for stronger safeguards against AI use in the music industry.
McCartney, who last year used generative AI to produce a new Beatles record, said it was vital musicians are paid by AI companies using their work. It “would be a very sad thing indeed” if young writers and composers could not protect their intellectual property, he said in a statement.
Bush, whose hits include “Wuthering Heights” and “Running Up That Hill,” added her name to a petition backed by more than 37,000 creatives that says the unlicensed use of creative works to train generative AI models is a “major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works.” Other signatories include musicians from ABBA, Radiohead and The Cure, actors Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon and Rosario Dawson and Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro.
The interventions come as UK ministers prepare to debate how AI companies should handle copyrighted material next week.
Texas Investigates Tech Platforms Over Child Safety Fears
Texas attorney general Ken Paxton launched a probe into 15 tech firms over child safety and privacy concerns. The investigation will determine whether a slew of popular platforms and AI companies comply with Texas’ child privacy and safety laws. The probe includes popular platforms Reddit, Instagram and Discord, as well as chatbot startup Character.AI. Character is facing a number of lawsuits from parents, including a mother in Florida who says the firm is responsible for her 14-year-old son’s suicide.
“These investigations are a critical step toward ensuring that social media and AI companies comply with our laws designed to protect children from exploitation and harm,” said Paxton.
Meta Urges California To Block OpenAI’s For-Profit Pivot
Meta Platforms this week urged California’s attorney general to block OpenAI’s planned transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit company. In a letter to the state’s attorney general Rob Bonta, Meta said greenlighting the conversion “could have seismic implications for Silicon Valley” by allowing investors to enjoy benefits afforded to nonprofits like tax writeoffs while reaping the same benefits as conventional investors. It could potentially “lead to a proliferation of similar start-up ventures that are notionally charitable until they are potentially profitable,” Meta warned.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook and leading competitor to OpenAI in terms of AI technology, sided with Tesla billionaire Elon Musk in his legal efforts to stop OpenAI becoming a for-profit entity. Though Meta said it hoped the state official would act directly, it said Musk, who runs rival AI firm xAI and challenged Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight last year, is “qualified and well positioned to represent the interests of Californians in this matter.”
Writers Guild Demands Hollywood Studios Take “Immediate Legal Action” Against AI Companies
Leaders at the Writers Guild of America have called on Hollywood studios to take “immediate legal action” against any tech firm training AI models on writers’ work. “It’s time for the studios to come off the sidelines,” the letter said, adding that after “decades fighting piracy, [the industry] cannot stand idly by while tech companies steal full libraries of content for their own financial gain.” The use of AI has helped fuel significant industrial action in the entertainment industry and previous Guild action has ground production to a halt.
Media
ProRata Launches AI-Powered, Revenue Sharing Search Engine
ProRata.ai launched its AI-powered search engine this week. The search engine, called Gist.ai, is designed to reimagine how creators and publishers are credited and compensated when their work is used in the outputs of generative AI tools. “Generative AI cannot thrive on a foundation of stolen or uncredited content—it’s neither sustainable nor just,” said CEO Bill Gross.
ProRata has pledged to share 50% of all its revenue with creators and has inked licensing agreements with leading media companies including Universal Music Group, BuzzFeed, The Atlantic, Time, Fortune, dmg media and Sky News.
Shutterstock Debuts ‘Industry First’ AI Training Model With Lightricks
Shutterstock announced an “industry-first ‘research licence’” to lower the cost of entry for training AI models. Shutterstock said the new licensing model enables startups and AI companies to “build and refine AI tools on premium, licensed data before making a larger commitment in a full commercial license,” addressing one of the key challenges companies face when training models.
Creative technology company Lightricks, the creator of popular apps like Facetune, was announced as the first partner to train on the license. Cofounder and CEO Zeev Farbman said the partnership “marks a strategic milestone” and both “enhances our ability to train AI models with premium, diverse video data” and “elevates the quality and relevance of our generative video tools for our growing community of professional creators and enterprises.”
BBC Slams Apple’s Fake News AI Summary
The BBC complained to Apple this week over AI-generated fake news attributed to BBC News and shared on iPhones. The broadcaster said it had contacted the US tech giant after an AI-powered summary falsely claimed Luigi Mangione, who was arrested on suspicion of murdering United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson in New York, had shot himself.
The notification was part of a news summary feature within Apple’s hyped ‘Apple Intelligence’ tech, which launched in the UK this week. The BBC said there appear to have been other incidents where the technology had introduced factual errors in news summaries, pointing to false claims, attributed to the New York Times, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been arrested.
Amazon Taps AI To Guide Prime Viewers’ Next Watch
“To help you spend less time searching and more time watching,” Amazon said it is testing a new AI feature called “AI Topics” to help viewers “find relevant shows and movies more quickly.” The new function, now in beta, will begin rolling out to select living room devices in the US “in the coming weeks” and can be found by scrolling down on the Prime Video homepage.
Ads and Agencies
Omnicom-IPG Acquisition Could Boost AI Investments
Dominating agency news this week was Omnicom’s Monday announcement that it was acquiring US rival Interpublic Group. CEOs of both firms said the all-stock deal, worth $13.25 billion, could boost investments in technology, particularly generative AI. The is poised to transform how ads are made and delivered.
WPP Partners With Universal Music Group To ‘Responsibly Explore’ AI Applications
WPP partnered with entertainment giant Universal Music Group (UMG) to give the agency’s clients access to some of the world’s most popular artists and its large music catalogue. The partnership, which will also give WPP access to UMG’s global data and insights team, will help brands working with the holding group keep a pulse on cultural trends, according to a press release. The deal will also see the duo collaborate to “responsibly explore new ways that AI can better help brands and artists connect and create authentic cultural moments,” the statement said.
Number of the Week
$1 million. That’s how much Meta, Amazon and Perplexity have donated to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund. OpenAI’s Sam Altman is also donating $1 million of his personal money to the fund, as tech tycoons seek favor with the incoming president. Industry leaders, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and founder Sergey Brin, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, have also been travelling to Mar-a-Lago, strategic moves as businesses brace for the new political landscape.
