Universal Music settles copyright dispute with AI firm Udio; Reuters, October 29, 2025

 Rishabh Jaiswal , Reuters; Universal Music settles copyright dispute with AI firm Udio

"Universal Music Group said on Wednesday it has settled a copyright infringement case with artificial intelligence company Udio and that the two firms will collaborate on a new suite of creative products.

Under the agreement, the companies will launch a platform next year that leverages generative AI trained on authorized and licensed music.

UMG Chairman Sir Lucian Grainge said the agreements "demonstrate our commitment to do what's right by our artists and songwriters, whether that means embracing new technologies, developing new business models, diversifying revenue streams or beyond.""

‘Progressive’ Tech Group Asks Trump to Block AI Copyright Cases; The American Prospect, October 31, 2025

 DAVID DAYEN, The American Prospect; ‘Progressive’ Tech Group Asks Trump to Block AI Copyright Cases

"The Chamber of Progress, a self-styled “progressive” industry trade group supported by most of the biggest tech platforms, has urged the Trump administration to intervene in a litany of copyright cases involving artificial intelligence firms, to try to stop authors and publishers from having their work used for training AI models without permission.

The pleading comes as Anthropic prepares to pay authors $1.5 billion, the largest award in the history of copyright law, for pirating their work, in a settlement announced last month. OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Meta are named defendants in the more than 50 active lawsuits over AI intellectual-property theft.

In a letter to Michael Kratsios, the lead science adviser to President Trump, the Chamber of Progress estimates that AI companies could be liable under the Copyright Act for up to $1.5 trillion for stealing copyrighted work on which to train their models. The letter’s authors claim that this represents “an existential risk” to AI companies, and that the cases should be tossed out under a “fair use” standard.

The Chamber of Progress’s campaign to promote fair use, which they have created a campaign around called “Generate and Create,” comes as at least three of the nonprofit organization’s past or current backers are being sued over copyright claims: Meta, Google, and the AI art generator Midjourney. Another current funder, Nvidia, relies heavily on AI development for its continued success, and venture capital firm a16z, with several AI startups in its portfolio, also funds the nonprofit."

N.C. GOP spokesman urges reporter to drop news story, citing Trump ties; The Washington Post, October 31, 2025

Brianna Tucker, The Washington Post; N.C. GOP spokesman urges reporter to drop news story, citing Trump ties

[Kip Currier: Memo to Matt Mercer (North Carolina GOP spokesman) re Mob-like threats (“I would strongly suggest dropping this story,”) against ProPublica reporting on North Carolina Chief Justice Paul Newby:

Pssst...Read the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

American Civics 101: Freedom of the Press. 

Meaning: You don't get to dictate what free and independent presses can report on in America.]

[Excerpt]

"A spokesman for the North Carolina Republican Party appeared to threaten the news outlet ProPublica — citing “connections” to the Trump administration — over a story it reported and ultimately published on a prominent conservative state Supreme Court judge.

The story examined state Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby, his starkly conservative transformation of the court and power over the state’s politics. When Newby declined to be interviewed and the court’s communications and media team did not respond to questions, the reporter contacted his daughter, who also serves as the state GOP’s finance director.

Instead, the publication said it received a response from North Carolina GOP spokesman Matt Mercer, attempting to coerce ProPublica to kill the story.

“I’m sure you’re aware of our connections with the Trump Administration and I’m sure they would be interested in this matter,” Mercer said in an email that ProPublica published.

He added: “I would strongly suggest dropping this story,” underlining “strongly” and putting it in bold type.

After the story published, Mercer doubled down in a social media post, urging Trump to “feed ProPublica to the USAID wood chipper,” referring to the president’s termination of thousands in funding and grants from the foreign aid agency earlier this year.

While President Donald Trump and top administration officials have targeted media organizations for critical coverage of him or his policies,it is unusual for a state party official to explicitly leverage a relationship with the administration and express a willingness to retaliate toward news organizations.

It’s unclear if and how Trump would retaliate against ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that does not receive government funding and relies on private grants and donations."

God’s Chief Justice Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power. Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well beyond the borders of his state.; ProPublica, October 30, 2025

 Doug Bock Clark, ProPublica ; God’s Chief Justice: Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power. Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well beyond the borders of his state.

"Few beyond North Carolina’s borders grasp the outsize role Newby, 70, has played in transforming the state’s top court from a relatively harmonious judicial backwater to a front-line partisan battleground since his election in 2004.

Under North Carolina’s constitution, Supreme Court justices are charged with upholding the independence and impartiality of the courts, applying laws fairly and ensuring all citizens get treated equally.

Yet for years, his critics charge, Newby has worked to erode barriers to politicization."

New Book by José Marichal, California Lutheran University; You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem: Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract

 

New Book by José Marichal, California Lutheran University; You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem: Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract

Description:

"In the age of AI, where personal data fuels corporate profits and state surveillance, what are the implications for democracy?

This incisive book explores the unspoken agreement we have with tech companies. In exchange for reducing the anxiety of an increasingly complex online world, we submit to algorithmic classification and predictability. This reduces incentives for us to become “algorithmic problems” with dire consequences for liberal democracy. He calls for a movement to demand that algorithms promote play, creativity and potentiality rather than conformity.

This is a must-read for anyone navigating the intersection of technology, politics and identity in an increasingly data-driven world."

Photographer sues Rice after Coffeehouse uses copyrighted muffin photo; Rice Thresher, October 28, 2025

 Noah Berz , Rice Thresher; Photographer sues Rice after Coffeehouse uses copyrighted muffin photo

[Kip Currier: Another cautionary tale to not "scrape" stuff from the Internet and use it for one's commercial business.

(Oh, wait...that's what Big Tech did with billions of copyrighted works they "scraped" from the Web and pirate book libraries to develop their proprietary IP-protected AI products, too, right?)

At any rate, this "federal copyright-registered blueberry muffin photo" story is another reminder that it'll save you money, time, and possible reputational damage to do one of the following: take your own photo of a blueberry muffin; hire someone to do it; license a photo; or ask permission to use it.

And if you do use a photo for your business venture, give the photographer/copyright creator attribution...

Like this photo I took of my mother's delicious Iron Skillet Blueberry Scones!

[Excerpt]

"A lawsuit has been filed against Rice, accusing Rice Coffeehouse of using a copyrighted photograph without permission to advertise on their Instagram page and website. 

The Oct. 17 complaint was filed on behalf of Meggan Hill, a photographer and chef who posts her recipes online. The photo in question is a blueberry muffin photo, featured on Hill’s website with an accompanying recipe.

The lawsuit was filed in a Houston federal district court by Hill’s attorney, Layla Nguyen of SRipLaw, an intellectual property law firm based in Boca Raton, Florida. According to the case briefing, Hill tried to notify the university of her allegations twice before suing but received no response. 

“To date, the parties have failed to resolve this matter,” the briefing reads. “Rice failed to respond to any communications.”

The lawsuit alleges that Chaus copied Hill’s photograph titled “Blueberry Muffins - Culinary Hill 1200x800” from the internet and displayed it online to promote the addition of blueberry muffins to their menu. 

In the lawsuit, Hill claims she discovered the photograph on the Chaus website on Jan. 7 — over a year after she registered the image with the Register of Copyrights. Hill allegedly reached out to Rice with her complaint on Jan. 29 and Feb. 28 before filing the suit."

1.5M people in Ohio rely on SNAP: Map shows which towns will be hardest hit by shutdown; WLWT5, October 31, 2025

 Emily Sanderson, WLWT5;  1.5M people in Ohio rely on SNAP: Map shows which towns will be hardest hit by shutdown

"More than 1 million Ohio residents will lose federal food support on Saturday when SNAP benefits expire because of the government shutdown.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as Food Stamps, helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries.

Cincinnati families are facing uncertainty as the SNAP food assistance program has been suspended due to the government shutdown, affecting nearly 100,000 residents in Hamilton County who rely on federal food benefits...

Governor DeWine has indicated that there is no mechanism for Ohio to directly fund SNAP payments, regardless of the source of the money."

Egypt’s vast $1bn museum to open in Cairo after two-decade build; The Guardian, October 31, 2025

Eromo Egbejule and agencies , The Guardian; Egypt’s vast $1bn museum to open in Cairo after two-decade build

[Kip Currier: Money quotes from this article for anyone working in cultural heritage institutions, i.e. libraries, archives, and museums:] 

"Ahmed Ghoneim, the museum’s CEO, told reporters that the halls have advanced technology and feature multimedia presentations, including mixed-reality shows, to merge its timeless heritage with 21st-century creativity for new generations.

“We’re using the language that gen Z uses,” he said. “Gen Z doesn’t use the labels that we read as old people and would rather use technology.”"

Some of the earliest written notes in western musical history discovered in Pennsylvania; The Guardian, October 28, 2025

 Richard Luscombe , The Guardian; Some of the earliest written notes in western musical history discovered in Pennsylvania

[Kip Currier: What an incredible discovery for not only musicologists but every human on the planet -- one of the earliest known examples of written notes in western musical history.

The article indicates that the document came to the attention of researchers through a private collector. This story underscores the importance of archivists, museum staffs, researchers, and others in cultivating professional, ethical relationships with private collectors and societies.

It also highlights the importance of libraries, archives, and museums for preserving our collective historical artifacts. Hopefully, this musical notation artifact can one day be acquired by a cultural heritage institution, preserved, and made accessible for posterity.]

[Excerpt]

"Researchers in Pennsylvania have uncovered what they believe are some of the earliest written notes in western musical history – on a ninth-century manuscript they say remained “hidden in plain sight” for years in the hands of a private collector.

The notations – characters and dots similar to shorthand outlines – appear above the word “alleluia” on the document, a vellum manuscript leaf from a Latin sacramentary, a Catholic liturgical book used in western Europe during mass from the mid- to late 800s.

While earlier written forms of ancient musical notes exist, notably the Hymn to Nikkal, carved into clay tablets dated between 1400 and 1200BC, the sacramentary markings are among the first known depicting the birth of modern western music, according to the researchers.

They were discovered by historian and author Nathan Raab, president of the Raab Collection, during the evaluation of the document presented to him by the private owner. Raab believes the notations were previously overlooked or misunderstood, and he said he spent months researching their origin and significance.

“This is an incredibly early witness to our modern use of musical notations at its very dawn, and its discovery is a further reminder to us in the business of historical discovery that sometimes those discoveries are hiding in plain sight,” he said."

What would you do if democracy was being dismantled before your eyes? Whatever you’re doing right now; The Guardian, October 31, 2025

 Andy Beckett, The Guardian ; What would you do if democracy was being dismantled before your eyes? Whatever you’re doing right now

"How would you behave if your democracy was being dismantled? In most western countries, that used to be an academic question. Societies where this process had happened, such as Germany in the 1930s, seemed increasingly distant. The contrasting ways that people reacted to authoritarianism and autocracy, both politically and in their everyday lives, while darkly fascinating and important to study and remember, seemed of diminishing relevance to now.

Not any more. Illiberal populism has spread across the world, either challenging for power or entrenching itself in office, from Argentina to Italy, France to Indonesia, Hungary to Britain. But probably the most significant example of a relatively free, pluralist society and political system turning into something very different remains the US, now nine months into Donald Trump’s second term."

Are We Losing Our Democracy?; The New York Times, October 31, 2025

 The Editorial Board, The New York Times; Are We Losing Our Democracy?

"Countries that slide from democracy toward autocracy tend to follow similar patterns. To measure what is happening in the United States, the Times editorial board has compiled a list of 12 markers of democratic erosion, with help from scholars who have studied this phenomenon. The sobering reality is that the United States has regressed, to different degrees, on all 12.

Our country is still not close to being a true autocracy, in the mold of Russia or China. But once countries begin taking steps away from democracy, the march often continues. We offer these 12 markers as a warning of how much Americans have already lost and how much more we still could lose."

Episcopal churches, food pantries prepare to aid 42 million Americans on food assistance; Episcopal News Service (ENS), October 30, 2025

 Melodie Woerman, Episcopal News Service (ENS); Episcopal churches, food pantries prepare to aid 42 million Americans on food assistance

 "Food ministries across The Episcopal Church have been offering aid to federal workers furloughed or working without pay since the Oct. 1 start of the government shutdown, and they are also gearing up to help even more people if food assistance benefits for an estimated 42 million Americans run out on Nov. 1.

Nourishing Bethesda, a nonprofit that began five years ago as an outreach ministry of St. John’s Norwoodin Chevy Chase, Maryland, already has seen an increase in the number of people seeking food help, executive director John Ross told Episcopal News Service. That largely is because many furloughed and unpaid federal workers are in metro-Washington, D.C...

Here are ways other churches are working to provide food to those who need it, based on replies to ENS queries across various platforms:

• St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, is asking members to contribute more items to its food pantry, which is open weekly. It also provides bags of groceries to people who can’t get to the pantry and to people served by Virginia Supportive Housing, a local nonprofit. It also offers a weekly farmer’s market.
• St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Jamestown, New York, is partnering with the Jamestown Farmers Market to provide $15 in market vouchers, up to $60 per family, for SNAP recipients and unpaid and furloughed federal workers. The effort has provided more than $7,000 in assistance so far. The church also is providing space in its building this winter for the market, beginning Nov. 1.
• St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Kent, Washington, is gearing up to double the amount of food in its food bank, while awaiting word on whether the state will extend benefits beginning Nov. 1. If needed, Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Federal Way, Washington, will provide additional volunteers for St. Columba’s food minstry.
• St. Francis Episcopal Church, Stamford, Connecticut, is setting up a financial “virtual food drive” to support Connecticut Foodshare, the local affiliate of Feeding America.
• St. John’s Cathedral in Jacksonville, Florida, already asks parishioners to bring a bag of groceries to church each week but is encouraging them to increase the amount of food they bring.
• St. John’s Episcopal Church in New Braunfels, Texas, is providing parishioners with an Amazon Wish List of items needed by the local food bank. Items will be shipped to the church for delivery in bulk, taking a load off food bank workers.
• Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Hastings, Michigan, is planning to buy gift cards for the Thanksgiving meal the supermarket chain Aldi is offering. They also are hoping to provide a sack of groceries to guests at their Saturday community breakfast.
• Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge, New Jersey, is providing special donation boxes made by parish children to help people who are food insecure. It also has added “SNAP Aid” to its online giving options.
• St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Arlington, Virginia, is asking everyone attending the parish annual meeting Nov. 2 to bring food for the local food pantry. In addition, undesignated offerings that day will benefit the pantry. The church also will be launching a “food and fund” drive to run through January, which the pantry reports is its hardest month.
• Church of the Holy Communion in Memphis, Tennessee, is hoping to expand its annual Advent canned-ham drive to a ham-plus effort to collect hearty soups, canned meals and more.
• St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Durham, North Carolina, is asking members to bring more food than usual for donation to Urban Ministries of Durham, the local shelter and food pantry the church helped found years ago.
• St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Barnstable, Massachusetts, is continuing its food efforts – preparing and serving meals at local sites and helping to provide 300 Thanksgiving meals – as the rector, the Rev. Michael Horvath, encouraged all parishioners to explore how they could do more in light of the expected loss of SNAP benefits, asking “What can we offer that makes love tangible?”"

From CBS to TikTok, US media are falling to Trump’s allies. This is how democracy crumbles; The Guardian, October 29, 2025

 Owen Jones, The Guardian; From CBS to TikTok, US media are falling to Trump’s allies. This is how democracy crumbles

"Democracy may be dying in the US. Whether the patient receives emergency treatment in time will determine whether the condition becomes terminal. Before Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, I warned of “Orbánisation” – in reference to Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán. There, democracy was not extinguished by firing squads or the mass imprisonment of dissidents, but by slow attrition. The electoral system was warped, civil society was targeted and pro-Orbán moguls quietly absorbed the media.

Nine months on, and Orbánisation is in full bloom across the Atlantic. Billionaire Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder, and his filmmaker son, David, have become blunt instruments in this process. Trump boasts they are “friends of mine – they’re big supporters of mine”. Larry Ellison, second only to Elon Musk as the world’s richest man, has poured tens of millions into Republican coffers...

US democracy has always been heavily flawed. It is so rigged in favour of wealthy elites that a detailed academic study back in 2014 found that the political system is rigged in favour of what the economic elites want. Yet because, unlike Hungary, the US has no history of dictatorship, with a system of supposed checks and balances, some felt it could never succumb to tyranny. Such complacency has collided with brutal reality. In just nine months, the US has been dragged towards an authoritarian abyss. A warning: Trump has 39 months left in office."

Navy launches review of Marines’ and sailors’ personal social media posts; Task and Purpose, October 28, 2025

 JEFF SCHOGOL, Task and Purpose; Navy launches review of Marines’ and sailors’ personal social media posts

"The Department of the Navy is looking into whether sailors’ and Marines’ social media posts have violated the department’s social media guidance, according to a recent message from Navy Secretary John Phelan.

“At the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, the DON [Department of the Navy] is actively reviewing reports related to Service Members social media activity that is misaligned with the DON’s current social media guidance,” according to the Oct. 24 “All Navy” message. “The guidance remains in full effect, and we are committed to upholding the highest standards of conduct. Service members are expected to uphold Navy and Marine Corps core values on duty, off duty, and online.”"

As Trump Weighs Sale of Advanced A.I. Chips to China, Critics Sound Alarm; The New York Times, October 29, 2025

  Ana Swanson and Tripp Mickle, The New York Times; As Trump Weighs Sale of Advanced A.I. Chips to China, Critics Sound Alarm

"Mr. Trump’s comments signaled a major potential change for U.S. policy that many Washington officials warn poses a national security risk. Selling such advanced A.I. chips to China is currently banned, and U.S. officials have worked for years to restrain Beijing’s access to the cutting-edge technology.

The president’s reversal, if it comes to pass, would have widespread implications. Nvidia, which has emphasized the importance of maintaining access to the Chinese market, would reap new sales. But critics have argued that A.I. technology is important enough to potentially shift the balance of power in a strategic competition between the United States and China."

AI psychosis is a growing danger. ChatGPT is moving in the wrong direction; The Guardian, October 28, 2025

 Amandeep Jutla , The Guardian; AI psychosis is a growing danger. ChatGPT is moving in the wrong direction

[Kip Currier: Note this announcement that OpenAI's Sam Altman made on October 14. It's billionaire CEO-speak for "acceptable risk", i.e. "The level of potential losses a society or community considers acceptable given existing social, economic, political, cultural, technical, and environmental conditions." https://inee.org/eie-glossary/acceptable-risk 

Translation: Altman's conflict of interest-riven assessment that AI's benefits outweigh a corpus of evidence establishing increasingly documented risks and harms of AI to the mental health of young children, teens, and adults.]

[Excerpt]

"On 14 October 2025, the CEO of OpenAI made an extraordinary announcement.

“We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive,” it says, “to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues.”

As a psychiatrist who studies emerging psychosis in adolescents and young adults, this was news to me.

Researchers have identified 16 cases in the media this year of individuals developing symptoms of psychosis – losing touch with reality – in the context of ChatGPT use. My group has since identified four more. In addition to these is the now well-known case of a 16-year-old who died by suicide after discussing his plans extensively with ChatGPT – which encouraged them. If this is Sam Altman’s idea of “being careful with mental health issues”, that’s not good enough.

The plan, according to his announcement, is to be less careful soon. “We realize,” he continues, that ChatGPT’s restrictions “made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right. Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.”

“Mental health problems”, if we accept this framing, are independent of ChatGPT. They belong to users, who either have them or don’t. Fortunately, these problems have now been “mitigated”, though we are not told how (by “new tools” Altman presumably means the semi-functional and easily circumvented parental controls that OpenAI recently introduced)."

Teenage boys using ‘personalised’ AI for therapy and romance, survey finds; The Guardian, October 30, 2025

 Jessica Murray and Robert Booth, The Guardian; Teenage boys using ‘personalised’ AI for therapy and romance, survey finds

"“Young people are using it a lot more like an assistant in their pocket, a therapist when they’re struggling, a companion when they want to be validated, and even sometimes in a romantic way. It’s that personalisation aspect – they’re saying: it understands me, my parents don’t.”

The research, based on a survey of boys in secondary education across 37 schools in England, Scotland and Wales, also found that more than half (53%) of teenage boys said they found the online world more rewarding than the real world.

The Voice of the Boys report says: “Even where guardrails are meant to be in place, there’s a mountain of evidence that shows chatbots routinely lie about being a licensed therapist or a real person, with only a small disclaimer at the bottom saying the AI chatbot is not real."

Character.AI bans users under 18 after being sued over child’s suicide; The Guardian, October 29, 2025

 Johana Bhuiyan , The Guardian; Character.AI bans users under 18 after being sued over child’s suicide

"The chatbot company Character.AI will ban users 18 and under from conversing with its virtual companions beginning in late November after months of legal scrutiny.

The announced change comes after the company, which enables its users to create characters with which they can have open-ended conversations, faced tough questions over how these AI companions can affect teen and general mental health, including a lawsuit over a child’s suicide and a proposed bill that would ban minors from conversing with AI companions.

“We’re making these changes to our under-18 platform in light of the evolving landscape around AI and teens,” the company wrote in its announcement. “We have seen recent news reports raising questions, and have received questions from regulators, about the content teens may encounter when chatting with AI and about how open-ended AI chat in general might affect teens, even when content controls work perfectly.”

Last year, the company was sued by the family of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III, who took his own life after allegedly developing an emotional attachment to a character he created on Character.AI. His family laid blame for his death at the feet of Character.AI and argued the technology was “dangerous and untested”. Since then, more families have sued Character.AI and made similar allegations. Earlier this month, the Social Media Law Center filed three new lawsuits against the company on behalf of children who have either died by suicide or otherwise allegedly formed dependent relationships with its chatbots."

Big Tech Makes Cal State Its A.I. Training Ground; The New York Times, October 26, 2025

 

 Natasha Singer

Visuals by Philip Cheung

, The New York Times ; Big Tech Makes Cal State Its A.I. Training Ground

"Cal State, the largest U.S. university system with 460,000 students, recently embarked on a public-private campaign — with corporate titans including Amazon, OpenAI and Nvidia — to position the school as the nation’s “first and largest A.I.-empowered” university. One central goal is to make generative A.I. tools, which can produce humanlike texts and images, available across the school’s 22 campuses. Cal State also wants to embed chatbots in teaching and learning, and prepare students for “increasingly A.I.-driven”careers.

As part of the effort, the university is paying OpenAI $16.9 million to provide ChatGPT Edu, the company’s tool for schools, to more than half a million students and staff — which OpenAI heralded as the world’s largest rollout of ChatGPT to date. Cal State also set up an A.I. committee, whose members include representatives from a dozen large tech companies, to help identify the skills California employers need and improve students’ career opportunities."