Mathilde hijacks this episode with a question directed at co-hosts, Marcus and Annette. No warning. No prepping.
They hesitate, they prevaricate, they talk about moving to Alaska. But do they answer the question?
You'll have to listen to find out.

Most discussions about AI start with topic of "data mining".
But how many of us are clear about what it is and how it works? And how can we be expected to care about something if we don't understand what it is?
Even leaders, decision makers, artists, creatives - all of us - need a safe space to go and learn about it without the pressure or judgement.
This episode is that safe space.

In the first episode of Season 2, we look at the role of AI in Journalism. Are journalists facing a vicious cycle of generating click bait to drive revenue to keep media companies afloat to pay journalists to generate more click bait? Is AI making it worse - or might it offer a more positive future for journalism?
Our guest, Pete Pachal of Media CoPilot is of the latter opinion. He is confident that AI can liberate journalists from the more onerous, less rewarding tasks that have always been part of the job, allowing them to focus on the human side of the stories they cover. He also introduces us to Channel 1, a news channel in the making, which promises a "personalized global news network", fronted by entirely AI generated presenters, breaking real, factually accurate news.
As you'll imagine, we have questions...

Copyright Law is in our sights as we reach our Season 1 finale.

Dr Andres Guadamuz is a Reader in Intellectual Property Law at the University of Sussex and the Editor in Chief of the Journal of World Intellectual Property. He is also the brain and pen behind the online publication ‘TechnoLlama’.
He joins us to answer some of our many questions about protection Copyright can - and cannot - offer artists and creatives.

What does "Fair Use" really mean? What constitutes copyright infringement? Do rulings in different countries mean anything abroad? And, crucially, what is a TechnoLlama?

Let's talk about death.

Have you considered how you want your digital remains (yes, that's the correct term) to be treated after you're gone?

Photos on Facebook, TikTok videos, LinkedIn profiles, demos, self-tapes, emails sent and received; everything you have ever uploaded or shared, whether personally or professionally, will digitally outlive you.

Dr Edina Harbinja is a Reader in Media and Privacy Law at the University of Aston. She is a pioneer and expert in her field and author of the book, "Digital Death, Digital Assets and Post-mortem Privacy".
She joins us to explain more about our digital remains, what is and is not protected by existing legislation and how we might be able to better protect our digital legacies.

And you can read "Digital Remains and Post-mortem Privacy in the UK: What do users want?" co-authored by Dr Harbinja at:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4813651

What does it look like to do business with clones in a way which puts the artist at the centre of the deal?

That's not just our question, but the question posed by Sam Radclyffe. Sam is an experienced entertainment and media rights executive, film producer, and entrepreneur. His answer is Galatea Holdings.

Galatea is a Digital Twin Library and Management Company, which proposes a different business model from the ones we've seen so far. The aim is to partner with artists and performers in shared ownership of your clone, ensuring that you retain control of your digital twin.

Sam shares his own observations of the industry, how it treats artists and Intellectual Property rights and how a fresh approach might help keep humans at the heart of the industry.

In this episode we take a look at very recent deals that tech giants have made with media and content platforms to train their AI models, with consent. We are asking: is the tide turning for training AI towards a licensing model, and away from crawling the web in the wild?

In recent months Open AI has made deals with at least 11 companies, to access their content for the purpose of training AI technologies. Those companies include Shutterstock, Le Monde, News Corp, The Financial Times, Vox Media and the Associated Press.

What might this mean for freelancers contracting with those companies in future ? And have the tech giants got themselves a cheap deal ?

The story of UVA (United Voice Artists) is a lesson in organising, not just for Creative Workers, but for everyone affected by AI - which is to say, Everyone.

Co-President, Patrick Messe, explains the urgent need for representation that brought together unions, guilds and other professional bodies, ahead of the EU AI Act. Their cross border collaboration ensured their voices were heard by politicians and legislators.

From France to Turkey, Poland to South America, they have focussed on their shared purpose of protecting Artists' rights, preserving human creativity and safeguarding the livelihoods of their members.

And the story isn't over yet.

To read the UVA Guidelines visit: https://unitedvoiceartists.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/UVA-AI-GUIDLINES.pdf