Getty Images sues Stable Diffusion over copyright violation

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January 18, 2023

Getty Images is suing the creator of the popular AI art tool Stable Diffusion, Stability AI, over an alleged copyright violation.

In a press statement, the stock photo company claimed that Stability AI copied and processed millions of images unlawfully, which were protected by copyright, to train its software.

The statement also said that Getty Images had commenced legal proceedings against the Stability AI firm in the High Court of Justice, London.

Getty Images CEO Craig Peters said that the company has already issued Stability AI with a letter before action, which is a formal notification of impending litigation in the UK. The company has not said whether legal proceedings would take place in the US, as well.

Peters said, “The company made no outreach to Getty Images to utilise our or our contributors’ material, so we are taking action to protect our and our contributors’ intellectual property rights.”

A press representative from Stability AI, Angela Pontarolo, said that the Stability AI team did not receive information about the lawsuit and therefore declined to comment.

Microsoft to add OpenAI’s ChatGPT to its cloud-based Azure service

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Sahil Pawar

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January 18, 2023

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the company would soon add OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot ChatGPT to its cloud-based Azure service very soon.

“ChatGPT is coming soon to Azure OpenAI Service, which is now generally available, as we help customers apply world’s most advanced AI models to their own business imperatives,” CEO Satya Nadella tweeted on Tuesday morning.

ChatGPT is coming soon to the Azure OpenAI Service, which is now generally available, as we help customers apply the world’s most advanced AI models to their own business imperatives. https://t.co/kQwydRWWnZ
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) January 17, 2023

The software giant Microsoft also announced the ‘general availability’ of its Azure OpenAI Service, which provides customers with access to various AI tools for use in their own applications.

The news comes amid reports that Microsoft is in talks to invest about $10 billion in OpenAI, which may increase the valuation of the San Francisco-based firm to $29 billion.

With the new changes, ChatGPT as a whole, and not just its underlying tech, will soon be available through Microsoft’s cloud. Those using the Azure Service already have access to tools such as the GPT-3.5 language system that ChatGPT is built on and the Dall-E model for generating images from text prompts.

Public interest in OpenAI had surged following its November release of the text-based chatbot that can draft prose, poetry, or even computer code on command. It is powered by generative artificial intelligence and conjures new content after training on vast amounts of data.

DataStax acquires machine learning company Kaskada

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Sahil Pawar

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January 17, 2023

The real-time AI company, DataStax, has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Kaskada, a machine learning (ML) company.

Kaskada first solved managing, storing, and accessing time-based data to train behavioral machine learning models and deliver the instant, actionable insights that fuel AI.

According to the companies, DataStax and Kaskada have a proven track record of contributing to the open source communities. Initially, Datastax will open-source the core Kaskada technology, and it plans to offer a new ML cloud service later this year.

Most machine learning initiatives do not deliver the results that businesses require because the process is manual and complex. Due to this, many models underperform as they lack the context and relevance of real-time data.

Datastax today includes event streaming with Astra Streaming and the massively scalable Astra DB database-as-a-service built on Apache Cassandra.

The inclusion of Kaskada to DataStax’s portfolio of cloud services will provide organizations with a single environment to cost-effectively deliver applications infused with real-time AI using advanced machine learning models.

Iran and Russian to launch gold-backed cryptocurrency together

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Sahil Pawar

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January 17, 2023

Iran Russian launch gold-backed cryptocurrency

According to a report by Cointelegraph, the government of Russia and the Central Bank of Iran are collaborating to launch a new cryptocurrency that is gold-backed.

Russia’s news agency Vedomosti reported that Iran is working with Russia to develop a “token of the Persian Gulf region” that will be used as a means of payment during international trade.

According to the executive director of Russian Association of Crypto Industry and Blockchain, Alexander Brazhnikov, the token is expected to be released as a stablecoin backed by gold (RACIB).

Cointelegraph further said that instead of using fiat currencies like the Iranian rial, the US dollar, or the Russian ruble, the stablecoin aims to enable cross-border transactions. The report highlights that the potential cryptocurrency would function in an Astrakhan special economic zone where Russia began to accept Iranian cargo shipments.

Anton Tkachev, a member of the Committee for Information Technology, Information Policy, and Communications, Russia, emphasized that a joint stablecoin project would only be feasible after the Russian digital asset market has been fully regulated.

The Russian lower house of parliament once more pledged to begin regulating cryptocurrency transactions in 2023 after numerous delays, Cointelegraph stated.

Microsoft to receive EU antitrust warning over Activision Blizzard acquisition

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Sahil Pawar

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January 17, 2023

Microsoft EU antitrust warning Activision Blizzard acquisition

Microsoft is likely to get an EU antitrust warning over its $69 billion bid for “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard, said people familiar with the matter. This could pose another challenge to the completion of the deal.

The European Commission is working on a charge sheet known as a statement of objections, explaining its concerns about the deal, and will send it to Microsoft in the coming weeks. The EU antitrust watchdog has now set a deadline of April 11 for its decision on the deal.

Microsoft aid that the company would continue to work with the European Commission to address all the marketplace concerns. The company affirmed that its goal is to bring more games to more people and that this deal will further that goal.

Microsoft announced the acquisition in January last year to help it compete better with leaders Sony and Tencent. However, US and UK regulators have voiced concerns over the US Federal Trade Commission going to court to block the deal.

Microsoft was being expected to offer remedies to the EU regulators in an attempt to avoid a statement of charge and shorten the regulatory process, said other sources familiar with the matter.

The EU competition enforcer, however, is not expected to be open to remedies without first sending out its charge sheet, although there are ongoing informal discussions on concessions, the people said.

Artists file lawsuit against Stability AI and Midjourney for artists’ rights infringement

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Sahil Pawar

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January 17, 2023

Artists lawsuit against Stability AI Midjourney

Three artists have filed a lawsuit against Midjourney and Stability AI, creators of the AI art generators Stable Diffusion and Midjourney, and the artist portfolio platform called DeviantArt, which recently created its own AI art generator, DreamUp.

The artists, namely Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz, claim that the accused have infringed the rights of millions of artists by using five billion images scraped from the web to train their AI tools without the consent of the artists who created them.

The lawsuit has been filed by Matthew Butterick, lawyer and typographer, along with the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, specializing in antitrust and class action cases.

In a blog post explaining the lawsuit, Butterick described the case as an another step forward toward making AI fair and ethical for everyone.

According to him, the capacity of AI art tools such as Stable Diffusion to flood the market with an unlimited number of infringing images is bound to inflict permanent damage on the market, especially for art and artists.

Butterick and Saveri are currently handling lawsuits against Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI in similar cases involving the AI programming model CoPilot, which is trained on lines of code collected from the web.

RBI Governor: Cryptocurrency is nothing but gambling

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Manjiri Gaikwad

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January 17, 2023

The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shaktikanta Das, announced on Friday that cryptocurrencies will be banned entirely from the nation and can be considered for gambling only.

Explaining further the reason behind the crypto ban, Das stated that besides the danger of terror funding, the definition of cryptocurrency is very uncertain. According to him, some people call cryptocurrency an asset, while others call it a financial product, and in that case, it has to have some underline.

Das also represented the volatility in prices of cryptocurrency that makes it reliable. The volatility in price is based on the pretended concept that a particular cryptocurrency price can go up or down. Therefore, anything that comes without any underline whose valuation is entirely dependent on the pretended concept is just 100% speculation or gambling.

India does not allow gambling, and if cryptocurrency is to be treated as gambling, then there should be some particular rules to that. Crypto is not a financial product, so crypto masquerading as a financial asset or product is a misplaced argument.

Issues of data privacy and the robustness of banks’ tech infrastructure have to be the banks’ focus. As many banks are actively engaged with many big tech companies, their challenge is to ensure that this should not lead to a situation where the big tech firm swallows up banks. According to Das, banks should make their own decisions and should not be dominated by the big techs.

IIT-Kharagpur hands down new software to detect welding defects to GRSE

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Sahil Pawar

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January 16, 2023

IIT-Kharagpur software detect welding defects GRSE

IIT-Kharagpur has successfully handed over to Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) a new software, ‘iWeld,’ that was developed to detect welding defects from the radiography images taken of a particular object.

According to the college’s spokesperson, radiography testing is conducted to ascertain the material integrity of welds, castings, piping, and other machined parts.

Doctoral Scholar Avishek Mukherjee developed the software using artificial intelligence under the supervision of Surjya K Pal, chairperson of the institute’s Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology (CoEAMT).

The software was tested over a large number of samples at GRSE and was found to provide results that were 93.18% accurate.

The spokesperson said that the software was handed over to GRSE last week, which functions under the ministry of defense. iWeld is most likely to replace the need for skilled welding supervisors in the near future, he added.

The Indian government acquired Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) in 1960. Within a year of being taken over, the first warship of Independent India, INS Ajay, was delivered to the Indian Navy by GRSE.

Microsoft, Meta vacate office buildings in Seattle and Bellevue after layoffs

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Sahil Pawar

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January 16, 2023

Microsoft Meta vacate office buildings Seattle Bellevue layoffs

Meta and Microsoft are vacating their office buildings in Seattle and Bellevue in Washington State as office rentals drop in the city of San Francisco majorly amid remote work and massive layoffs. The Seattle Times reported that Meta is currently reviewing the leases for Seattle-area office buildings.

Facebook has confirmed its plans to sublease the company’s offices in the Spring District in Bellevue and downtown Seattle. Microsoft also confirmed that it will not be renewing its lease for the 26-story City Center Plaza in Bellevue when its lease ends in June 2024.

The ongoing layoffs and work-from-home culture have cut the demand for office space in Seattle and other cities in the US. In November, Meta announced layoffs of a total of 726 Seattle-area workers. A Meta spokesperson explained that given the economic climate, the company is trying to be financially prudent.

According to commercial real estate agency Colliers, the Seattle office market is struggling, and the total office vacancy now stands at around 25%. Even non-vacant offices are often half-empty because of the remote work option.

Connor McClain, senior vice president and leasing expert at Colliers, said, “Given the macroeconomic conditions and the hybrid work trend, we believe we will see an uptick in office vacancy over the next few quarters.”

Createra bags $10 million to build Gen Z-focused metaverse gaming platform

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Sahil Pawar

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January 16, 2023

Createra $10 million Gen Z-focused metaverse gaming platform

A creator-oriented metaverse project, Createra, has bagged $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz to continue its pursuit of building the largest Gen Z-focused metaverse platform.

Createra is a user-generated content (UGC) metaverse engine-enabling platform that allows one to create, distribute, and MetaFi games. Createra offers creators exclusive crypto-native autonomous worlds with features such as cross-play and instant accessibility.

These advantages ensure both users have the tools needed to adopt the new industry trends for an optimal gaming experience in the metaverse. “Createra’s powerful cloud-based web engine makes it very easy to develop multiplayer games with the help of web3 features,” said a16z general partner, Connie Chan.

As the funding round comes to an end and Createra continues to attract some of the most prominent investors in the industry, the platform is striving to be the first place for anyone who desires to build a metaverse where one can collaborate and play.

According to the company, this is a crucial moment for the gaming industry as Createra takes on blockchain-based development methods and utilities. The gaming industry is changing at a gradual pace through the introduction and adoption of Web3 tools such as blockchain, verified ownership, and asset monetization.