Nearly 6,500 artists demanded in an open letter that fine art auction house Christie’s cancel its first show dedicated solely to works created with AI. Yet, the show, Augmented Intelligence, went on — and reportedly exceeded expectations.
According to Christie’s, the show brought in more than $700,000, with many lots reaching beyond their high estimates. The top sale was Anadol’s “Machine Hallucinations — ISS Dreams — A,” a dynamic painting that algorithmically reimagines data from the International Space Station and satellites. It fetched $277,200.
Christie’s VP and director of digital art sales, Nicole Sales Giles, told platform Artnet that the show’s success “confirmed” that collectors recognize “creative voices pushing the boundaries of art.”
Many artists don’t feel that way.
In the aforementioned letter, the undersigned accused Christie’s of featuring artwork created using AI models “known to be trained on copyrighted work” without a license that “exploit” human artists — using their work without permission to build products that compete with them.
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Spotify has acknowledged an issue that’s causing some of its paid Premium subscribers to encounter ads when trying to play music. In an X post published on Thursday by Spotify’s customer service account, the company said it’s looking into the problem and linked to its Community website where the issue has been documented by users over the past four weeks.
However, the company clarified to TechCrunch that the current issue has a different cause from the bug that had been previously reported by users.
It said a small number of users were affected by the problem and its teams have deployed a fix. (The X account has not yet posted that the fix was released, as of the time of writing, and is still responding to user complaints by suggesting workarounds, like logging out and back in.)
According to user reports on Spotify’s site and elsewhere on the web, Premium users who faced the issue became frustrated as they were paying for an ad-free experience, but were still forced to hear ads. Suggested solutions, like logging out, haven’t worked, either, many said.
The issue had affected people across mobile, desktop, and web, the reports indicated.
Some of the users also noted the issue was not on their side.
For instance, they made sure their payment information was up-to-date before registering a complaint on Spotify’s site. Others had demanded a refund since they were paying for an upgraded experience they did not receive.
The issue with the buggy Premium tier follows news that Spotify will soon launch new subscription tiers, including a “superfan” offering that will include a deeper music and video catalog and other fan experiences. WMG is a partner in the new effort.
Spotify competitor YouTube this week launched a Premium Lite subscription, offering ad-free videos outside of music content. The more affordable $7.99 per month subscription won’t include access to YouTube Music or other features like background play and downloads.
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Prime Video is now experimenting with AI-assisted dubbing for select licensed movies and TV shows, as announced by the Amazon-owned streaming service on Wednesday.
According to Prime Video, this new test will feature AI-assisted dubbing services in English and Latin American Spanish, combining AI with human localization professionals to “ensure quality control,” the company explained.
Initially, it’ll be available for 12 titles that previously lacked dubbing support. These titles include the Spanish animated film “El Cid: La Leyenda,” the family-friendly drama “Mi Mamá Lora,” and the indie movie “Long Lost.”
AI-based dubbing has gained popularity in the entertainment industry as it helps make content accessible to a broader audience. Various streaming giants have begun utilizing this technology.
For instance, Deepdub, a company specializing in AI dubbing, counts Paramount+ among its clients. YouTube has also invested significantly in this area, recently introducing an auto-dubbing feature that allows creators to translate their videos into multiple languages.
Prime Video already offers several AI features meant to enhance the viewing experience, including “X-Ray Recaps,” which summarize entire seasons and episodes, and “Dialogue Boost,” which improves audio clarity for dialogue that may be difficult to hear.
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