Lately, one reads a lot of statements with the preamble “Artificial intelligence presents opportunities and challenges…” But is this the right way to frame the conversation? Because if we’re talking about creative professionals and their industries, it is probably more accurate to say that generative AI presents clear threats and some opportunities. Although we are trying to predict future outcomes, ...

In the 1980s, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), led by Tipper Gore and several other wives of Washington insiders,[1] sought to compel record labels to place stickers on albums warning consumers that the songs within contained “explicit lyrics.” Songwriters, including Frank Zappa, John Denver, and Dee Snider testified in Senate hearings to oppose the label initiative on First Amendment ...

As many readers already know, another class-action lawsuit was filed on September 8 against OpenAI by book authors Michael Chabon, David Henry Hwang, Matthew Klam, Rachel Louise Snyder, and Ayelet Waldman on behalf of all authors similarly situated. The allegations are almost identical to the complaints in other class-action suits against various AI companies. I won’t repeat what I have ...

I think music is the purest artform because it is uniquely capable of provoking strong emotional responses without necessarily conveying meaning or information. Yes, one could say the same thing about abstract visual art, but I think the brain is hardwired to at least try to read meaning in visual expression and that this is not so with instrumental music. ...

It was no surprise that the mugshot was immediately copied onto tees, hats, coffee mugs, etc. and sold to Americans who see either a martyr or a traitor in the same image. It was also no surprise that Team Trump produced merch of its own to sell for campaign (a.k.a. criminal defense) fundraising purposes. But these and other uses of ...