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Spotify has announced a set of policy changes surrounding AI-generated music and spam on its streaming platform. The company is helping to develop an industry standard for AI disclosure in music credits, alongside DDEX. It will be strengthening its approach to AI-assisted spam, such as unauthorized vocal clones, as well as uploaded music that fraudulently delivers music to another artist’s profile.

The new disclosures will encourage artists to share what aspect, if any, of their production was created with the assistance of AI. Instead of a song simply being marked as “is AI” or “no AI,” artists can specify whether they used AI-generated vocals, instrumentation or post-production.

The streamer will also debut a new impersonation policy, making it clearer how the platform deals with AI voice clones. The policy promises to give artists stronger protections against this sort of spam, and clearer recourse should any appear.

“…the pace of recent advances in generative AI technology has felt quick and at times unsettling, especially for creatives. At its best, AI is unlocking incredible new ways for artists to create music and for listeners to discover it. At its worst, AI can be used by bad actors and content farms to confuse or deceive listeners, push ‘slop’ into the ecosystem, and interfere with authentic artists working to build their careers,” Spotify said in its announcement.

These aren’t the only tactics that bad actors use to divert royalties and deceive listeners. Spotify shared that other types of spam “such as mass uploads, duplicates, SEO hacks, artificially short track abuse, and other forms of slop” have become easier to create and deploy as AI tools substantially lower the barrier of entry to creating this type of content.

To address these, the streamer is launching a new spam filter this fall that will identify uploads and tracks that engage in these types of spam, tag them on the platform, and stop recommending them to users. Spotify said that over the past 12 months it has already removed more than 75 million “spammy” tracks.

Spotify says that this sort of spam can dilute the royalty pool and take attention away from real artists trying to earn a living, even in part on the platform. The company says its goal is to achieve more transparency for listeners and protect artist identity through these new policies.

These new policies don’t address AI-generated projects like The Velvet Sundown, which remains on the platform despite all its lyrics, vocals, and imagery being entirely AI-generated. Spotify doesn’t directly acknowledge the AI band, but says “we support artists’ freedom to use AI creatively while actively combating its misuse by content farms and bad actors.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/spotify-is-doing-more-to-address-ai-slop-on-its-platform-151102801.html?src=rss 

Nothing is spinning off its budget brand CMF into an independent subsidiary, according to a report by TechCrunch. India will serve as the newly-formed company’s headquarters for manufacturing and R&D, thanks to a partnership with one of the country’s telecom operators. Nothing says this venture will create over 1,800 jobs in the country.

India is actually a good choice for the HQ. The country is Nothing’s strongest market overall, with over a 2 percent market share in smartphones. It’s the fastest-growing brand in the region, with an 85 percent growth in shipments year over year. CMF also specializes in budget-friendly handsets under $200 and this is the dominant category in India, according to the IDC.

“India will play a key role in shaping the future of the global smartphone industry. CMF has been well-received by the market since we launched it two years ago,” Nothing CEO Carl Pei said in a statement. “With our end-to-end capabilities, we are uniquely positioned to now build it into India’s first truly global smartphone brand.”

Nothing hasn’t said how much money it would take to set up this new subsidiary, but the company did just raise $200 million in a funding round. Maybe some of that cash will be funneled to this project.

The company first launched CMF back in 2023. It started with the release of a pair of earbuds and a smartwatch but has since moved on to smartphones.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/nothing-is-spinning-off-its-budget-cmf-brand-152505010.html?src=rss 

Elon Musk’s xAI is suing OpenAI, alleging that the ChatGPT maker has stolen its trade secrets. The lawsuit comes after the company recently sued a former employee, Xuechen Li, for allegedly stealing confidential information from the company before taking a job at OpenAI.

In its latest lawsuit, which was reported by Sherwood, xAI says that Li’s alleged actions are part of “a broader and deeply troubling pattern of trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, and intentional interference with economic relationships by OpenAI.” According to xAI’s lawyers, OpenAI also hired two other xAI employees who stole proprietary information from Musk’s company.

“Another early xAI engineer—Jimmy Fraiture—was also harvesting xAI’s source code and airdropping it to his personal devices to take to OpenAI, where he now works,” the lawsuit states. “Meanwhile, a senior finance executive brought another piece of the puzzle to OpenAI—xAI’s ‘secret sauce’ of rapid data center deployment—with no intention to abide by his legal obligations to xAI.”

OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. Musk, of course, has a complicated history with the ChatGPT maker, and this isn’t the first time his rival AI company has sued OpenAI. Last month, xAI filed lawsuits against OpenAI and Apple over Grok’s placement on App Store charts. Musk alleged that ChatGPT rank in the top spot represented an “unequivocal antitrust violation.” Musk has also filed numerous lawsuits against OpenAI over its relationship with Microsoft and its move to become a for-profit company.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/xai-accuses-openai-of-stealing-its-trade-secrets-in-new-lawsuit-152926944.html?src=rss 

Microsoft has officially unveiled the next Forza Horizon game, confirming months of rumors that the latest entry in its consistently excellent open-world racing series will be set in Japan. Announced, rather fittingly, at Tokyo Game Show in an Xbox briefing, Forza Horizon 6 has a 2026 release date and will launch first on Xbox and PC. A few years ago it would have stayed on those platforms, but after Forza Horizon 5 made its way to PS5 earlier this year, all bets are off on Microsoft exclusivity in the future.

As one of Xbox’s most important series, it’s a bit disappointing that we didn’t get any gameplay in the TGS teaser trailer. Instead, the camera pans across what looks like a workbench, with license plates and trinkets from countries featured in previous entries hung on the wall behind it. Eventually we get to Japan, and the camera moves up to reveal Mount Fuji in the distance, with the obligatory cherry blossom in the corners of the frame.

What the announcement lacked in gameplay, though, it somewhat made up for with the accompanying Xbox Wire post, which sheds some light on Playground Games’ decision to choose the Land of the Rising Sun as the location for Forza Horizon 6. According to the game’s Art Director, Don Arceta, the “unique culture” of Japan — from its cars, to its music and fashion — was a driving factor, and added that with five Horizon games already under its belt, the studio feels it can build an “authentic representation” of the country that does it justice.

Playground Games is keeping its cards close to its chest where real-life locations featured in the game are concerned, but unsurprisingly confirmed that Tokyo is one of them, as well as some of the country’s rural and mountain areas. The studio isn’t saying much about cars yet, either, but promised that Japanese car culture will be reflected. It also confirmed that seasons will once again be a big part of the experience.

Forza Horizon 5 came out in 2021 and turned Engadget’s “not much of a car guy” Nathan Ingraham into a racing game fan with its incredibly detailed Mexico setting, approachable driving and accessible open-world design.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/forza-horizon-6-takes-the-arcade-racing-series-to-japan-in-2026-142253601.html?src=rss 

Apple has long opposed the Digital Markets Act, which is pretty much expected for a Big Tech company. Now, a bit over a year after it came into force, Apple has asked the European Commission to repeal it, according to the Financial Times and Bloomberg. “The DMA should be repealed while a more appropriate fit for purpose legislative instrument is put in place,” the company has told the commission in its first public consultation to review the legislation. The EU’s Digital Markets Act, which was signed into law in 2022, aims to rein in Big Tech’s power and to improve competition for smaller players. If a company is found to have violated DMA’s rules, it could pay between 10 to 20 percent of its global revenue. 

In a blog post separate to the feedback it submitted to the Commission, Apple detailed how DMA affects its users in the EU. The company said that because the law requires it to make sure certain features work on non-Apple products, feature rollouts get delayed in the region. Its team has not found a way to securely bring iPhone Mirroring to non-Apple devices, for instance, because it requires a lot of engineering work. As a result, Apple has yet to release that feature, along with Live Translation via AirPods, as well as Visited Places and Preferred Routes on Maps, in the European Union. 

Apple also said that since the DMA requires it to allow sideloading, other app marketplaces and alternative payment systems, users in the region are exposed to more risks. They’re more exposed to things like fake banking apps and disguised malware, and they could also come across third-party payment systems that wouldn’t allow refunds. If you’ll recall, the European Commission slapped Apple with a $587 million fine in April for preventing developers from informing customers about sales and other offers outside the App Store. Apple called the penalty “unprecedented” and filed an appeal. 

“Regulators claimed the DMA would promote competition and give European consumers more choices,” Apple wrote in its post. “But the law is not living up to those promises… That’s why we’re urging regulators to take a closer look at how the law is affecting the EU citizens who use Apple products every day.” Even though the company is clearly against the DMA, it said it’s dedicating “thousands of hours” to bring features to the EU. A spokesperson for the Commission told the Times that it’s normal for companies to “need more time to make their products compliant” and that the Commission is helping them get there. “[C]ompliance is not optional, it’s an obligation,” the spokesperson added. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-repeats-its-long-held-criticism-of-the-eus-digital-markets-act-130058440.html?src=rss