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A judge’s decision that Anthropic’s use of copyrighted books to train its AI models is a “fair use” is likely only the start of lengthy litigation to resolve one of the most hotly contested questions over the latest tech revolution.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup’s ruled that Anthropic’s use of the books was “exceedingly transformative,” one of the factors courts have used in determining whether the use of protected works without authorization was legal. His decision was the first major decision that weighed the fair use question in generative AI systems.

Yet some content creators see another aspect of Alsup’s ruling as just as or even more significant: He ruled that Anthropic had to face a trial on the question of whether it is liable for downloading millions of pirated books in digital form off the internet, something it had to do in order to train its models.

One America News Network has retracted a story that claimed Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen had an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.

Cohen, who is expected to be a key witness at Trump’s hush money trial, had hired Justin Nelson of Susman Godfrey Llp, the lead attorney in Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit and $787.5 million settlement with Fox News.

On its website, Oan said that “today has retracted its March 27 article entitled ‘Whistleblower: Avenatti Alleged Cohen­ Daniels Affair Since 2006, Pre-2016 Trump Extortion Plan,’ and is taking it down from all sites and removing it from all social media. This retraction is part of a settlement reached with Michael Cohen. Mr. Avenatti has denied making the allegations. Oan apologizes to Mr. Cohen for any harm the publication may have caused him.”

Nelson worked with Cohen’s lawyer Danya Perry in seeking the Oan retraction and settlement.

“Today’s...

Last year, Hollywood took stock of the potential — and dangers — of generative artificial intelligence. As use of the human-mimicking chatbots evolved into a sticking point in the strikes, creators took to the courts, accusing AI firms of mass-scale copyright infringement after their works were allegedly used as training materials. In the backdrop of these legal volleys, a question stands out: Why haven’t any major studios sued to protect their intellectual property like other rights holders?

One answer involves the possibility that they’re still negotiating with AI companies, with the aim of striking a licensing deal. A grimmer scenario involves the potential that they want to harness the tools for themselves to cut labor costs. Another involves the possibility that they’re biding their time to compile evidence and keep an eye on how the other cases are progressing.

Studios could now have some of the proof they need to get off the sidelines,...

After six months of sharing his shtick via Twitter (now known as X), Fox News vet Tucker Carlson is ready to launch his own eponymous streaming platform.

“It’s time to build an alternative to legacy media, and you can help us do it,” the sign-up page for Tcn, Tucker Carlson Network, tells prospective members. “It’s time they stopped hiding the truth from you. We’ll expose them together.”

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A new lawsuit from an author whose work was used to train OpenAI’s artificial intelligence model spotlights the company’s partnership with Microsoft to create ChatGPT.

The suit, filed in New York federal court on Tuesday, thrusts the tech giant into the unfolding legal battle for the alleged “rampant theft” of copyrighted material to fuel one of the most promising start-ups in Silicon Valley. OpenAI, with a valuation close to $90 billion, has entrenched Microsoft as a leader in generative AI. The lawsuit underscores Microsoft’s “key role” in providing “critical assistance” in the creation of unlicensed copies of authors’ works to use as training data and the commercialization of Gpt-based technology, as well as its knowledge of OpenAI indiscriminately crawling the internet for copyrighted material to train its model.

The filing of the suit follows an unexpected coup over the weekend by Microsoft, which snagged Sam Altman to lead...

Fox News has sent Tucker Carlson a cease and desist letter, days after the second installment of Tucker on Twitter (do we italicize Twitter “show” titles?) hit the social media app.

Fox News, since it continues to pay Carlson after removing him from the airwaves, claims exclusive dibs on his content. Carlson’s lawyers, meanwhile, have asserted his First Amendment right to free speech.

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John Poulos, the CEO of Dominion Voting Systems, defended the $787.5 billion settlement with Fox News and Fox Corp., telling Good Morning America that “all of the facts we had discovered during the case had already come to light.”

Under the terms of the settlement, Fox News does not have to issue an on-air apology or retraction. In a statement released shortly after a judge announced on Tuesday afternoon that the parties had resolved the case, Fox said that “we acknowledge the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.”

Related: CNN’s Jake Tapper Has Hard Time Keeping Straight Face When Reading Fox News’ Statement About $787M Dominion Settlement

In his interview with George Stephanopoulos, Poulos said, “There was an acknowledgement, and certainly it was not the way I wrote it. I had some conversations with our team, my co-founder and I, and at the end of the day,...

Fox News’ $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems does not require that the network do an on-air a retraction or apology, sources confirmed.

In talking to reporters afterward, attorneys for Dominion suggested that the whopping settlement sum and the proceedings up to this point held the network accountable for amplifying false allegations that the election software company was involved in rigging the 2020 election in Joe Biden’s favor.

“We achieved our goals. Our goals were accountability, and our goals were to make right by our client,” Justin Nelson, the lead attorney for Dominion, told Deadline. “And I think we hit a home run on both of those. We’re very proud of what we have done in this case, and I think that what we have done is for the first time to have accountability for the lies of the 2020 election.”

Fox did issue a statement shortly after the settlement was announced,...

About 15 minutes after a surprise settlement with Fox on Tuesday, Dominion Voting Systems’ lead attorney Justin Nelson stood before a horde of reporters waiting for any details on how the case was resolved.

“The truth matters. Lies have consequences…Today’s settlement of $787,500,000 represents vindication and accountability,” he said, as journalists feverishly tweeted and texted the amount.

Then Nelson went in to what the settlement means for Dominion and the country.

“The truth does not know red or blue. People across the political spectrum can and should disagree on issues even of the most profound importance. For our democracy to endure for another 250 years, and hopefully much longer, we must share a commitment to facts. Misinformation will not go away. It may only get worse. This litigation cannot solve all problems. All of us remain ever vigilant to find common factual ground. Today represents a ringing endorsement for truth, and for democracy.

Fox News Channel and Dominion Voting Systems reached a settlement in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit just as their much-publicized trial was about to get underway Tuesday.

Per our sister site Variety, the agreement came just before lawyers for both parties were about to give opening statements in Delaware’s Superior Court. Judge Eric M. Davis announced that both factions had “resolved their case.”

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Update, Wednesday: A Delaware judge again scolded Fox attorneys over the disclosure that Rupert Murdoch is an officer of both Fox News and Fox Corp. and indicated that he is considering whether to issue some kind of a sanction in the case.

Dominion’s attorney Justin Nelson asked Judge Eric M. Davis to issue instructions to the jury that Fox had not been fully forthcoming because of the disclosure. He also said that he would like Fox News and Fox Corp. to be de-consolidated from the cases.

“We have been litigating on this false premise that Rupert Murdoch is not an officer of Fox News,” Nelson said.

Davis said that he would not separate the cases, but left it open as to what other actions he would take.

The judge again expressed his view that Fox attorneys were not being forthcoming with the information on who the officers of Fox News were.

Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said in a deposition in an already-explosive defamation case against his company’s top business, Fox News, that “some of our commentators were endorsing” a series of claims that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, the latest revelation that suggests Fox executives could have been aware that some of the company’s hosts were pushing baseless assertions.

Dominion is suing Fox for $1.6 billion in damages it alleges it is owed after Fox News made false claims about the Dominion’s actions and influence on the 2020 election. It is the second legal proceeding made against Fox News for its coverage of the aftermath of the 2020 race for the White House. Smartmatic, a voting technology company, has filed a massive $2.7 billion suit against Fox News. At issue in the suits are allegations that Fox News falsely claimed the companies had rigged the election, repeated...

In the weeks after the 2020 election — and in the lead-up to the January 6 insurrection — Sean Hannity and other Fox News broadcasters gave extensive coverage to conspiracy theories about a plot to rig the election against President Donald Trump. Even as the channel devoted airtime to wild conspiracy theories, many of which revolved around alleged interference from voting machine maker Dominion Voting Systems, many wondered how much Hannity or the other employees of Fox News actually believed these stories.

The answer? Apparently, not at all.

“I did not believe it for one second,” Hannity said in a deposition for a lawsuit from Dominion against Fox News and the Fox Corporation, according to the New York Times. The deposition was made public during a December 21 hearing for the case, which sees Dominion suing the cable news giant for 1.6 billion, alleging defamation.

Hannity wasn’t alone; according to Dominion’s lawyer Stephen Shackelford...