UK government delayed AI copyright rules, Anthropic says it will challenge the supply chain risk designation in courts, and Meta hit with a class action lawsuit

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1:11The UK government delayed AI copyright rules amid an artist outcry. Anthropic says it will challenge the supply chain risk designation in courts. And meta was hit with a class action lawsuit over smart classes privacy claims. It's Friday, March 6th, and here's a quick look at tech news this morning from Engagget. The UK government is working on a controversial data bill that would allow AI companies like Google and OpenAI to train their models on copyrighted materials without consent. However, following a two month consultation, it looks like passage of the law will be delayed. The Financial Times sources said responses by stakeholders during the consultation period were not favorable to any of the government's proposed ideas for use of copyrighted materials.

2:14There's no expectation now that an AI bill will be part of the King's Speech Set for May of this year. As a result, ministers have decided to spend more time exploring other options. The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee called on the government to develop a licensing first regime underpinned by robust transparency that safeguards creators livelihoods while supporting sustainable AI growth. The UK Parliament's preferred position on the bill has been that copyright holders need to formally opt out if they do not want their materials used to train AI models. But publishers, filmmakers, musicians, and others have said that this would be impractical and an existential threat to the UK's creative industries. The House of Lords took the side of artists and introduced an amendment that would require tech companies to disclose which copyright protected works were used to train AI models.

3:17That addition, however, was blocked by the UK's House of Commons in May last year. The UK's majority-labored government, already under fire for its handling of the economy, has taken hits from publishers, musicians, authors, and other creative groups over the proposed law. Elton John called the government absolute losers while Paul McCartney said that AI has its uses, but it shouldn't rip creative people off. McCartney and other artists were part of a silent album meant to show the impact of intellectual property theft by AI. Anthropic CEO Dario Amade said in a blog post yesterday that the company did receive a letter from the Defense Department, officially labeling it a supply chain risk. He said he does not believe this action is legally sound, and that his company sees no choice but to challenge it in court. First before Amade published his post, the Pentagon announced that it notified the company

4:17that its products are deemed a supply chain risk effective immediately. Amade explained that the designation has a narrow scope because it only exists to protect the government. That's why the general public and even Defense Department contractors can still use Anthropics Claude Chatbot and its AI technologies. Microsoft told CNBC that it will continue using Claude after its lawyers had concluded that it can keep on working with Anthropic on non-defense-related projects. The CEO has also admitted that his company had productive conversations with the department over the past few days. He said that they were looking at ways to serve the Pentagon that adheres to its two exceptions, namely that its technology not be used for mass surveillance and the development of fully autonomous weapons, and it ways to insure a smooth transition if that is not possible. That confirms reports that Anthropic is back in talks with the agency in an effort to reach a new deal.

5:19In addition, he apologized for a leaked internal memo, wherein he reportedly said that open AI's messaging about its own deal with the department is just straight up lies. Meta is facing a class-action lawsuit for false advertising related to its AI glasses, following reports about the company's use of human contractors to review footage captured from user's classes. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday and federal court in San Francisco, alleges that Meta's claims about the device's privacy features have misled users. The lawsuit comes after a Swedish newspaper reported that subcontractors in Kenya have raised concerns about viewing footage recorded via Rayban metaglasses. According to the newspaper, workers have reported witnessing intimate material, including bathroom visits, sexual encounters, and other private details as part of their job labeling objects in videos captured on users' smart classes.

6:23The filing names two individuals who live in California and New Jersey who purchased Meta's smart classes. It says that both relied on Meta's marketing claims about the class's privacy-protecting features, and that they would not have purchased them if they knew about the company's use of contractors. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages and injunctive relief. A spokesperson for Meta confirms to engage it that data from its smart classes can be shared with human contractors in some cases. The company declines to comment on the claims in the lawsuit. What the company does not explicitly say there is that there is no way to use the smart classes' multimodal features without sharing the captures of your surroundings with the company. The second generation Rayban meta's smart glasses last year, images of your surroundings processed for the glasses' multimodal features like Live AI can be used for training purposes. These images are not saved to your device's camera roll. So while Meta claims that users' own recordings are kept private,

7:27footage that is captured but not stored locally for users like video when live AI is in use can be sent to contractors who help train the company's AI models. Meta's privacy policy does not specifically mention the use of human contractors, though it does state that such data can be used for training purposes. Thanks for listening, there's much more tech news at Engagit.com. This episode featured journalism from Steve Dent, Mary Ellamune, and Curissa Bell. Enjoy your weekend, I'll be back Monday morning with more tech news from Engagit.