Amazon is reportedly planning to launch a marketplace where media sites can license their content directly to AI companies, according to a report by The Information. The e-commerce giant has been meeting with publishing executives to discuss the plans, which could provide a new revenue stream for content creators as the AI industry seeks legally safe sources of training data. Simultaneously, Google handed over personal and financial information of a student journalist to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in response to a subpoena that had not been approved by a judge, according to The Intercept.
Amazon's potential marketplace was mentioned in slides circulated ahead of an AWS conference for publishers, according to TechCrunch. An Amazon spokesperson did not deny the story but did not provide further details. The AI industry's pursuit of licensable content has been fraught with lawsuits and copyright infringement accusations, making a marketplace for legal content a potentially significant development.
The Google data breach involved the personal information of Amandla Thomas-Johnson, a British student and journalist who briefly attended a pro-Palestinian protest in 2024 while at Cornell University. Google provided ICE with usernames, physical addresses, IP addresses, phone numbers, subscriber numbers, identities, and credit card and bank account numbers linked to Thomas-Johnson's account, according to The Intercept. The subpoena reportedly included a gag order and did not include a specific justification.
In other news, Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter announced he would be stepping down after 30 years at the company, according to an internal memo reported by A3 and confirmed by TechCrunch. Amanda McMaster, the company's chief financial officer, will serve as interim CEO while a replacement is sought. Playter took the helm in 2020, succeeding founder Marc Raibert.
Also, Silicon Valley VC Masha Bucher, founder of Day One Ventures, addressed reports documenting her close relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on X. Bucher's name appeared over 1,600 times in the latest release of Epstein files, according to The San Francisco Standard. "He made me feel I could be safe from the regime," she wrote, explaining her initial reasons for working with Epstein. "I was naive; I didn't dig deep enough early on."
Finally, Czech ice dancers Kateřina Mrázková and Daniel Mrázek made their Olympic debut using AI-generated music in their rhythm dance program, according to TechCrunch. While not against official rules, the use of AI music sparked commentary about the changing landscape of creative endeavors. One of the NBC commentators mentioned, "This is AI generated, this first part," referring to the music.
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