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Spotify Hosts a "Now Playing" Creator Day at its Los Angeles Campus
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Spotify expands its anti-AI verified badges to podcasts

Spotify introduced verified badges for musician profiles in late April.

Max Knoblauch

Audio streamer Spotify on Tuesday announced that it’s expanding its “Verified by Spotify” badges to include podcasts.

According to the platform, podcasts with the verification badge have sustained listener activity, are in good standing with Spotify rules, and have “verified audience authenticity” (listenership is not driven by fraudulent bot farms).

Spotify first introduced the tool last month for music profiles, acting as a signal for users that the verified profile represents a human. Podcast badges will appear on select shows beginning Wednesday and expand over time, per the company.

As we reported earlier this month, Spotify, like other major platforms including YouTube, has been expanding its efforts to distinguish between human content and AI-generated content on its platform. The rise of GenAI music and voice-cloning tools has seen a surge in deepfakes and unauthorized voice cloning across several platforms, while also boosting a “resurrection economy” that is propelling big deals for the estates of deceased celebrities.

With its podcast announcement, Spotify reaffirmed its impersonation policy, including AI-generated content, writing:

“Our policies have always prohibited unauthorized impersonation. Today, we’re reaffirming this policy in the context of AI: Spotify will remove podcast shows and content that impersonate another creator or host’s likeness without permission, whether that’s using AI voice cloning or any other method. You can read more about these creator protections here.”

Like many other platforms, Spotify has been attempting to offer AI protections for users while also expanding its AI offerings for shareholders. Earlier this month, the company published a guide explaining how users can save and play “personal podcasts” created by their AI agents on the app.

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Tom Jones

Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

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Max Knoblauch

Jury rules against Musk in lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman

Jurors in Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and OpenAI found the defendants not liable on all claims on Monday.

In a unanimous verdict reached after less than two hours of deliberation, the Oakland jury found that Musk had waited too long to bring his case forward, exceeding the statute of limitations.

Musk had alleged that OpenAI abandoned its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity and instead became a profit-driven company closely tied to Microsoft.

The verdict caps off a three-week blockbuster tech trial that could have seen Altman and Brockman removed from OpenAI leadership.

Jury tosses Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman

Jury tosses Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman

Musk had alleged that OpenAI abandoned its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity and instead became a profit-driven company closely tied to Microsoft.

The verdict caps off a three-week blockbuster tech trial that could have seen Altman and Brockman removed from OpenAI leadership.

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