This page hosts daily news stories about the media, social media, and the journalism industry. Get the latest Hirings and Firings, Media Transactions, Controversies, and more.
Judge Refuses to Halt Authors’ Copyright Class Action Against Anthropic
U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup rejected Anthropic’s request to pause a copyright class-action lawsuit while the company seeks appellate review. The case, brought by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, alleges Anthropic trained its chatbot Claude using pirated books. While Alsup previously ruled that Anthropic’s use of purchased books was protected under fair use, he allowed claims related to pirated books to move forward. Anthropic argued the lawsuit could cause “business-threatening injury” but Alsup dismissed these concerns as speculative. A hearing on Anthropic’s separate request for an immediate appeal is scheduled for August 28. (Read More) (MediaPost Rating)
AI Chatbot Grok Briefly Suspended from X After Controversial Posts
Grok, the AI chatbot integrated into the X platform, was temporarily suspended on August 11. The reason remains unconfirmed, though the bot claimed the suspension followed posts accusing the U.S. and Israel of genocide in Gaza. These posts, citing sources like the ICJ and Amnesty International, allegedly violated X’s hateful conduct rules. Elon Musk later described the incident as a “dumb error.” Grok has since been reinstated and continues to grow in popularity, boasting it climbed from 56th to 5th in the App Store rankings. (Read More) (The Hill Rating)
Perplexity Offers $34.5B for Google Chrome Amid DOJ Antitrust Case
AI search startup Perplexity has made an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer to buy Google’s Chrome browser, aiming to serve as an antitrust remedy amid the DOJ’s ongoing case against Google. The move coincides with Perplexity’s July launch of its own AI-powered browser, Comet. Analysts believe Chrome could be worth closer to $100 billion, citing its dominance and data collection value. Google has not shown interest in selling Chrome and previously argued that such a divestiture would pose security risks. A ruling in the DOJ case is expected later this month. (Read More) (MediaPost Rating)
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