US media billionaire Barry Diller has warned that the use of artificial intelligence will prove “devastating” to journalism unless publishers can use copyright laws to enforce control.
Speaking at the Sir Harry Evans Global Summit on Investigative Journalism in London, Diller said that freely allowing AI access to media content would be a mistake, and the concept of “fair use” – which could be used to cover copyrighted material. Data sets for machine learning — need to be redefined.
Diller, who is the chairman of media and internet group IAC, said, “You cannot use the right machine when there is a wrong machine.
Media groups have become concerned about the use of their publications as a basis for building generative AI. News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson said this year that the group was already seeking financial compensation from the AI company for use of its “proprietary” content.
Diller said on Wednesday that he would work with News Corp and German publishing house Axel Springer in an effort to protect his journalism.
“We’re leading a group that says we’re going to change copyright laws if necessary, to work to say you can’t take our stuff or we’ll sue. You have the right to control what you publish,” he said.
Diller added that unless there is a structure to pay publishers, there will be a wave of destruction in the journalism industry. “I think it’s a terrible mistake for publishers to let it suck up every known work that’s ever been done.”
Axel Springer said, “It is not transparent how AI software works and how journalistic content is crawled, scraped, used and saved. This is an opportunity to ensure that we do not repeat the mistakes of platform regulation, and from the outset be fair and Creating a healthy ecosystem.”
Matthias Döfner, chief of Axel Springer, warned earlier this year that AI poses big risks and big opportunities for media. “Artificial intelligence has the potential to make independent journalism better than ever – or simply change it,” he said.
But a person familiar with the industry discussions played the role of Axel Springer – which owns the newspapers Bild and Die Welt as well as the US political news site Politico – in the dealer crusade, describing the company as “one voice among many” rather than a “leader”. charge”.
News Corp declined to comment.
Diller also warned about the impact of the recent Fox News scandal on Rupert Murdoch. He said the affair “will stain him and his reputation forever . . . he and his son have poisoned the atmosphere and that is a bad legacy”.
Fox has fired top presenter Tucker Carlson after he was forced to pay $787.5m in a settlement of a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 US presidential contest.
Fox said: “Fox News’ powerhouse team of reporters, analysts and opinion hosts is more trusted by viewers than any other news source.”
Also speaking at the event, John Poulos, chief executive of Dominion Voting Systems, said he had no regrets about agreeing to a settlement rather than going to court, adding that it “represented a very high price to pay for the truth in journalism.”
