🎨 Who Really Owns AI Art?
👋 Welcome! Today’s issue dives into the heated battle over AI-generated images—from creative ethics to copyright lawsuits shaking Hollywood. As machines learn to mimic imagination, we’re asking: what does fairness look like in the age of synthetic art? Stay tuned for sharp takes, smart links, and ideas to help you think deeper about where tech meets creativity.
AI & TECH
Generative AI Sparks Copyright Battle – Disney and Universal filed suit against Midjourney, accusing the AI image tool of using copyrighted characters from Marvel and Star Wars for model training. The studios are seeking legal clarity and revenue share from AI‑generated works, while Midjourney is expected to claim transformative fair use.
Nvidia Bridges EU‑Local AI Gap – Nvidia partners with Perplexity and regional firms across Europe/Middle East to build localized reasoning models in low‑resource languages. Effort could democratize AI in non‑English markets.
White House Defends AI Chip Exports – Trump’s AI czar David Sacks claims U.S.-made AI chips are not being smuggled and urges looser export controls to maintain global competitiveness.
CAREER & WORK
Vibe‑Coding Revolution – “Vibe‑coding,” AI‑generated software driven by natural‑language prompts, gains traction among developers. Advocates predict widespread adoption by late 2025, though critics warn of buggy and insecure code. Early adopters will need to balance speed with code quality and security diligence.
Capita Accelerates Recruitment With AI – UK outsourcer Capita partners with Salesforce Agentforce to automate candidate screening workflows by summer, cutting hiring cycles from weeks to hours. This reflects the broader shift toward AI-enhanced talent pipelines.
College Degrees Losing AI Relevance – PwC’s AI Jobs Barometer reveals employers prioritizing skills over formal degrees as AI transforms hiring. Lifelong learning becomes essential in recruitment.
High‑Exposure Jobs Far Harder – Business Insider data shows job listings with AI‑doable tasks dropped 19%; high‑exposure roles down 31%, signaling urgent reskilling needs.
ECONOMY & FINANCE
U.S. IPO Activity Hits Peak – U.S. IPO issuance in 2025 reached $25.36 billion by June 11—surpassing 2024's pace—largely buoyed by fintech, AI chips, and medical listings per Dealogic data. Gemini, Klarna, Cerebras, Medline, Caris, and Slide are preparing roadshows, signaling confidence in current equity conditions.
Blackstone Targets Europe Private Equity – Blackstone intends to invest up to €500 billion across Europe over the next decade, focusing on defence, infrastructure, and PE. CEO Schwarzman cites geopolitical shifts and renewed EU spending as catalysts. Trump‑era policy changes prompting supply‑chain realignment could amplify opportunities.
Bank of America Gains Amid Shifts – CEO Brian Moynihan forecasts BofA’s trading revenue to grow for 13th consecutive quarter, despite investment banking revenues dropping from $1.6 billion a year ago to an expected $1.2 billion. The bank is exploring stablecoin pilots as crypto regulation evolves. Consumer credit remains robust, though tariffs cloud small‑business outlook.
VC & FUNDING
Microsoft‑Led $100B AI Consortium Joins – Singapore’s Temasek joins Microsoft‑BlackRock‑MGX AI Infrastructure Partnership, targeting $100 billion investment in US data centers and energy for apps like ChatGPT. This strategic infrastructure push underscores global finance‑tech synergy.
Big Tech’s AI Spending Squeezes Margins – Investors worry that massive AI infrastructure outlays by Amazon, Microsoft, and others may compress profit margins in the near term, as depreciation costs lead to elevated capital expenses. Analysts caution that until revenue follows, financial performance may remain under pressure.
Multiverse Computing Raises $215M to Scale CompactifAI Tech – Spanish quantum‑AI startup Multiverse Computing secured a €189 million (~$215 million) Series B round led by Bullhound Capital, alongside HP Tech Ventures, Toshiba, Santander and others.
BIG THINK
Should AI Be Allowed to Imitate Art?
The rise of AI image generators recreating iconic characters demands a fresh ethical debate around ownership, consent, and creator integrity.
AI image generators now enable users to produce near-identical images of beloved characters—raising a pressing ethical dilemma: is mimicking copyrighted art without permission innovation or exploitation?
Technically, these models are trained on massive datasets sourced from the internet, which often include copyrighted material. Proponents of AI art argue these tools are “transformative,” learning patterns—not copying directly—and generating original creations. They compare the process to human inspiration.
However, when AI can instantly produce Spider-Man or Shrek on demand, critics say these systems essentially repackage uncredited creative labor. This isn’t mere inspiration—it depicts commercial-scale appropriation of artists’ work, sparking concerns over value erosion and respect for creators.
Legal actions by major studios reveal the stakes. Disney and Universal argue that AI tools trained on their copyrighted content amount to theft, demanding filters and licensing agreements. This introduces an ethical imperative: should creators be automatically included or compensated when their work fuels these systems?
Ethics also extends to transparency. If AI companies used creators' work to train their models, they should disclose that and enable opt-in or consent mechanisms. A robust licensing or attribution system would help ensure fairness and maintain a vibrant creative ecosystem.
Balancing this debate means recognizing AI innovation’s potential while also protecting creators’ rights. An ethical AI art movement would combine consent-driven datasets, clear attribution, and fair compensation. Without these frameworks, generative AI risks perpetuating exploitation under the guise of technology.
Actionable Insights:
For developers: institute transparent dataset policies, opt-in licensing, and attribution mechanisms to respect artistic ownership.
For policymakers and creators: push for fair-use transparency standards and equitable compensation models within AI training pipelines.
JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES
Entry Level Graphic Designer | Full time | Hybrid | New York, NY
Entry Level Software Engineer | Full time | In‑office | Irving, TX
Entry-Level Financial Analyst | Full time | In‑office | New York, NY
Have a job or opportunity to share? Post for free here and we will highlight a few each week!
THE NUMBER:
181 zettabytes
(that’s 181,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes) is the estimated total global data volume by 2025—driven by AI, social media, and connected devices.
WISDOM
“Wisdom is the art of living skillfully in whatever actual conditions we find ourselves.”
I would argue the creator industry is totally broken, the money is never earned by the ones that are creating but by copyright owners, lawyers, funds, big studios, publishing houses etc. Now these extractors come with "etics" and persuade the creative minds that AI would steal "their" Art and they need to stand against it. In reality they see their parasitic business models dwindling. AI is not the problem for creative people but for tair bosses and owners. AI could be the liberator for producers as it allows them to build systems and circumvent exploitation and extraction. It shifts power and that's the reason they fight AI. Creative minds need to go into forward defense. I explored this idea in a recent essay:
https://open.substack.com/pub/theafh/p/the-extraction-machine-is-running?r=42gt5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true