(This article is part of Today’s Cache, The Hindu’s newsletter on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, innovation and policy. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.)
Artists sue Stable Diffusion based art platform
Three artists sued Stability AI, art platform DeviantArt, and AI-based art generator Midjounrey for using Stable Diffusion, a text-to-image deep learning model.
Lawyer Matthew Butterick filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of cartoonist Sarah Andersen, painter Kelly McKernan, and illustrator Karla Ortiz. Referring to Stable Diffusion as a “21st-century collage tool,” Butterick said that the platform was trained with millions of pieces of data, which included copyrighted works of art by artists who did not give permission for their creations to be used. Furthermore, they did not receive credit or pay in the process.
Layoffs at ShareChat
India-based ShareChat fired 20% of its workforce citing “macro factors that impact the cost and availability of capital”. The layoffs come six months after Mohalla Tech Pvt., the Bangalore-based parent company for ShareChat, which also owns Moj, short videos app, received nearly $300 million in funding from Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
While announcing severance packages for employees, the company shared that it has aggressively optimised costs across the board, including in marketing and infrastructure.
Chipmaker UMC imposes strict cost controls
Taiwanese chipmaker, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), said it would enact strict cost controls due to weakened demand and a weak outlook.
UMC clients include U.S. company Qualcomm Inc. and Germany’s Infineon. The company benefited from a global semiconductor shortage which kept chipmaker order books full in the past two years. However, demand has slumped in recent months as soaring inflation, rising rates, and a gloomy economic outlook have led consumers and businesses to tighten spending.
Published - January 17, 2023 02:37 pm IST
