Speed Reading — Copyright Infringement - Level 3 — 300 wpm

Now do this put-the-text-back-together activity.


This is the text (if you need help).

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing many things in our lives. Not all of the things are good. Some of the world's biggest record labels are suing two AI companies over possible copyright infringements. The labels include Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Records. They say two AI start-up companies called Suno and Udio are infringing their copyrighted music on "an almost unimaginable scale". The labels say the AI start-ups have created models to produce music that could "saturate the market with machine-generated content". Lawyers for the record labels say AI-generated music, "will directly compete with, cheapen and ultimately drown out the genuine sound recordings". This could be a disaster for artists.

Many AI companies say their software creates content that is protected under copyright law by the "fair use doctrine". This is a special rule that allows people to reuse copyrighted material legally. Fair use means people can reuse music and written articles for things like news reporting and comedy. Suno CEO Mikey Shulman defended his company. He said: "Our technology is transformative. It is designed to generate completely new output, not to memorize and regurgitate pre-existing content." However, the record labels say the start-ups have created songs that sound exactly like "Dancing Queen" by ABBA and "My Girl" by The Temptations. The labels want compensation of $150,000 per song from the AI start-ups.

Comprehension questions
  1. What does the article say A.I. is changing in our lives?
  2. How many start-up companies are being sued?
  3. What level of copyright infringements do the record labels point to?
  4. What could machine-generated content do to the market?
  5. For whom could AI-generated music be a disaster?
  6. What copyright rule allows people to use copyrighted material?
  7. What can copyrighted material be used for besides news reporting?
  8. Who is Mikey Shulman?
  9. Who sang the song "My Girl"?
  10. How much compensation do the labels want per song?

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