All posts tagged: Licensing

New AI licensing scheme helps smaller publishers strike deals with platforms

New AI licensing scheme helps smaller publishers strike deals with platforms

Published by Sam Flores

AI apps. Picture: Shutterstock/Tada Images A new collective licensing scheme for the “fair and lawful” use of content in AI products has launched in the UK. The project is being led by non-profit organisation Publishers’ Licensing Services (PLS) and is open to all types of small and large content publishers including magazines, digital news media, books and academic publications (whether they are currently PLS members or not). The aim is to create an online content store that AI companies will be able to access and use for training models and grounding them in up-to-date sources (via retrieval augmented generation or RAG) in exchange for a licence fee. Starting this week, with PLS speaking to book publishers at the London Book Fair, publishers are being asked to opt in to this system and then source the content they want to be included. PLS chief executive Tom West told Press Gazette that if they get it right, “then there is an ongoing and sustainable revenue stream for publishers that simply wasn’t available before”. He said: “We have …

Google Acquires Top Talent From AI Voice Startup Hume AI in Licensing Deal

Google Acquires Top Talent From AI Voice Startup Hume AI in Licensing Deal

Published by skeptic

Google DeepMind is hiring the CEO and several top engineers from Hume AI, a startup working on emotionally intelligent voice interfaces, as part of a new licensing agreement, WIRED has learned. Financial details of the deal are confidential, but Hume AI says the company will continue to supply its technology to other frontier AI labs. The deal is the latest sign that AI companies expect voice mode to become an increasingly important interface for interacting with customers—and that understanding a user’s emotions and mood based on their voice interactions is key. Hume AI expects to bring in $100 million in revenue in 2026 as it works with AI labs on tuning AI models to be more capable and useful voice helpers, says John Beadle, cofounder and managing partner of AEGIS Ventures, which invested in Hume AI. So far, the company has raised $74 million in funding. CEO Alan Cowen, who has a PhD in psychology, will join Google DeepMind along with roughly seven other engineers. Cowen and the other Hume AI recruits will help Google …

Sports Betting Alliance sues Chicago over new tax and licensing plan

Sports Betting Alliance sues Chicago over new tax and licensing plan

Published by skeptic

The Sports Betting Alliance (SBA) is suing the City of Chicago over a new sports betting tax and licensing plan that was approved as part of the city’s $16.6 billion budget. According to court filings and budget documents, the group is pushing back against what it says is an unfair new framework for sportsbooks. The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, aims to stop the city from enforcing an ordinance that would slap a 10.25% tax on online sports betting and require operators to get city licenses starting in 2026. The changes were bundled into Chicago’s latest budget package as a way to help close a major funding shortfall. News: The Sports Betting Alliance sued the city of Chicago today, arguing that a plan to tax and license sportsbooks is unconstitutional in Illinois. The SBA represents FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Fanatics and bet365. pic.twitter.com/IEyBco9YIf — Dustin Gouker (@DustinGouker) December 30, 2025 In its complaint, the SBA says the city doesn’t actually have the legal authority to impose a tax like this. “The City of Chicago’s …

NVIDIA Groq Licensing Explained, B Deal Reshapes AI Chips

NVIDIA Groq Licensing Explained, $20B Deal Reshapes AI Chips

Published by skeptic

What happens when a tech giant like NVIDIA, already dominating the AI hardware space, makes a bold $20 billion move to license innovative technology from an ambitious startup? Matt Wolfe breaks down how NVIDIA’s licensing agreement with Groq, a deal that’s anything but conventional, could reshape the future of artificial intelligence hardware. This isn’t your typical acquisition story; instead, NVIDIA has sidestepped regulatory hurdles by opting for a licensing approach, gaining access to Groq’s innovative language processing unit (LPU) technology and its top talent. But with this strategic maneuver comes a wave of questions: Will this deal stifle competition or accelerate innovation? And what does it mean for the employees caught in the middle of this high-stakes game? In this guide, we’ll explore why Groq’s LPUs, capable of processing AI models up to 10 times faster while consuming far less energy than traditional GPUs, are such a fantastic option. You’ll also uncover how NVIDIA’s calculated strategy positions it to outpace rivals like Google in the race for AI dominance. Yet, the story doesn’t end there, …