‘Art of the steal': Rupert Murdoch's News Corp reaches out to Trump in AI plea
The company delivered 'sterling' financial results, Thomson said, with total revenues up 2 per cent to $US8.45 billion ($13.1 billion) across the year, led by REA Group and the Dow Jones Company.
Though there was no reference to the company's ongoing lawsuit brought by Trump last month, Thomson singled out the President's book, The Art of the Deal, to illustrate an ongoing point about the threats of intellectual theft posed by AI firms. It was a second sign of News Corp's attempts to appease Trump in 24 hours, after an agreement was struck to pause the process to expedite Rupert Murdoch's deposition on Tuesday.
'Take the example of President Trump. He has written many successful books, in particular The Art of the Deal, which is still reporting notable sales,' Thomson said.
'Is it right that his books should be consumed by an AI engine which then profits from his thoughts by cannibalising his concepts, thus undermining future sales of his book? Suddenly, The Art of the Deal has become The Art of the Steal.'
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'Is it just that the president of the United States is being ripped off?' Thomson said.
AI firms must spend tens of billions compensating content-producing firms responsible for their success, Thomson said, and to ensure a variance of sources to avoid 'a deeply derivative woke AI does not become the default pathway to digital decay'.
It was otherwise a strong result for News Corp in its first full-year report since the sale of Australian pay TV business Foxtel, which it sold to British streamer DAZN in April. News Corp reported earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $US1.42 billion, up 14 per cent.
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