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AI Companies Take Hit as Judge Says Artists Have “Public Interest” In Pursuing Lawsuits

A federal judge rejected arguments from Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt that the suit is intended to suppress its free speech.

They had argued that the suit targets their “speech” because the creation of art reflecting new ideas and concepts — like those conveyed in text prompts to elicit hyper-realistic graphics — is constitutionally protected activity. The suit, filed last year in California federal court, targets Stability’s Stable Diffusion, which is incorporated into the company’s AI image generator DreamStudio and allegedly powers DeviantArt’s DreamUp and Midjourney. The chatbot can also seemingly replicate most animation styles, generating picture-perfect characters from an array of titles, including DreamWorks’ Shrek, Pixar’s Ratatouille and Warner Bros.’ The Lego Movie.

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