Hundreds of homes evacuated near Colorado wildfire, official says

(NEW YORK) — Generative artificial intelligence companies capable of generating creative content are also said to be disrupting the livelihoods of creatives around the world, according to a group of creatives speaking out publicly about the issue.

“The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted, a ” statement signed by 11,500 actors, musicians, authors, photographers, and composers from across the world, read.

Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon, Thom Yorke and Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus, are among the tens of thousands of creatives who have signed this open letter calling for these companies to stop indiscriminately training on content they say should be licensed.

“This is a major issue for many of the artists, musicians, actors, authors, and other creators whose work is being exploited by AI companies,” said Ed Newton-Rex, a former AI executive who released the statement.

As a former head of audio at Stability AI, Newton-Rex is well acquainted with the internal data training practices of generative AI companies. He resigned over the company’s belief that training their AI models on copyrighted content without licensing it constitutes “fair use.”

Generative AI models have generally scrapped as much content as they could from the internet, downloaded it and trained their model to be able to create new work that is in the style of the work it trained on, Newton-Rex told ABC News.

“None of this revenue is coming back to the original artists,” explained Overlai founder Luke Neumann in a blog post about his new mobile app which aims to protect photography in the age of AI.

Neumann, who also signed the letter, launched the free app Overlai with world-renowned photographers Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier, when they noticed text-to-image generators could easily replicate the unique styles of both photographers. And, Neumann stresses the amount of work that goes into conservationist photography – the cost of travel and spending weeks, sometimes months in a location documenting a delicate ecosystem.

“I think AI companies really need to think long and hard about like how long they’re going to need organic data and if they want to be messing with these fragile business models of the people out there capturing this stuff,” Neumann to ABC News.

Several lawsuits from creatives ranging from writers to musicians to comedians have piled up against some of the biggest generative AI companies for copyright infringement.

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(HOUSTON, TX) — A couple has been arrested and charged for attempting to kidnap and kill a man the wife was having an affair with in Texas.

The victim, who told an ABC News’ Houston affiliate he would not like to be named due to fears over his safety, was shot twice and is now recovering.

Hana Ahmad Alolaimi, 35, and Omar Mahmoud Bishtawi, 48, were charged with aggravated assault and aggravated attempted kidnapping on Sunday, according to court records.

Alolaimi and the victim, who were both married to other people, were in a relationship. When the victim’s wife found out about the relationship he broke it off, according to court documents.

Alolaimi and Bishtawi then conspired to kidnap and kill the victim, according to court documents.

When the victim went into a Chick-fil-A, Alolaimi allegedly parked her vehicle next to his. When the victim came out, she gestured for him to come over, according to court documents.

Once he was in the car, Alolaimi tried to drive off with the victim, although he had told her he could not leave with her. Bishtawi then jumped out from under a curtain in the back seat of the car and put the victim in a chokehold, pressing a firearm against his head, according to court documents.

When the victim tried to get away Bishtawi shot him twice, including once in the thigh, according to court documents. The victim could have died from the thigh wound if he was not transported to the hospital in time, according to court documents.

Alolaimi and Bishtawi provided investigators with conflicting statements and investigators believe there are concerns for the future safety of the victim, according to court documents.

The victim said he ended the relationship three months ago because it turned toxic. But, Alolaimi wouldn’t leave him alone, even showing up at his new apartment, he told KHOU in an interview.

The victim said after he was kidnapped, Bishtawi told him he had to die because he’d dishonored his wife.

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(NEW YORK) — Officials in upstate New York counties have declared a state of emergency as they prepare for a major snowstorm that has already dumped over two feet of snow in the Midwest and is forecast to accumulate more this weekend.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Saturday morning that 11 counties, including Erie County which includes Buffalo, are in a state of emergency and many neighborhoods have already seen a large amount of snowfall.

Lake effect snow will continue through Monday with the heaviest snowfall occurring through early Sunday morning, and an additional period of heavy snow late Sunday night into Monday morning, according to the governor’s office. The highest snow totals this weekend are expected around Watertown, New York, where 3 to 5 feet of snow is in the forecast.

“My administration is working around the clock with our state agencies and over 100 National Guard members on the ground to support local communities,” Hochul said.

Travel advisories were issued for Jefferson and Lewis counties, and portions of Erie County.

The state’s Department of Transportation banned empty and tandem commercial vehicles on I-86 from the Pennsylvania state line to I-390 and on State Route 219 from the Pennsylvania state line to I-90.

In addition to the National Guard members, Hochul said extra personnel has been deployed to help with possible power and road emergencies.

Lake effect snow is common this time of year as colder air moves over the relatively warm water of the lakes, leading to extremely localized bands of heavy snowfall for an extended period of time.

Counties in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania have recorded huge snowfall totals since Friday.

Gaylord, Michigan, picked up 24.8 inches of snow Friday marking their single snowiest calendar day on record and shattering their previous record of 17 inches on March 9, 1942.

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