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Big Tech scored a major victory this week in the battle over using copyrighted materials to train AI models. Anthropic won a partial judgment on Tuesday in a case brought by three authors who alleged the company violated their copyright by storing their works in a library used to train its Claude AI model. Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Anthropics use of copyrighted material for training was fair use. His decision carries weight. “Authors cannot rightly exclude anyone from using their works for training or learning as such,” Alsup wrote. “Everyone reads texts, too, then writes new texts. They may need to pay for getting their hands on a text in the first instance. But to make anyone pay specifically for the use of a book each time they read it, each time they recall it from memory, each time they later draw upon it when writing new things in new ways would be unthinkable.” Alsup called training Claude “exceedingly transformative,” comparing the model to “any reader aspiring to be a writer.” That language helps explain why tech lobbyists were quick to call it a major win. Experts agreed. “It’s a pretty big win actually for the future of AI training,” says Andres Guadamuz, an intellectual property expert at the University of Sussex who has closely followed AI copyright cases. But he adds: “It could be bad for Anthropic specifically, depending on authors winning the piracy issue, but that’s still very far away.” In other words, its not as simple as tech companies might wish. “The fair use ruling looks bad for creators on its surface, but this is far from the final word on the matter,” says Ed Newton-Rex, a former AI executive-turned-copyright campaigner and founder of Fairly Trained, a nonprofit certifying companies that respect creators rights. The case is expected to be appealedand even at this stage, Newton-Rex sees weaknesses in the rulings reasoning. “The judge makes assertions about training, not de-incentivizing creation, and about AI learning like humans do, that feel easy to rebut,” he says. “This is, on balance, a bad day for creators, but its just the opening move in what will be a long game.” While the judge approved training AI models on copyrighted works, other elements of the case werent so favorable for Anthropic. Guadamuz says Alsups decision hinges on a “solid fair use argument on the transformative nature of AI training.” The judge thoroughly applied the four-factor test for fair use, Guadamuz noted, and the ruling could reshape broader copyright approaches. “We may start seeing the beginnings of rules for the new world, [where] having legitimate access to a work would work strongly in proving fair use, while using shadow libraries would not,” he says. And thats the catch: This wasnt an unvarnished win for Anthropic. Like other tech companies, Anthropic allegedly sourced training materials from piracy sites for easea fact that clearly troubled the court. “This order doubts that any accused infringer could ever meet its burden of explaining why downloading source copies from pirate sites that it could have purchased or otherwise accessed lawfully was itself reasonably necessary to any subsequent fair use,” Alsup wrote, referring to Anthropics alleged pirating of more than 7 million books. That alone could carry billions in liability, with statutory damages starting at $750 per booka trial on that issue is still to come. So while tech companies may still claim victory (with some justification, given the fair use precedent), the same ruling also implies that companies will need to pay substantial sums to legally obtain training materials. OpenAI, for its part, has in the past argued that licensing all the copyrighted material needed to train its models would be practically impossible. Joanna Bryson, a professor of AI ethics at the Hertie School in Berlin, says the ruling is “absolutely not” a blanket win for tech companies. “First of all, it’s not the Supreme Court. Secondly, it’s only one jurisdiction: The U.S.,” she says. “I think they dont entirely have purchase over this thing about whether or not it was transformative in the sense of changing Claudes output.”
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E-Commerce
Oil prices are dropping further, and U.S. stocks are pulling close to their all-time high Tuesday on hopes that Israels war with Iran will not damage the global flow of crude, even if a tentative truce seemed to fray under fire in the morning. The S&P 500 was 1.2% higher in afternoon trading, following up on even bigger gains for stocks across Europe and Asia, after President Donald Trump said late Monday that Israel and Iran had agreed to a complete and total ceasefire. The main measure of Wall Street’s health is back within 1% of its record set in February after falling roughly 20% below during the spring. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 518 points, or 1.2%, as of 1:56 p.m. ET, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5% higher. The strongest action was again in the oil market, where a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude fell 5.4%, to $64.82. Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 5.5%, to $66.62. The fear throughout the Israel-Iran conflict has been that it could squeeze the worlds supply of oil, which would pump up prices for gasoline and hurt the global economy. Iran is a major producer of crude, and it could also try to block the Strait of Hormuz off its coast, through which 20% of the worlds daily oil needs passes on ships. Oil prices began falling sharply on Monday after Iran launched what appeared to be a limited retaliatory strike that did not target the production or movement of oil. Prices kept falling even after attacks continued past a deadline to stop hostilities early Tuesday. Trump later said that the ceasefire was in effect. Oil prices have dropped so much in the last two days that theyre below where they were before the fighting began nearly two weeks ago. With the global oil market well supplied and the OPEC+ alliance of producing countries steadily increasing production, oil prices could be headed even lower as long as the ceasefire holds and a lasting peace solution can be found, said Carsten Fritsch, commodities analyst at German-based Commerzbank. Falling oil prices should take some pressure off inflation, and that in turn could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to cut interest rates. Wall Street loves lower rates because they can give the economy a boost by making it cheaper for U.S. households and businesses to borrow money to buy a car or build a factory. But they could also give inflation more fuel. That latter threat is why the Fed has been hesitant to cut rates this year after lowering them through the end of last year. The Fed has said repeatedly that it wants to wait and see how much Trumps tariffs will hurt the economy and raise inflation before committing to its next move. So far, the economy seems to be holding up okay, though a report on confidence among U.S. consumers came in weaker on Tuesday than economists expected, while inflation has remained only a bit above the Fed’s 2% target. Trump, though, has been pushing for more cuts to rates. And two of his appointees to the Fed have said in the last week that they may consider cutting rates as soon as the Feds next meeting next month. Fed Chair Jerome Powell remains more cautious. He said again in testimony delivered to Congress Tuesday that the Fed is well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance. Asked whether a cut could arrive as soon as July, Powell said: We will get to a place where we cut rates, sooner rather than laterbut I wouldnt want to point to a particular meeting. I dont think we need to be in any rush because the economy is still strong. Such mixed messages had Treasury yields swiveling up and down in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.30%, from 4.34% late Monday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, fell to 3.82%, from 3.84%. On Wall Street, cruise operator Carnival steamed 6.7% higher after delivering a much stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Josh Weinstein said it’s seeing strong demand from people booking cruises close to the departure date, and customers are spending strongly once on board. Carnival also raised its forecast for an underlying measure of profit for the full year. Uber Technologies rose 7.8% after it said customers in Atlanta can use its app to ride in Waymo autonomous vehicles. Coinbase Global rallied 11.4% as the cryptocurrency exchange rose with the price of Bitcoin, which jumped back above $105,000. In stock markets abroad, indexes rallied more than 1% everywhere from France to Germany to Japan, following the announcement of the Israel-Iran ceasefire. Hong Kongs jump of 2.1% and South Koreas leap of 3% were two of the strongest moves. By Stan Choe, David McHugh, and Elaine Kurtenbach, AP business writers
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E-Commerce
CareerBuilder + Monster, an online job hunting joint venture, announced on Tuesday it filed for bankruptcy in Delaware. The company initiated the Chapter 11 process to facilitate a sale of its operations, with assets totaling between $50 to $100 million and estimated liabilities of some $100 to $500 million, according to its bankruptcy filing. Fast Company has reached out to the company for comment. The bankruptcy plan calls for the assets to be divided up, selling its jobs board business to JobGet Inc.; selling Monster Media Properties to Valnet Inc. (which includes Military.com and Fastweb.com); and transferring Monster Government Services to Valsoft Corp. However, the asset sale is subject to other, higher offers, according to the press release. “For over 25 years, we have been a proud global leader in helping job seekers and companies connect and empower employment across the globe,” Jeff Furman, CEO of CareerBuilder + Monster, said in a statement. “However, like many others in the industry, our business has been affected by a challenging and uncertain macroeconomic environment. In light of these conditions, we ran a robust sale process and carefully evaluated all available options. We determined that initiating this court-supervised sale process is the best path toward maximizing the value of our businesses and preserving jobs.” Furman added that CareerBuilder + Monster also plans to restructure, which would include a reduction of its current workforce, and the company is in talks with Blue Torch Capital for up to $20 million of debtor-in-possession financing. Monster, which dominated the internet job search industry starting in the 1990s, merged with then-struggling CareerBuilder in 2024, with Dutch multinational human resource consulting firm Randstad NV taking a minority stake in that business. Owned by Apollo Global Management, CareerBuilder saw a decline in subscription renewals after the pandemic, from which it never recovered. Although the merger created one mega job board, sales continued to decline, with CareerBuilder’s revenue falling to $49.2 million in 2024, a 40% drop compared to 2023, according to Moody’s Ratings, as reported by Bloomberg.
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E-Commerce
New Yorkers are heading to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots for the city’s next mayor. And it’s not just NYC that’s invested. The Democratic primary race between a fresh-faced 33-year-old democratic socialist and a seasoned politician clawing for a comeback has captivated the countrynot just because the top candidates couldn’t be more different, but because the election could offer a glimpse of what kind of democratic candidates Americans are seeking to elect in other upcoming races. (The person chosen to lead America’s biggest city will presumably be a Democrat and could help set the tone for the party’s platform nationwide.) A study in contrasts Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, the two frontrunners in the mayoral race, are starkly different candidatesa fact that Mamdani, who would be New York’s first Muslim mayor if elected, has played into leading up to election day. While Andrew Cuomo, who resigned as New York’s governor in 2021 over dozens of sexual harassment allegations, is backed by billionaire donors, centrists, and well-known democrats like Bill Clinton, Mamdani has the support of hard-leaning leftists like Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York’s 14th congressional district. Prior to joining the mayoral race, Mamdani was essentially a political unknown. Still, he’s managed to gain major traction with emotional speeches, a captivating social media presence, and a laser-pointed focus on an issue that most New Yorkers (as well as most Americans) are deeply concerned with at present: lowering the cost of living. “This is the most expensive city in the United States of America and New Yorkers are tired of having to worry each and every hour of each and every day about whether they can afford to live here, Mamdani said yesterday to a crowd of supporters. Ranked-choice voting system adds additional drama Interestingly, in a rare move, the candidate isn’t just campaigning for his own leadership. He’s teamed up with other candidates, like State Senator Zellnor Myrie and city Comptroller Brad Lander, to block Cuomo from ranking in New York’s ranked-choice voting system, which was new to the city last year. The system means that New Yorkers can cast votes for, not one, but up to five candidates. Mamdani and other candidates have been preaching to supporters to fill out their entire ballot but “Don’t rank Cuomo.” Lander, meanwhile, had his own viral moment last week when he was taken into custody by federal immigration officials outside of a Manhattan courtroom, an incident caught on dramatic video. On the other end of the spectrum from Mamdani, Cuomo is leaning into his experience as a seasoned leader. This is not a job for a novice,” he told supporters this week. “This is not a job for a person who never really had a job before. We need someone who knows what they are doing on day one, because your lives depend on it.” In recent weeks, the race has been heating up with projections that have stunned and excited Mamdani supporters. While Cuomo was the clear frontrunner earlier this year, Mamdani pulled ahead in the most recent public poll, published Monday. How can I track NYC election results in real time? The polls don’t close in NYC until 9 p.m. Tuesday, but due to the city’s voting system, a final count could take a full week. If one candidate is the first choice of a majority of voters, they’ll take the race. However, If no candidate emerges straight away, the tabulation of rankings would begin on July 1. Meaning, while NYC is already going to be hotter than your average summer day, the heat around this race could be even hotter. With so much riding on who New York’s next mayor will be, voters and interested parties across the country are bound to be following closely as the votes come in. Here are a few ways to stay up to date: Ways to watch: The New York Times will offer live updates on the race and election results as they come in. The outlet will show “simulated ranked-choice results for the first and final rounds of voting.” Find it here. PBS will show live election results as they come in, along with a live map to show how the city is voting in real time. Find it here. The Board of Elections will release “unofficial, first-choice-only votes” just after the polls close and continuously update the results. The results will be broken down into districts. Find it here. If you’re a New Yorker who isn’t sure which election district you live in, you can look it up here.
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E-Commerce
Last summer was hardly a fun time for popular casual dining chain Red Lobster. In May 2024, the seafood chain filed for bankruptcy. The process saw stores close and resulted in new ownership and a new CEO by the time the company exited bankruptcy in September 2024. But this summer, Red Lobster is hoping things will be different. Instead of cost-cutting and restructuring to boost its bottom line, the chain hopes a handful of new menu items will boost foot traffic and get diners back in the doors. Red Lobster announces new menu items for summer 2025 “Americas favorite seafood chain” has announced the return of its popular Crabfest event. The annual event is timed for the summer at Red Lobster, when diners have sun, surf, and seafood on their minds. The company has announced that Crabfest will run from June 23 to September 14, 2025. [Photos: Red Lobster] Red Lobster says that this years Crabfest celebrations will see the following new Crabfest dishes on the menu: Crabby Stuffed Mushrooms A flavorful appetizer packed with rich crab stuffing Crab-Topped Asparagus A premium side dish featuring asparagus topped with crab Crab-Topped Potato A premium side dish, elevating a classic dish with savory crab Steak Oscar Sirloin topped with lump meat in a creamy, decadent sauce Salmon Oscar Atlantic salmon topped with lump crab meat in a creamy, decadent sauce In addition to the new menu items mentioned above, Red Lobster will also offer two ways to customize their seafood boil, including Mariner’s Boil, which features a Maine lobster tail, a dozen shrimp, snow crab legs, corn, and red potatoes. Alternatively, customers can opt for the Sailor’s Boil, which features a selection of shrimp, smoked sausage, corn, and red potatoes. Red Lobsters 2024 bankruptcy saw significant changes at the seafood chain Red Lobster is undoubtedly hoping its festive summer Crabfest will boost sales this year and help the company put a challenging financial period behind it. When the company announced its plans to file for bankruptcy in May 2024, many headlines blamed the restaurants financial woes on its Endless Shrimp menu items, which resulted in an $11 million loss for the chain after it underestimated demand. However, the company cited several factors that affected its financial footing, including multiple owners over a relatively short period of time, burdensome cost reduction strategies by its former owners, and costs and other problems associated with renting restaurant locations. Red Lobster also faced challenges many other restaurant chains have faced in recent years: declining foot traffic as cash-strapped and inflation-weary customers choose to stay home and cook instead of going out to eat. Many of these issues were addressed during its bankruptcy process, however. When the company emerged from bankruptcy protection in September, it had over 30 fewer locations, new ownership from a group of private investors including TCW Private Credit and Blue Torch, and a new CEO to run the newly formed RL Investor Holdings, which currently owns Red Lobster. So, will the new Crabfest items help Red Lobster have a banner summer? Thats something fans of the chain will have to wait and see. But even when Crabfest ends in September, its unlikely the public will know just how well or poorly Crabfest went for Red LobsterRL Investor Holdings is a private company, so it does not release public quarterly reports.
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E-Commerce
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