SunBrief#61: Spotify Faces Biggest Music Piracy Claim Yet

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Today in SunBrief 🌞

• The Smartest AI Library on the Internet🎉

• Spotify’s Entire Music Library Nearly Copied, Pirate Group Says

• Elon Musk’s xAI Selected by Pentagon for Grok Integration Into Military Operations

• Stock Updates

• OpenAI, Google, Meta and Three Others Hit With Copyright Lawsuit by Authors

• AI Highlights of the Week

• Too Important to Miss

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Spotify’s Entire Music Library Nearly Copied, Pirate Group Says

Pirate Group Claims It Copied Nearly All of Spotify’s Music Library

Anna’s Archive claims it scraped almost all of Spotify’s catalog—256 million tracks of metadata and 86 million audio files—and plans to release it publicly by popularity.

Key Points:

• Massive Breach: Anna’s Archive claims it accessed 86 million audio files and 256 million metadata entries from Spotify.

• Public Release Planned: The group has already posted metadata and says audio files will be released next, followed by album art.

• Spotify’s Response: Spotify confirmed the scraping incident, disabled the associated accounts, and said it’s added new safeguards against such attacks.

• Anti-Piracy Stance: Spotify reiterated its support for artists and commitment to fighting piracy in coordination with industry partners.

Why It Matters:

It could be one of the largest music piracy cases ever, threatening Spotify’s licenses and risking major legal and financial fallout.

Elon Musk’s xAI Selected by Pentagon for Grok Integration Into Military Operations

Pentagon signs deal with Elon Musk’s xAI to integrate Grok-based AI tools into military systems in 2026.

The Pentagon is partnering with Elon Musk’s xAI to integrate Grok-based AI into GenAI.mil, expanding AI use in defense operations starting in Q1 2026.

Key Points:

• Real-Time Intel from X: Personnel will gain access to real-time global insights from X (formerly Twitter), enhancing operational awareness and decision-making.

• Secure AI Deployment: xAI’s Grok models will run at Impact Level 5 (IL5), allowing military and civilian staff to handle Controlled Unclassified Information in a secure environment.

• Operational Use: The AI tools will support logistics, administration, and mission planning as part of the Pentagon’s push for “decision superiority.”

• Audit Concerns Remain: Despite embracing AI, the Pentagon has failed its financial audit for the 8th consecutive year, with major issues tied to the Joint Strike Fighter Program.

Why It Matters:

The deal embeds Musk’s AI in U.S. military systems, underscoring growing government reliance on AI despite unresolved concerns.

Stock Updates

OpenAI, Google, Meta and Three Others Hit With Copyright Lawsuit by Authors

OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI Face Copyright Lawsuit From Prominent Writers

Pulitzer winner John Carreyrou and other authors allege major AI firms trained their models on pirated books without permission.

Key Points:

• Mass Copyright Infringement: The complaint alleges that the companies downloaded books from illegal "shadow libraries" like LibGen, Z-Library, and OceanofPDF, then used them in training large language models.

• First of Its Kind: This marks the first copyright suit filed against xAI and Perplexity over their training practices.

• Anthropic Settlement Opt-Out: The plaintiffs had previously opted out of a $1.5 billion class-action settlement with Anthropic to pursue individual claims.

• Industry Response: xAI dismissed the claims as “Legacy Media Lies,” while Perplexity denies indexing books. The other companies have yet to respond.

Why It Matters:

The case underscores rising legal pressure on AI firms and could reshape how generative AI models are trained if the companies lose.

AI Highlights of the Week

• Huawei’s HarmonyOS Passes 27 Million Users

  Huawei says HarmonyOS now has over 27 million users, as the homegrown OS competes with Android and iOS.

  The latest versions drop Android support, rely on native apps, and are seeing 100,000+ new device activations daily following U.S. trade restrictions.

• Japan’s H3 Rocket Fails to Deploy Navigation Satellite

  Japan’s space agency JAXA said its H3 rocket failed to place the Michibiki-5 navigation satellite into orbit after launch from Tanegashima Space Center.

  The issue was caused by a premature second-stage engine cutoff, marking the second failure of Japan’s new flagship rocket since its 2023 debut.

• Z.ai Releases GLM-4.7, Claims GPT-5.1-Level Reasoning for Agents

  Chinese AI lab Z.ai has unveiled GLM-4.7, an open-weights model it says rivals GPT-5.1 and Claude Sonnet 4.5 in coding and reasoning.

  The model introduces “Preserved Thinking,” allowing autonomous agents to retain reasoning across multi-step workflows, reducing context loss in long-running tasks.

• Nvidia Plans H200 AI Chip Shipments to China Before Lunar New Year

  Nvidia says it plans to ship H200 AI chips to China before mid-February, pending government approval.

  Initial deliveries could total 40,000–80,000 chips, following a Trump-era policy reversal, though Beijing has not yet approved the purchases.

Too Important to Miss

Apple leans on Samsung as iPhone RAM prices surge

Community pushback forces Firefox to offer a full AI off switch

Next-gen quantum computers may finally become almost useful in 2026

Qwen releases image editor that splits pictures into RGBA layers for object-level edits

Last Week’s Poll Result

• Do you think aggressive web scraping should be illegal if websites explicitly block it?

  Yes, site owners should control access to their data → 44.12%

  No, publicly available data should be fair game → 29.41%

  Maybe, but scraping can still serve legitimate uses → 26.47%

  

• Do you think Samsung beating Apple to 2nm will give Galaxy phones a real advantage?

  Yes, early silicon leadership matters → 45.45%

  Maybe, but software optimization matters more → 27.27%

  No, Apple will catch up quickly → 27.27%

  

• Do you think Meta can catch up to OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic with its 2026 AI models?

  Maybe, but execution has been a problem → 50.00%

  No, competitors are too far ahead → 28.57%

  Yes, Meta has the scale and resources → 21.43%

  

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