GME3: Betting Bureaucrat Busted, Sky’s the Limit for Lawsuit, & Hotel Chain Faces Music

For this week’s edition of the GME3 we’re looking at an RCMP takedown of an illegal gambling ring in Toronto with some city officials caught in the crossfire, OpenAI’s latest scandal involving the appropriation of a certain Hollywood star’s voice, and an ongoing lawsuit between Sony Music and the Marriott chain of hotels. Read on for the full stories!

Gambling

Betting Bureaucrat Busted

The RCMP has charged a total of 16 people as part of an organized criminal gambling ring allegedly run by an ex-Hells Angels hitman. One notable person caught up in the charges is Kypros (Kyp) Perikleous, a longtime City of Toronto bureaucrat, and former senior transportation manager. Perikleous officially retired at the end of 2023 after being on medical leave for several years due to a heart condition.

After raids on eight homes and five alleged gambling dens in the east end of Toronto, Scarborough, and Vaughan, officers retrieved handguns, illegal gambling devices, electronics, jewellery, and over $250,000 in cash. The arrests further served to dismantle an illegal gaming and bookmaking network that included an online sports betting network. The alleged ringleader, Paris Christofouro, is a former member of the Hell’s Angels and was jailed after a stray bullet ended up paralyzing an innocent bystander during an attempted hit in 2006.

Perikleous has been accused of engaging in illegal bookmaking “for the purpose of enhancing the ability of a criminal organization, namely, The Greek Syndicate to commit an indictable offence” while still on the city payroll as a director of transportation services. He has also been charged with possessing proceeds of crime worth more than $5,000 and of improper storage of a firearm. The RCMP maintains that Perikleous held a position of enough power in this illegal gambling operation to warrant the criminal organization charge.

The bookmaking charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail, while the other charges can vary from a $5,000 fine to up to two years in jail. Perikleous, through his legal representation, claims to be innocent of all charges and will plead not guilty. Though he denies any wrongdoing (even disputing the firearm charge) and his former colleagues from the municipal government seem to be in shock that he would do such a thing, the RCMP seems confident in their ability to prosecute.

Media

Sky’s the Limit for Lawsuit

Lawyers representing Scarlet Johansson are demanding that OpenAI disclose how it developed its AI personal assistant’s voice which the actress claims sounds extremely similar to her own.

The debacle began when OpenAI held a live demonstration to debut its new AI assistant, known as Sky. After the demo, many observers remarked that the voice of Sky was similar to that of Johansson’s role in Spike Jonze’s Her (2013), a film about a man who falls in love with an AI. CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, has been open about his high regard for the film (even calling it his favourite movie) and even went so far as to post the single word “Her” on his X account after the company debuted the new version of its popular AI software.

Initially, OpenAI denied any connection between Johansson and the voice of Sky, but suddenly took a 180 and dropped the voice entirely. In a late-night post, again on X, OpenAI announced that they would be halting the development of Sky’s voice due to “questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT.” 

It later came out that Altman had been attempting to convince Johansson to provide her voice to be licensed by OpenAI for the past several months. Altman approached the star because he believed that her voice would be “comforting” to people who felt uneasy with the rapid advancement of AI technology. After some thought, Johansson declined the offer. Altman reached out again only two days before Sky was set to debut to urge her to reconsider. Before they even had a chance to schedule the meeting, Sky was publicly demoed and the legal battle began.

Johansson has publicly reacted with shock, claiming that the voice is so similar that even her “closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference.” OpenAI has denied any legal responsibility, as they claim that Sky was developed using another actress’s voice altogether, who was cast before Altman reached out to Johansson in the first place. However, they have apologized for “not communicating better” with her. Despite this, OpenAI has refused to reveal the identity of the voice actor they actually used, citing her privacy.

Since generative AI technology was released to the general public many have been critical of how these language models have been trained using copyrighted work. As a result of this, many artists have been outspoken about how AI “art” is just a regurgitation of talents that real human beings have spent decades refining. If OpenAI copied Johansson’s voice without her permission this case could provide some valuable insight into how the legal system will approach these complaints in the future.

Entertainment

Hotel Chain Faces Music

Sony Music, one of the largest music publishers in the world, has launched a lawsuit against Marriott. Sony is accusing the hotel chain of using over 900 of its licensed songs without permission in social media advertisements. The lawsuit names 931 songs that were allegedly misused, including hits from big-name artists like Beyonce, Michael Jackson, and Harry Styles. Marriott is potentially liable for up to $139 million in damages under US copyright law.

As published in the complaint, Sony claims to have warned Marriott back in 2020 that social media accounts associated with its hotels were using Sony Music recordings without permission. Sony Music’s notices have continued through to March 2024. Sony goes on to argue that the infringement is ongoing – at least 47 new instances of infringement occurred in May alone. As such, Sony believes that Marriott’s ads “rob Sony Music of the substantial licensing revenues it is entitled to.”

For now, Sony has requested a court order blocking Marriott from using its music in addition to monetary damages.