🎶 The new era of AI music

Good morning, AI enthusiast. Universal Music Group has settled its copyright lawsuit against AI startup Udio and is now teaming up with them to launch a licensed AI music platform in 2026.

In today’s AI newsletter:

• Universal partners with Udio after copyright settlement

• Canva launches its Creative Operating System

• AI agents fail miserably at remote freelance work

• How to Create and Compare Images, Videos, and Websites with AI

• AI tools & more

AI PARTNERSHIPS

🤝 Universal Partners With Udio After Copyright Settlement

Universal Music Group (UMG) reached an “industry-first” settlement with Udio, the company behind the viral “BBL Drizzy” track, after accusing it of mass copyright infringement last year. Now, the two are joining forces to launch a subscription-based AI music generator next year.

• The deal includes compensation and new revenue streams for UMG’s artists and songwriters

• The upcoming platform will let creators customize, stream, and share AI-generated music

• Udio’s current app will stay live under tighter controls like content

  fingerprinting and walled access

• Other labels like Sony and Warner are reportedly negotiating similar AI licensing deals

This marks the first major truce between AI music and the record industry, signaling that instead of fighting generative music, labels might start profiting from it. The future of music could be co-written by humans and machines.

GENERATIVE AI

🖼️ Canva Launches Its ‘Creative Operating System

Canva’s overhaul introduces a “world-first” design-focused AI model that integrates video editing, form collection, and marketing analytics, all inside one platform. The company wants marketers to plan, design, and launch campaigns without switching tools.

• Redesigned Video Editor 2.0 with templates, timeline sync, and AI-generated effects

• New Canva Forms for collecting feedback and integrating data into Canva Sheets

• Launch of Canva Grow, an AI-driven marketing platform that optimizes ad performance over time

• Email Design tool for branded campaigns without using Mailchimp or coding

Canva’s shift marks its evolution from a simple design tool to a full-fledged marketing operating system. If it works, marketers might never need to leave Canva’s ecosystem again.

AI PRODUCTIVITY

💼 AI Agents Fail Miserably at Remote Freelance Work

New research from the Center for AI Safety (CAIS) and Scale AI found that leading AI agents are shockingly bad at performing real-world freelance tasks, completing less than 3% of assigned jobs across industries like game dev, data analysis, and marketing.

• CAIS’s new benchmark, the Remote Labor Index, tested six top AI agents on real freelance gigs worth $143,991.

• The best performer, China’s Manus AI, finished just 2.5% of tasks.

• Grok 4 and Claude Sonnet 4.5 tied for 2nd at 2.1%, despite Claude being touted as “the best coding model.”

• GPT-5, despite OpenAI’s “PhD-level intelligence” claims, managed 1.7%.

• ChatGPT Agent hit 1.3%, and Google Gemini 2.5 Pro came last at 0.8%.

This study exposes a harsh truth, AI is still far from replacing human freelancers. Despite massive hype and corporate layoffs in the name of automation, most AI agents can’t yet handle basic, sustained, or economically valuable remote work.

HOW TO AI

💻 How to Create and Compare Images, Videos, and Websites with AI

In this tutorial, you will learn how to turn a single text prompt into high-quality designs, videos, slides, and even websites using multiple AI models side by side, compare their outputs, choose your favorite results, and download them all in one place.

🧰 Who is This For

• Designers testing outputs from multiple AI models

• Creators building websites, videos, or logos

• Marketers and educators making slides or visuals

• Anyone who wants to compare AI-generated results quickly

STEP 1: Access the Tool

Go to Design Arena. You’ll see a large prompt bar in the middle of the homepage.
Right below it, there are multiple creation modes: Website, Image, Video, Slides, Logo, 3D, and Games.
Click the one you want to explore, for example, select Image to start generating visuals.

STEP 2: Enter Your Idea

Click inside the prompt bar and type your idea. For instance:

“Ultra-detailed, hyperrealistic portrait of a majestic horse running through a misty field at sunrise, golden light shining through the fog, soft dust trails behind, cinematic composition, natural motion blur, glossy mane flowing in the wind, captured with a Canon EOS R5 and 85mm lens, 8K resolution, masterpiece, photorealistic, volumetric lighting, depth of field”

Then press Enter or click the Generate button beside the bar.

In a few seconds, Design Arana will display two images side by side, each created by a different AI model, like GPT-Image, Imagen, or FLUX.

STEP 3: Compare and Rate the Outputs

Below the images, click “I prefer left” or “I prefer right” to vote for your favorite.
Each time you vote, Design Arana automatically shows you a new pair of results.
Your choices help the system rank which AI models perform best for each creative task.

STEP 4: Review, Explore, and Download

When you’re done comparing, click View All Results at the top right. You’ll see a neat grid showing every image generated in your session.
Hover over any image to reveal two icons, Download (arrow symbol) and Expand (square symbol).
Click Download to save it or Expand to view in full resolution.

OpenAI is considering a 2026 IPO that could value it at up to $1T, with Sam Altman calling it “the most likely path” to meet future capital needs.

Nvidia plans to invest $500M to $1B in AI coding startup Poolside, which is in discussions to raise $2B at a $12B valuation

Perplexity launched Patents, a free AI tool that lets users search patents using natural language across databases and research papers.

OpenAI starts to sell extra credits for Sora, which currently has a limit of 30 free gens per day; 10 video gens will retail for $4 through Apple's App Store.

⚙️ Composer: Cursor’s new fast AI coding model

📚 Grokipedia: xAI’s instant, interactive Grok-powered knowledge hub

💨 SWE-1.5: Cognition’s new fast coding model

🧠 Pomelli: Google’s tool for creating on-brand content with AI

THAT’S IT FOR TODAY

Thanks for making it to the end! I put my heart into every email I send, I hope you are enjoying it. Let me know your thoughts so I can make the next one even better!

See you tomorrow :)

- Dr. Alvaro Cintas