Following in the footsteps of authors who recently sued OpenAI for using their books without permission, more than 200 musicians have now joined forces to voice their apprehensions about AI’s impact on the music industry.
In a report by Rolling Stone, it was revealed that a collective of over 200 artists, including renowned names like Billie Eilish, Katy Perry, Jonas Brothers, and Smokey Robinson, have signed an open letter initiated by the non-profit Artist Rights Alliance.
The letter aims to address the growing unease surrounding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in music creation and distribution. These artists are urging AI developers, technology companies, and digital platforms to cease practices that infringe upon the rights of human artists.
While acknowledging the potential benefits of AI when used responsibly, the artists are raising alarms about its potential misuse to stifle creativity and exploit artists and rights holders. The open letter emphasizes concerns about specific AI practices, such as deepfakes, voice cloning, and the unauthorized use of musical works to train AI models.
The musicians argue that these practices not only compromise the creative integrity of artists but also endanger their livelihoods by diminishing royalty payments and devaluing their contributions to the music ecosystem.
The letter states, “Some of the biggest and most powerful companies are, without permission, using our work to train AI models. These efforts are directly aimed at replacing the work of human artists with massive quantities of AI-created ‘sounds’ and ‘images’ that substantially dilute the royalty pools that are paid out to artists. For many working musicians, artists, and songwriters who are just trying to make ends meet, this would be catastrophic.”
In addition to expressing their concerns, the artists are calling for a commitment from AI developers and digital platforms to avoid deploying AI music-generation technology that undermines human artistry or deprives artists of fair compensation.
The Artist Rights Alliance is also urging AI companies to pledge not to develop or deploy AI music-generation technology, content, or tools that undermine or replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists, or deny them fair compensation for their work.
