Spanish.- The intrusion of artificial intelligence (AI) into the music industry is becoming a serious issue. Artists like Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Camila Cabello, Sam Smith, and Billie Eilish have signed a letter urging developers to stop using the technology “to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.”
This is one of the most significant warnings in the industry, as it is supported by over 200 celebrities and targets AI development companies. These companies’ tools have allowed internet enthusiasts to create tracks of artists that they never sang. Even Carlos Gardel, John Lennon, and Michael Jackson have returned from beyond to perform songs they might never have recorded in life.
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Consequently, there are concerns that we are only one step away from replacing human singers with artificially created voices. This concern also exists among Hollywood actors, as comedian Jimmy Kimmel highlighted during last month’s Oscars. This time, the singers’ plea, spread by Axios, is to stop “the predatory use of artificial intelligence to steal voices and images of professional artists, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”
Greater Advances, Greater Fear
For artists, it’s not enough for platforms like YouTube to apply principles for “responsible” AI use in music. Nor is it enough for the Grammy Awards to try to establish a barrier so that “only human creators are eligible to be considered, nominated, or win an award.”
The singers indeed seem worried, as does the rest of the North American artistic community. For example, the track “Heart on My Sleeve,” featuring the voices of Drake and The Weeknd, was removed from YouTube, but it set off alarms about what AI can do in a few months. There are already programs that not only create musical tracks from scratch but also transform an anonymous voice to sound like a famous artist. The result is impressive.
And just like that. The music industry is forever changed.
I recorded a verse, and had a trained AI model of Kanye replace my vocals.
The results will blow your mind. Utterly incredible. pic.twitter.com/wY1pn9RGWx
— Roberto Nickson (@rpnickson) March 26, 2023
The “Elvis” Law in Tennessee
The Artist Rights Alliance (ARA), representing the artists who signed the letter, also states:
“We call on all AI developers, technology companies, platforms, and digital music services to commit not to develop or implement AI music generation technologies, content, or tools that undermine or replace the human art of composers and artists or deny us fair compensation for our work.”
There are other initiatives aiming to urge developers to abandon more invasive ideas. The Human Artistry Campaign is a group that has called on Congress to pass a law called the “No AI FRAUD Act” to protect artists (in all fields) against AI-generated forgeries and counterfeits. On the other hand, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee recently signed a law called the “Elvis Act” to protect musicians from the consequences of the excessive use of this technology.
But if anything, artificial intelligence has shown that it advances much faster than legislation.