AI Music Clones Chart Stars
The Case
The controversial use of AI systems to create new artistic content has spilled over into the music industry. There has been a growing trend of AI systems creating music featuring famous musicians covering other artists' songs, or even creating entirely new songs in some cases. Music industry power players are already getting AI-generated music pulled from streaming services, citing copyright infringement. Yet, the legal argument is far from straightforward.
Key Issues
The key legal issue in this case is whether AI-generated music infringes on the copyright of the original artists. Universal Music Group (UMG), which has deals with both Drake and The Weeknd, argues that AI companies are violating copyright law by training their models on artists’ songs. However, the copyright argument is complex. It is uncertain how these systems are being trained, and whether or not using protected material in this way constitutes a copyright infringement. Furthermore, the AI-generated songs appear to be new, original works, with lyrics written by a human and fed into voice cloning software, which certainly clouds any argument to suggest that something tangible is being copied. It appears that an artist’s voice or style is what is actually being copied, but whether or not this amounts to a copyright breach is uncertain.