Universal Music Group, the music company behind superstars such as Sting, The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande, sent letters to streaming platforms including Spotify and Apple Music in April asking them to ban music from AI platforms.

The company has an “ethical and commercial responsibility to artists to work to prevent unauthorized use of their music and to prevent platforms from playing content that infringes artists’ rights,” a spokesperson for Universal Music Group told CNN or UMG.

UMG’s decision, first reported by the Financial Times, aims to ensure that artificial intelligence does not pose an existential threat to the music industry. UMG says it’s not opposed to the technology itself, but to artificial intelligence so advanced that it can recreate melodies and even the voices of musicians in a matter of seconds.

The company said that AI using artists’ music violates UMG agreements and copyright law. UMG sent requests to streamers to download songs created by AI.

Sophisticated control

“I understand the purpose of this move, but I’m not sure how effective it will be as AI services will likely still have access to copyrighted material one way or another,” said Carl Fulks, an entertainment and entertainment lawyer. business in The Fowlkes. Solid.

As reported by CNN, there are no rules governing what AI can and cannot teach. But last month, in response to requests from people who want to copyright AI-generated works, the US Copyright Office released new guidelines on how to register AI-generated literary, musical, and artistic works.

“In the case of works containing AI-generated content, the Authority will consider whether AI contributions are the result of mechanical reproduction,” the new guidance says.

“Artificial intelligence companies using copyrighted works to train their models to create such works is exactly the kind of practice that copyright courts should outright prohibit. Original art should be protected by law, not works created by machines that use original art to create new works,” Fulks said.

Grammy-winning DJ and producer David Guetta demonstrated in February how easy it is to create new music using artificial intelligence. Using ChatGPT for lyrics and Uberduck for vocals, Guetta was able to create a new song within an hour.