Those TikToks of SpongeBob performing Summertime Sadness or Shrek performing “Eye of the Tiger” aren’t just annoying, they’re also a potential blow to the music industry. At least if you care what the leading singers have to say about it. In what could have been a killer but confusing festival line-up, more than 200 artists signed. Open the letter calling on technology platforms to monitor AI encroachments on the creative arts.
Nicki Minaj, the estate of Bob Marley, Smokey Robinson, Sheryl Crow and other heavy hitters such as Elvis Costello and Norah Jones were among those who signed the letter written by the Alliance for Artists’ Rights. As AI gains momentum, people from offices to the world of Hollywood are expressing concern about how unchecked AI will impact their industries and the world at large. The music industry is no exception, as the penetration of AI has sparked debate regarding ethics and legality wave of mimicry viewing artist catalogs. This is not the first time that musicians retreated from AI, but now the stars are becoming more edgy and specifically calling out Silicon Valley. “This attack on human creativity must stop,” the letter said, calling for protection against AI.
“When used irresponsibly, AI poses a huge threat to our ability to protect our privacy, our identities, our music and our livelihoods,” the petition states. “Some of the largest and most influential companies are using our work to train AI models without permission.” The artists note that this concentrated plan to replace musicians with songs created by artificial intelligence will “substantially dilute royalties,” further destabilizing many working musicians already struggling to stay afloat. In short, they warn of a “catastrophic” future.
The film industry has also recently been grappling with the AI invasion as SAG-AFTRA continued to go on strike and delayed contract signings until the so-called “zombie clause” was completed, requiring an actor’s image to be scanned and used in future projects. . The union fought for language that would require actors’ consent, require payment for their scanned images and set penalties for using donated celebrity images, such as estate clearance fees.
The letter comes just after news spread that ChatGPT creators OpenAI now has a voice cloning tool that only requires a 15-second audio sample to reproduce a person’s voice. OpenAI has refrained from publicly disclosing the technology due to security concerns ahead of the election.
The pledge’s sponsors, speaking directly to the technology world, are asking for provisions similar to those reached in the SAG-AFTRA agreement. “We call on all AI developers, technology companies, platforms and digital music services to commit that they will not develop or deploy AI-powered technologies, content or music creation tools that undermine or replace the human craft of songwriters and artists. or deny us fair compensation. for our work,” the artists said, expressing concern that AI could “infringe and devalue the rights” of musicians. Several of the letter’s signatories have passed away, as representatives of the estates of Bob Marley and Frank Sinatra signed the letter. Of course, these artists have a long discography and are probably more ripe for zombification at some Coachella performance, for example. Tupac or have simply been subjected to AI mimicry.
But the artists don’t directly demand that the AI stop; it’s probably useless anyway. The signatories explain that “when used responsibly, AI has enormous potential to enhance human creativity in ways that enable the creation and development of new and exciting experiences for music lovers around the world.”
“We’re not thinking about legislation here,” said Jen Jacobsen, executive director of The Artist Rights Alliance. Axios. Rather, they “encourage our technology and digital partners to work with us to make this a responsible market.” A couple of years ago, the founder of the generative artificial intelligence company Midjourney, David Holtz, predicted that Forbes that the penetration of AI into artistry can go in two ways. “One way is to try to provide the same level of content that people consume at a lower price,” he said, and “another way to do that is to create much better content at the prices that we are already willing to offer.” spend.” Adding that consumers are likely to choose higher quality content over cheaper content, he explains that “some people will try to exclude artists. They will try to do something similar at a lower price, and I think their will fail in the market”
And we’re entering grayer areas with every AI development that sparks unprecedented legal debate. “Anyone who tells you that the legal implications are clear one way or another is making it up,” Neil Turkewitz, a former member of the Recording Industry Association, an American executive and leading expert on generative artificial intelligence, said Fortune Jeremy Kahn. So far, Tennessee has been the first state to block this development, as Gov. Bill Lee signed a law in March designed to protect musicians’ intellectual property from AI intrusion.
Without too many legal obstacles, software developers got to work. In the same interview with Forbes, Holtz admitted that Midjourney did not ask the artists for permission to use their work. “There’s really no way to take a hundred million images and know where they come from,” he said.
It seems that this type of behavior is not limited to the world of fine art. “Unfortunately, some platforms and developers use AI to sabotage creativity and undermine the interests of artists, songwriters, musicians and rights holders,” the letter said.