Artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content has been on the rise with the release of OpenAI's latest version of its AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT-4, and others like it. However, not everyone agrees that some of its features are unrestricted.
Universal Music Group (UMG) is the latest company to voice its concerns about emerging technologies, according to a Financial Times report on April 13. The music industry giant asked streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music to prevent artificial intelligence services from extracting melodies and lyrics from copyrighted songs. UMG has been making requests to remove the AI-generated songs "left and right" because of their increasing frequency on the streaming service, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A Twitter user posted an example of an AI-generated song featuring an AI version of famous rapper Jay-Z that is virtually indistinguishable from the real Jay-Z. The user said that, as a Jay-Z fan, he "liked" the track, but wondered if he should feel "good or ashamed" for liking AI music. So far, AI bots have had access to music catalogs on streaming platforms that developers use to train the technology. According to the report, UMG has become "increasingly concerned" about AI bots using intellectual property to make the same music as actual artists.
A source with knowledge of the situation said the next-generation technology that is now emerging poses "significant problems". They went on to say that the AI could be asked to create a song with lyrics similar to Taylor Swift but with vocals and themes from other popular artists like Bruno Mars and Harry Styles. "The output you get is because the AI has been trained on these artists' intellectual property." UMG took an artist-first stance, writing in an email to the streaming service, "We will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and the rights of our artists."
The same Twitter user also tweeted a clip of Kanye West's AI model singing along to the track of rapper Drake's song "Hold On." Examples like this touch on UMG's current concerns about streaming services. As AI generates music on Twitter and the popular streaming platform, entire YouTube pages are popping up, remaking well-known tunes powered by AI.
The issue may be just the beginning of the consequences the music industry could face in its battle against artificial intelligence technology that exploits intellectual property. Google recently announced its own machine-learning music device called MusicLM, which will be able to "generate high-fidelity music from textual descriptions." The app has not yet been released; however, Google has published a full sample music page on GitHub with insights (keywords) on how it was generated.
