Several major record labels have sued two AI startups, accusing them of wrongfully using popular musicians’ work to train their systems without consent.
According to CNN, the Recording Industry Association of America–which represents Warner Records, UMG Recordings, and Sony Music Entertainment–filed two copyright infringement cases against Uncharted Labs and Suno.
Uncharted Labs is behind Udio, which they trained with the music labels’ unlicensed sound recordings.
Udio is responsible for “BBL Drizzy,” a viral Artificial Intelligence-generated song that went viral during Drake’s beef with Kendrick Lamar.
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Former Google DeepMind researchers founded Udio last year to make it “easy for anyone to create emotionally resonant music in an instant.”
The company amassed $10 million in funding in April.
Last month, Suno got $125 million in funding.
The platform, which lets users make songs with just a few prompts, uses ChatGPT for lyrics and developing song titles.
RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier released a statement defending the lawsuits because they:
“…reinforce the most basic rules of the road for the responsible, ethical, and lawful development of generative AI systems and to bring Suno’s and Udio’s blatant infringement to an end.”
Glazier added that the music community is already working with “responsible developers to build sustainable tools” which put artists and songwriters in control.
However, unlicensed Artificial Intelligence services can take advantage of an artist’s work “without consent or pay set back.”
Back in April, over 200 prominent artists signed an open letter calling on developers, digital music services and platforms to “cease the use of artificial intelligence to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.”
According to the lawsuit:
“If developed with the permission and participation of copyright owners, generative tools will be able to assist humans in creating and producing new and innovative music.”
Additionally:
“But if developed irresponsibly, without regard for fundamental copyright protections, those same tools threaten enduring and irreparable harm to recording artists, record labels, and the music industry, inevitably reducing the quality of new music… to consumers and diminishing our shared culture.”