Pearl Jam, Jon Bon Jovi, T-Rex, Greta Van Fleet, Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, R.E.M., Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, Don Was, and Frank Sinatra’s estate teamed up under the Artist Rights Alliance to call out AI-created music.
The Alliance issued an open letter demanding that AI developers, technology companies, platforms, and digital music services stop using artificial intelligence to ‘infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.’ They wrote:
“Make no mistake: we believe that, when used responsibly, AI has enormous potential to advance human creativity… in a manner that enables the development and growth of new and exciting experiences for music fans everywhere.”
But noted:
“Unfortunately, some platforms and developers are employing AI to sabotage creativity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians, and rights holders.”
‘AI Is A Threat’
The letter pointed out the threats AI posed to human artists and read:
“When used irresponsibly, AI poses enormous threats to our ability to protect our privacy, our identities, our music, and our livelihoods. Some of the biggest and most powerful companies are, without permission, using our work to train AI models. These efforts are directly aimed at replacing the work of human artists with massive quantities of AI-created ‘sounds’ and ‘images’ that substantially dilute the royalty pools that are paid out to artists.”
It continued:
“For many working musicians, artists, and songwriters who are just trying to make ends meet, this would be catastrophic.”
The Rockers Want Change
The Alliance suggested that AI will lower human artistry’s value and ‘prevent them from being fairly compensated for it’:
“This assault on human creativity must be stopped. We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”
The ARA united to have ‘a healthy music economy, control of our work, a seat at the table’ and ‘a future for the next generation.’ So, their letter concluded:
“We call on all AI developers, technology companies, platforms, and digital music services to pledge they will not develop or deploy AI music-generation technology, content, or tools that undermine or replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists or deny us fair compensation for our work.”
You can check out the full statement here.