The music industry celebrates its stars at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night. Behind the scenes, we are grappling with perhaps the biggest challenge of all: the dangers and promise of artificial intelligence.
In recent years, AI has been used to recreate covers of songs that mimic the voices of famous artists in eerily realistic-sounding reproductions, without the artist’s consent or knowledge. Songs can then be flooded onto streaming services and social media, potentially misleading fans and threatening an artist’s work.
The head of the organization that hosts the Grammy Awards said the music industry was an early adopter of this technology and the opportunities it offers. But you also need to make sure there are rules in place.
“Using this technology, we can increase productivity, create something never heard or thought of before, and expand the range of an artist’s voice,” said Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said. he said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. ”[But,] Regulation and legislation are needed to ensure the protection of human creators. ”
Mason said key questions center on how AI is creating new artifacts and how the industry can identify if an artist’s voice or music has been misused.
One recent positive development welcomed by some in the industry was a new Beatles song produced by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr that used AI tools to bring out John Lennon’s voice from old demo tapes.
“Artists must be able to consent to the license for their voice and music to be used by AI, both in learning and production terms,” Mason says. “At that point, artists, publishers and labels may be able to monetize new work if they wish, but only with an agreement.”
Several efforts are underway in Washington to address these concerns. A bipartisan group of U.S. House of Representatives members earlier this month proposed a new bill called the Artificial Intelligence Counterfeit Replica and Unauthorized Reproduction Act, which aims to establish a framework to protect an individual’s voice and likeness at the federal level. did.
Some states have introduced legislation to protect artists and the industry.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee this month announced a new state bill to protect the state’s artists and songwriters from AI deepfakes (ELVIS Act), which would specifically address the challenges posed by new generation of existing state legislation. The law has been updated. AI tools.
“The fear of what it is being learned on, how it might be misused, or how it might be used to represent someone who has not consented or consented to its use, makes us That’s a real concern,” Mason said.
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