More than 200 artists — including Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj and the Jonas Brothers — are calling for tech companies, artificial intelligence (AI) developers, and digital music services to cease the use of AI over concerns of its impact on artists and songwriters, according to an open letter published Tuesday.
The artists warned that the unregulated use of AI in the music industry could “sabotage creativity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians and rightsholders,” according to the letter organized by the Artists Rights Alliance, a nonprofit artist-led education and advocation organization.
“Make no mistake: we believe that, when used responsibly, AI has enormous potential to advance human creativity and in a manner that enables the development and growth of new and exciting experiences for music fans everywhere,” the letter stated.
They added that “unfortunately, some platforms and developers” are using AI in ways that could have detrimental impacts on artists.
“When used irresponsibly, AI poses enormous threats to our ability to protect our privacy, our identities, our music and our livelihoods,” the letter added.
It slammed “some of the biggest and most powerful companies” as using artists’ work without their permission to train AI models and create AI-generated sounds that would “substantially dilute the royalty pools” paid to artists.
The letter calls for AI developers, technology companies, and digital music services to pledge to no develop or deploy AI music-generation technology, content or tools that would undermine or replace the work of human artists or songwriters, or deny them fair compensation.
Other artists that signed the letter include Katy Perry, Zayn Malik, Noah Kahan, Imagine Dragons and the estates of Bob Marley and Frank Sinatra.
Concerns about how AI is impacting artists have amplified over the past year as the popularity and sophistication of AI tools have rapidly increased.
In Hollywood, both the SAG-AFTRA union, which represents actors, and the Writers Guild of America, which represents writers, fought and won protections from AI for their unions during contract negotiations last year.