WE have known that artificial intelligence (AI) would leave no industry unscathed – but it is on the brink of completely overhauling the music industry.
The success of Google’s music-making AI has posed some pretty serious questions around the future need for human musicians and their rights – when robots make such good music.
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The UK government this week announced that it is planning to scrap the introduction of a copyright exception for text and mining purposes – which includes AI.
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive of UK Music, an industry body representing artists and record labels, said the law would have “paved the way for music laundering” and exposed creators and rights holders to exploitation.
“We are delighted to see the back of a policy that risked irreparable damage to the global success story that is the UK music industry,” he continued.
The plan, floated as an idea last summer, would have allowed AI developers to use copyright protected works without the permission of creators.
In a Commons debate in Westminster on Wednesday, Britain’s science minister George Freeman said that AI is pushing forward “at a pace that in government we haven’t had to deal with before”.
MP Sarah Olney, who brought the topic to Commons, said when she applied for the debate, no one had heard of ChatGPT – the popular AI bot that is now writing speeches for the chancellor.
It seems like each week a new AI tool is launched, she added, which carries “significant risk”.
“AI is rapidly permeating the creative sector, creating visual art, prose, music and film at a pace and cost that humans are unable to match,” she continued.
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“For creatives, the risk of AI-generated material flooding the market gives rise to significant regulatory and ethical challenges.”
However, Pierre Barreau, CEO and co-founder of artificial composing tool AIVA told The Sun that the rise of creative AI could instead help “democratise” writing music.
He explained that AI bots “are going to make it easier not only to create high quality music at scale for content creators, but also tell better stories by personalising that music to the content itself, and how consumers are engaging with that content”.
AI can give musicians a wider array of tools, such as access to the sound of every instrument in the world.
“It’s hard to think of more creativity in the world being anything but a net positive for humanity,” he said.
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