Billie Eilish, Katy Perry, Pearl Jam... More than 200 artists call to protect musical creation in the face of AI

Billie Eilish, Katy Perry, Pearl Jam... More than 200 renowned artists call for better protection of creation and authors' rights in the face of threats posed by artificial intelligence, which can "destroy the music ecosystem", in an open letter released Tuesday. The development of so-called generative AI raises fears of numerous threats to artistic creation, notably with the possibility of replicating famous voices.

“We must protect ourselves against the predatory use of AI to steal the voices and likenesses of professional artists, violate the rights of creators and destroy the music ecosystem,” also write Nicki Minaj, Norah Jones, Smokey Robinson, Camila Cabello, and the heirs of Bob Marley or Frank Sinatra in this open letter carried by the organization Artist Rights Alliance.

“We call on all digital music platforms and music services to commit not to develop or deploy AI music generation technologies, content or tools that undermine or replace art human rights of songwriters and artists, or who deprive us of fair remuneration for our work,” we can still read in this letter also signed by the groups Pearl Jam and REM.

For the signatories of the letter, artificial intelligence holds "enormous potential to advance human creativity", but "some of the largest and most powerful companies are using our work without our authorization to train models of AI”.

Also readHow AI threatens the music industry

Last month, the state of Tennessee - one of the nerve centers of the music industry thanks to Nashville - was the first in the United States to pass a law aimed at protecting music industry professionals against threats of AI with its “ELVIS Act” (“Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act”). The law, which will come into force on July 1 and has been welcomed by leading players in the music industry, notably prohibits generative AI tools from reproducing an artist's voice without their consent. Similar legislation is under consideration at the federal level, in the U.S. Congress, and in several other states.

Music industry giant Universal Music Group cited AI as one of the breaking factors in its negotiations with social network TikTok, which resulted in the platform removing music from many UMG artists.