Jonas Brothers, Katy Perry, 200 other artists write open letter warning against AI replacing human artists

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for several years, but interest in the technology reached its peak when OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT in 2022. Since then, a lot of companies have come up with their own AI tools that are trained on vast amounts of data generated by humans. And this has often sparked controversy and original creators of the content feel that AI is a threat to them. A couple of months back, hundreds of authors had teamed up to sue OpenAI for using their books without permission to train their LLMs. Now, more than 200 musicians have come together for a similar cause. The collective effort represents one of the strongest positions taken by the music industry to safeguard the rights of artists amidst the rapid advancements in AI technology.

According to a report in Rolling Stone, more than 200 artists, including big names like Billie Eilish, Katy Perry, Jonas Brothers and Smokey Robinson, have joined forces to address the growing concerns regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the music industry. Spearheaded by the non-profit Artist Rights Alliance, these musicians have signed the open letter urging AI developers, technology companies, and digital platforms to stop practices that infringe upon the rights of human artists.

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While acknowledging the potential benefits of AI when used responsibly, the artists warned against its misuse to sabotage creativity and exploit artists and rights holders.

The artists’ letter talks about the potential risks posed by AI technology, particularly highlighting threats such as deepfakes, voice cloning, and the unauthorised use of musical works to train AI models. These practices, the musicians argue, not only undermine the creative integrity of artists but also jeopardise their livelihoods by diluting royalty payments and devaluing their contributions to the music ecosystem.

“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 artist. For many working musicians, artists and songwriters who are just trying to make ends meet, this would be catastrophic,” the letter reads.

In addition to this, the artists are also calling for a commitment from AI developers and digital platforms to refrain from deploying AI music-generation technology that undermines human artistry or deprives artists of fair compensation.

Moreover, the Artist Rights Alliance is also asking AI companies “to pledge that 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 them fair compensation for their work.”