Billie Eilish, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, and others sign open letter against the unauthorized usage of AI in the music industry

Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Camila Cabello, Zayn Malik, and J Balvin are among the 200 artists who have called for the termination of the "predatory" use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the music industry.

On April 2, 2024, an artist-led, non-profit advocacy organization called Artist Rights Alliance issued an open letter to digital music developers, urging them to "cease the use of AI to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists." In part, the letter stated:

"We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal artists' voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem."

The letter further added:

"We call on all digital music platforms and music-based services 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 us fair compensation for our work."

Billie Eilish and several other famous artists backed the organization ARA by signing the open letter.

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Around 200 artists including Billie Eilish, Katy Perry and more sign open letter warning about AI threat to musicians

On Tuesday, the Artist Rights Alliance (ARA) posted an open letter on a long-form writing site called Medium. The organization has raised the alarm about the use of songs by Artificial Intelligence developers without an artist's permission. Digital music developers then train and produce massive quantities of AI "sounds" and "images" that dilute royalty obligations.

Around 200 artists signed the open letter, including Billie Eilish's brother FINNEAS, Norwegian singer Astrid, and more.

Several tech giants including YouTube have tested AI tools that make music. The executive director of ARA, Jen Jacobsen, said in a lengthy statement that:

"Working musicians are already struggling to make ends meet in the streaming world, and now they have the added burden of trying to compete with a deluge of AI-generated noise. The unethical use of generative AI to replace human artists will devalue the entire music ecosystem — for artists and fans alike."

The arrival of Artificial Intelligence has allowed these digital developers to use a vocal sample to transform songs they produce into ones that sound like the voice of renowned human artists, such as Drake, or Billie Eilish. The celebrities neither know about the samples nor permit the song’s creation.

Among the 200+ artists, songwriters and producers from varied genres, generations, and continents, have signed the letter. The list includes the names of budding artists like Ayra Starr and music legends such as Smokey Robinson. Even big South Korean entertainment companies like HYBE have also shown their support.

Furthermore, ARA executive director Jacobsen also pointed out that all artists must understand AI's potential. He wrote:

"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."

He added:

"Unfortunately, some platforms and developers are employing AI to sabotage creativity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians and rightsholders."

The Artist Rights Alliance warned that if left unchecked, AI "will set in motion a race to the bottom" that would degrade the value of songwriters like Billie Eilish and Katy Perry's work and even prevent them from being fairly compensated.

However, not all celebrities oppose the progress or use of AI in the music industry. Electronic artists Grimes and DJ David Guetta are among those who have backed the use of such AI tools.

According to the GrimesAI platform, users can transform their own voice samples into a “GrimesAI voiceprint” and credit the platform as a main or featured artist. The tracks made by those developers will be subject to a 50% royalty split with the Canadian musician if she approves the collaboration.

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The artists mentioned in the open letter including Billie Eilish have not given individual statements about Artificial Intelligence yet.