Core Music Principles for Artificial Intelligence Applications in Support of Human Creativity and Accomplishment

• Human-created music will continue to play an essential role in our lives. 

Music shapes our identity, values, and worldview. People relate most deeply to songs that embody the lived experience, perceptions, and attitudes of others. Only humans can create and fully realize songs written, recorded, and performed with such specific meaning. Art cannot exist independent of human culture.

• Technology has long empowered artists, and AI will be no different.

For generations, various technologies have been used successfully to support human creativity, especially in music. From piano rolls to amplification to guitar pedals to synthesizers to drum machines to digital audio workstations, beat libraries and stems and beyond, musical creators have long used technology to express their visions through different voices, instruments, and devices. AI already is and will increasingly play that role as a tool to assist the music creation process, allowing for a wider range of people to express themselves creatively, and with increasing frequency, through music. 

Moreover, AI has many valuable uses outside of the creative process itself, including those that amplify artist and fan connections, hone personalized recommendations, identify songs quickly and accurately, assist with tour planning, automate and enhance efficient payment systems – and more. We embrace these technological advances. 

• Use of copyrighted works, and use of the voices and likenesses of professional performers, requires authorization, licensing, and compliance with all relevant state and federal laws.

We fully recognize the immense potential of AI to push the boundaries for knowledge and scientific progress.  However, as with predecessor technologies, the use of copyrighted works requires permission from the copyright owner. AI must be subject to free-market licensing for the use of music in the development and training of AI models aimed at generating music on the back of artists’ creativity – artists and copyright owners must retain exclusive control over determining how their content is used. Companies must ensure any content used for training purposes is approved and licensed from the copyright owner, including content previously used by any pre-trained AIs they may adopt. Additionally, media artists’ likenesses must only be used with the artists’ consent and fair compensation for specific uses of a likeness.

• Governments should not create new copyright exemptions that allow AI developers to exploit copyrighted works without permission or compensation.

AI must not receive unjustified exemptions from copyright law or other intellectual property requirements and must comply with core principles of fair competition, fair compensation, and consumer protection. Creating special shortcuts or legal loopholes for AI would harm creative livelihoods, damage artist brands, and limit incentives to create and invest in new works. 

• Creators’ interests must be represented in policymaking. 

Policymakers must consider the interests of human creators when crafting policy around AI. Creators live on the forefront of, and are building and inspiring, evolutions of technology and as such need a seat at the table in any conversations regarding legislation, regulation, or government priorities regarding AI that would impact their creativity and the way it affects their industry and livilihood.

• Copyright should only protect the unique value of human intellectual creativity.

Copyright protection exists to help incentivize and reward human creativity, skill, labor, and judgment -not output solely generated by machines. Human creators, whether they use traditional instruments or express their musical creativity using computers, are the foundation of the music industry and we must ensure that human creators are paid for their work.  

• Trustworthiness requires transparency – both are essential to the success of AI and protection of music creators. 

Complete recordkeeping of copyrighted works, including the way in which they were used to develop and train any AI system, is essential. Algorithmic transparency and clear identification of a work’s provenance are foundational to AI trustworthiness. In addition to obtaining appropriate licenses, automonously generated AI music should be labeled describing all inputs and methodology used to create it, informing consumer choices, and protecting artists, songwriters, producers, and all rightsholders from practices that seek to freeride off their creativity and investments.

This content was originally published here.