Sony Music, the world’s largest music publisher representing stars like Beyonce and Adele, has sent letters to Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. These letters demand to know if these companies have used Sony’s songs to develop their AI systems.
Sony Music is prohibiting anyone from training, developing, or profiting from AI using its songs without permission. In letters sent to over 700 firms, Sony expressed concerns that these companies “may already have made unauthorized uses” of its music. This issue has led Sony Music to give these companies a deadline to respond, warning that it will enforce its copyright to the fullest extent allowed by law, including under the upcoming EU AI Act.
Both Google and OpenAI have developed AI that can generate music, but it’s unclear what data they used. In its detailed letter, Sony Music has asked the firms to disclose:
– Which songs it owns were used to train AI systems
– How the songs were accessed, such as through streaming services
– The number of copies made, their current status, and their duration of existence
– The necessity for such copies to exist for the time they did
This issue is part of a larger debate about the data used to train AI tools and whether permission was sought to use it. For instance, chatbots may learn from billions of books, and image-generating tools from millions of images. Similarly, AI that creates music might have been trained on countless songs, some owned by Sony Music.
Sony Music indicated that even a portion of a song could be considered a copy and expressed a willingness to negotiate licensing agreements for future use. It remains uncertain if any AI firms used Sony’s music for training or if any laws were broken. In both the EU and the US, there are ongoing questions about whether training AI on such content constitutes copyright infringement or falls under fair use and “temporary copying” exceptions.
Saidot Firm lawyer, Nana Nwachukwu noted that under current EU rules, training AI models with copyrighted music “may constitute a copyright infringement.” However, exceptions exist for businesses with “lawful access” to the music, provided it is in the public domain or licensed for AI training.
The upcoming EU AI Act will introduce stricter requirements, including the obligation to publicly disclose detailed summaries of the training data used and ensure compliance with copyright laws.
The legality of using copyrighted content for AI training will be tested in several US court cases involving prominent figures like George RR Martin and Sarah Silverman. Meanwhile, Sony Music’s rival, Universal Music, has also taken legal action against AI firm Antrophic in the US, claiming copyright infringement over song lyrics.
