Record companies sue two US AI companies over copyright

Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Records sued artificial intelligence (AI) companies Suno and Udio on Monday, accusing them of violating copyright by using their recordings to train next generation AI systems. of music.

The companies copied music without permission to teach their systems to create music that will “directly compete with, cheapen and ultimately suppress” the work of human artists, according to federal lawsuits filed against Udio in New York and Suno in Massachusetts .

“Our technology is transformative; was designed to generate completely new results, not to memorize and regurgitate preexisting content,” Suno Chief Executive Mikey Shulman said in a statement.

Udio representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the complaints.

The complaints allege that Suno and Udio users have been able to recreate elements of songs including “My Girl” by The Temptations, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey and “I Got You (I Feel Good) )” by James Brown, and could generate vocals that are “indistinguishable” from those of musicians such as Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and the group ABBA.

The record companies are asking the courts for damages of up to US$150,000 (about R$800,000) for music that the defendants allegedly copied. They accused Suno of copying 662 songs and Udio of copying 1,670 songs.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Suno and New York-based Udio have raised millions of dollars in funding this year for their AI systems, which create music in response to users’ text commands.

“Unlicensed services like Suno and Udio that claim it is ‘fair’ to copy an artist’s life’s work and exploit it for their own profit without consent or payment roll back the promise of genuinely innovative AI for us all,” he said. Mitch Glazier, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in a statement.

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*With reporting by Blake Brittain, in Washington