The first AI music video that Jered Chavez, a 19-year-old student at the University of South Florida, posted on Instagram It was amazing: Drake, Ye and Kendrick Lamar singing “Fukashigi no Karte”, the closing song of Rascal does not dream of the bunny Senpaia popular anime series on the Internet. “I thought it was a cool concept,” Chavez said. “I’m clearly not the first to start this, but what makes my page stand out is that I try to put a little twist on it and add a comedy aspect to it.”
The student said the comedic approach is designed in part to insulate him from the risks associated with creating the work. “In this area of AI, there is a lot of controversy and ethical concerns,” Chavez added. “Obviously, the people who make this music and use this AI take someone’s image and, most of the time without permission, create something that essentially puts words in people’s mouths.”
Chavez noted that this could be especially problematic when it comes to using generative AI to replicate the voices of dead artists. “They’re not there to give approval and we don’t really know what they would want,” he said. That doesn’t seem to bother those in the back. BohemianRhapsod.aiwhich allows users to lead a chorus of 16 AI-generated Freddie Mercury covers through perhaps Queen’s most famous hit.
While a consensus is forming that generative AI is potentially problematic, no one really knows whether amateur creators are on shaky legal ground or not. Pieawsome said he considers what he does the equivalent of modding a game or producing fanfiction based on a popular book. “It’s our version of that,” he said. “That may be a good thing. It may be a bad thing. I don’t know. But it’s an inevitable thing that was going to happen.”
Jonathan Bailey, former chief technology officer at Soundwide, a music technology company, has a different opinion. “I think a compelling argument can be made that using AI to reanimate Jay-Z’s voice to rap or sing something he never created is a form of identity theft,” he said.
“I’m not a lawyer,” Bailey added. Attorney Donald Passman of Gang, Tire, Ramer, Brown & Passman, Inc., who has represented major artists such as Adele and Taylor Swift throughout his storied career, declined to comment on the use of AI to imitate the artists in this story. He said he did not want to say anything that would be inconsistent with a position he might later take in court. “It’s too new,” Passman said of the technology.
Some record labels seem to have already made up their minds. Discord servers that focus on AI have reported that many YouTube channels that post AI-generated music have suffered copyright takedowns. “I guess that’s one way to approach it,” Chavez said. “But honestly, now that this technology is available, I don’t think people are going to stop using it.
“The responsibility lies in the judgment of the people who are doing [AI-generated music]” he continued. “I try to use my best judgment. “This is new territory for everyone.”
