Sony's AI warning: Must read
Sony has sent over 700 letters to tech companies who have used its music content to train their AI models, without permission
Sony Music Group (SMG) has sent letters to over 700 (undisclosed) tech companies–which are thought to include Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI–and music streaming services declaring it’s “opting out” of having its content used to train AI, demanding to know what content has already been used to train AI, and warning them never to use its music to train AI models, without permission.
What Sony’s letter includes
Sony’s letter to each recipient says that it has reason to believe that they have already used its content–which includes musical compositions, lyrics, audio recordings, audio-visual recordings, artwork, images, and data–to train AI models, without permission, and wants details about which songs were used, how the songs were accessed, how many copies were made, and why these copies existed in the first place.
It goes on to say that they must not use any of its music to “train, develop or commercialize any AI systems” and any AI developer who wishes to use its content will need explicit permission.
It then gives a deadline for a response and states that “it will enforce its copyright to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law” which is likely referring to the recently passed EU AI Act which requires AI developers to publicly establish what content was used to train its models.
Why has Sony sent this letter?
Sony maintains that while it recognizes the potential of AI in the music industry, “unauthorized use of its content in the training, development or commercialization of AI systems deprives it and its artists of control and appropriate compensation.”
“Evolutions in technology have frequently shifted the course of creative industries. AI will likely continue that long-standing trend. However, that innovation must ensure that songwriters’ and recording artists’ rights, including copyrights, are respected.” – Sony Music Group
This also comes after their biggest rival–Universal Music–recently filed a lawsuit against Anthropic, claiming they had used hundreds of its lyrics, without permission, to train its AI chatbot–Claude–infringing copyright.
Copyright infringement is a growing issue across all creative industries, but especially in Music, but it seems like regulations are coming through to stop unauthorized access to content.
For instance, Adam Schiff, California Democratic Representative, introduced new legislation in the US that means, if it’s passed, AI companies will need to disclose which copyrighted songs they have used to train AI.