The battle between the music industry and artificial intelligence has intensified. A coalition of prominent record labels, led by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), has filed copyright infringement lawsuits against two leading AI music companies, Suno and Udio. The lawsuits, filed in federal courts in Boston and New York, respectively, allege that both companies engaged in widespread unauthorised use of copyrighted sound recordings to train their AI models.
The lawsuits mark a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between artists, record labels, and AI technology companies. "These are straightforward cases of copyright infringement involving unlicensed copying of sound recordings on a massive scale," stated RIAA chief legal officer Ken Doroshow in a press release. "Suno and Udio are attempting to hide the full scope of their infringement rather than putting their services on a sound and lawful footing.”
The plaintiffs assert that Suno and Udio have used copyrighted works from artists across various genres and eras without obtaining proper licenses or consent. They are seeking substantial damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work, in addition to other legal fees.
Claims of Confidentiality and AI's Ability to Mimic Human Expression
The lawsuits detail instances where the record labels confronted Suno and Udio about their use of copyrighted material. Both companies, however, allegedly deflected these accusations, claiming that their training data was “confidential business information.”
The complaint against Suno argues that the company's ability to produce “convincing imitations of such a vast range of human musical expression at the quality that Suno touts” is a direct result of their unauthorised use of copyrighted sound recordings. "If Suno had taken efforts to avoid copying Plaintiffs’ sound recordings and ingesting them into its AI model, Suno’s service would not be able to reproduce the convincing imitations of such a vast range of human musical expression at the quality that Suno touts,” the complaint reads.
Growing Concerns About AI in Music and Beyond
This legal action follows a pattern of increasing tension between the music industry and AI developers. Last year, UMG and other music publishers sued Anthropic for distributing copyrighted song lyrics through their AI chatbot, Claude 2.
The rise of AI-generated music, capable of convincingly replicating the voices of popular artists, has sparked widespread concern within the music industry. Artists and labels fear that their creative work is being exploited without compensation and that AI-generated "deepfakes" could undermine their control over their own musical identities.
As AI technology continues to advance, the debate over copyright, compensation, and the ethical use of creative works in AI training data is likely to intensify. This legal battle between the music industry giants and Suno and Udio is just one example of the complex challenges that lie ahead as AI becomes increasingly integrated into the creative landscape.