Singer-songwriter SZA expressed her loathing for AI yet again, this time after discovering that 238 of her songs were used to train AI models. She took to Instagram to share a screenshot of her name entered into the search bar of an AI music database and found out so.
“If you’re a musician and support this degenerative s—? You’re disgusting, and there’s NOTHING YOU COULD EVER SAY TO ME TO MAKE THIS OKAY”, she shared. On her more private account, she said that Suno “is actively attempting to train it on the best and brightest Black minds of writers and producers.”
Suno is an AI music-generating platform that has received severe backlash from artists worldwide for stealing their music without their consent. The Atlantic recently released a searchable database to help artists track whether their music has been fed to AI models such as Suno and Udio. This has led countless artists on Twitter to check the same,and the extent to which their work has been swept to train AI is beyond alarming.
User @ MUSTDIEmusic wrote on Twitter, “Tons of my back catalogue was used without my knowledge or consent to train AI to copy me and give a bunch of talentless losers the ability to pretend to have a purpose in life.”
SZA stressed on how this issue has plagued the Black community particularly. “We make up 13% of the American population yet influence the world with our sound and perspective. I AIN’T HEARD A WHITE AI SONG YET…We have no protection in legislature, medical or creative. The easiest to steal from.”
In an interview earlier in March, SZA also talked about fellow Black artist and Grammy-winning singer Olivia Dean’s music being stolen by AI: “Why am I hearing AI covers of Olivia Dean, when she just came the f— out? She can’t even collect the streams. I’m also really offended by the type of Black music that’s coming out of AI. Weird, stereotypical struggle music.” In a comment under an Instagram post regarding AI, SZA urged everyone to be informed about environmental racism, saying, “THERE IS A PRICE FOR CONVENIENCE AND BLACK AND BROWN (communities) WILL PAY THE BRUNT OF IT EVERY TIME”.
SZA slammed music producer Diplo for endorsing the use of artificial intelligence in music by having equity in Suno. Though it is not confirmed that Diplo has invested in Suno, he has affirmed his stance on supporting the use of AI before. He said in an interview that “there’s no fighting AI” and that “ 99% of people are going to wanna love the best product made the quickest, made the cheapest – that’s what the American economy is.”
This is not the first time that artificial intelligence is receiving attention as the music industry’s major crisis. Earlier in 2024, over 200 artists including Billie Eilish, Bon Jovi, J Balvin, Stevie Wonder and Katy Perry signed an open letter against the “predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”
With the explosion of generative AI into the mainstream, concerns regarding AI entering creative spaces such as music and film industries are coming to the forefront. SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said, “The creative industries are one example of an area where, if we don’t have that kind of human-centred approach to the implementation of AI, we run the risk of losing the heart and soul of the creative industries, their whole raison d’être (reason for existence).”
This article is written by Hridya Lakkadi, a student of CBIT, interning with Deccan Chronicle.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
