Universal Music and Google in talks over deal to combat AI deep fakes: Report
Universal Music Group — one of the world’s leading music companies — and Google are in negotiations to license melodies and vocal tracks of artists to be used in songs generated by artificial intelligence (AI), according to a report from the Financial Times.
The talks have been confirmed by what the FT reports are “four people familiar with the matter.” The companies are reportedly aiming to create a partnership between the music industry and Big Tech in order to manage the rampant emergence of AI-generated deep fakes.
Mainstream AI usage has sparked concern among major music industry leaders due to the amount of “deep fakes” using musicians’ likenesses. Clips of AI-generated Drake and Kanye West began to go viral around April. Many have since been taken down.
The fact that this AI generated audio of Kanye West doing a cover of Drake's "Hold On, We're Going Home" sounds just like the real Kanye is scary and exciting.The scary part: AI will never be this worst again.Exciting part: this could unlock new doors of creativity. pic.twitter.com/u5RfmpKTcT
Reportedly, the discussions between the two industry giants are still in the early stages, with no impending product launch or guidelines. However, the FT sources say the goal is to develop a tool for creating tracks legally with copyrights rightly attributed.
The sources said that artists would have the right to opt in for their voices and music to be used. Another source claimed that Warner Music Group (WMG) has also been in conversation with Google regarding a similar product.
Cointelegraph reached out to WMG for further information but has not received a response.
Related: Music with AI elements can win a Grammy, Recording Academy CEO says
In April, Universal Music
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