Another day, another grand scheme to save the music industry with artificial intelligence. Despite the Grammys and JUNOS deciding that AI-generated songs (mostly) shouldn't be eligible for awards, YouTube has taken a page out of Grimes's Karl Marx-authored book and is developing its own AI tool to let creators sound like famous musicians, Billboard reports.
YouTube creators will soon be able to make videos using the voices of major pop stars with an officially licensed version of those AI deepfake programs. Although the beta version is taking longer to launch than expected because of ongoing major label negotiations regarding royalties, the platform plans to start by letting a select pool of artists permit a select pool of creators to use their voices in videos uploaded to YouTube. Thereafter, the tool could be released broadly with the voices of all artists who choose to opt in.
As Billboard's Colin Stutz notes, some executives are struggling to find top-tier artists willing to participate, with "even some of the most forward-thinking acts hesitant to put their voices in the hands of unknown creators who could use them to make statements or sing lyrics they might not like."
The negotiating major labels also see this as an opportunity that would set a precedent for many AI deals to come, which is why YouTube was unable to introduce the tool at their Made on YouTube event last month.
This is just keeping up with the Joneses in today's AI-obsessed climate, with Meta recently teasing a Snoop Dogg AI chatbot. Back in August, Google and Universal were reportedly in talks to monetize AI-generated songs after Universal forced streaming services to remove "Heart on My Sleeve" — the viral hit so-called collaboration between Drake and the Weeknd that was actually AI-generated by an artist who goes by the name of Ghostwriter (who recently gave this, erm, enlightening interview) — earlier this year.
YouTube creators will soon be able to make videos using the voices of major pop stars with an officially licensed version of those AI deepfake programs. Although the beta version is taking longer to launch than expected because of ongoing major label negotiations regarding royalties, the platform plans to start by letting a select pool of artists permit a select pool of creators to use their voices in videos uploaded to YouTube. Thereafter, the tool could be released broadly with the voices of all artists who choose to opt in.
As Billboard's Colin Stutz notes, some executives are struggling to find top-tier artists willing to participate, with "even some of the most forward-thinking acts hesitant to put their voices in the hands of unknown creators who could use them to make statements or sing lyrics they might not like."
The negotiating major labels also see this as an opportunity that would set a precedent for many AI deals to come, which is why YouTube was unable to introduce the tool at their Made on YouTube event last month.
This is just keeping up with the Joneses in today's AI-obsessed climate, with Meta recently teasing a Snoop Dogg AI chatbot. Back in August, Google and Universal were reportedly in talks to monetize AI-generated songs after Universal forced streaming services to remove "Heart on My Sleeve" — the viral hit so-called collaboration between Drake and the Weeknd that was actually AI-generated by an artist who goes by the name of Ghostwriter (who recently gave this, erm, enlightening interview) — earlier this year.
