Musicians: What are the ethical, legal implications of using AI?
Attorney Chris Castle joined Michael Brandvold and Jay Gilbert on a new Music Biz Weekly podcast to discuss the ethical and legal implications of using AI from a musicians perspective. WATCH & LISTEN HERE.
Musicians: What are the ethical and legal implications of using AI?
Before you use AI in your career, there are a few things you should be aware of with regards to ethics and legalities.
The discussion focused on AI’s impact on the music industry, particularly its legal and ethical implications for artists. Chris emphasized the importance of understanding that AI relies on existing works, highlighting a recent $1.5 billion settlement in a copyright infringement case involving AI. He advised artists to consider the ethical implications of using AI and to be aware that AI platforms may not always provide accurate information about the sources of their content.
Chris explained how AI systems process and deduplicate content, noting that while they may claim not to keep records, they actually need to track what they’ve ingested to avoid duplicate copies that could skew AI models. He described the process of model weighting, where multiple instances of the same content are analyzed to determine importance, and explained that this requires the system to know what content it has already processed.
The three discussed the ethical and legal implications of artists using AI tools to create content, focusing on copyright issues and responsibility. Chris explained that AI labs may face the brunt of legal consequences due to joint and several liability, while also noting the importance of understanding the difference between using AI as a tool versus asking it to create content that infringes on others’ intellectual property.
The conversation also touched on the role of style prompts and the potential for AI to reflect cultural and ethical knowledge, concluding with a discussion about the impact of AI on various industries, including film and music.
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