Sony Bans Use Of Copyright Rights For Artificial Intelligence Development

Beyoncé, one of the artists protected by Sony Music from the AI (photo: x @sonymusic)

JAKARTA - On May 16, a letter from Sony spread to more than 700 companies warning that Sony was banning the use of its music for training, development, or commercialization of artificial intelligence systems (AI). Sony also rejected any form of text and data mining from its content.

The letter states that Sony and the artists he represented "recognizable of great potential and advances in artificial intelligence." However, "unlicensed use... in training, development, or commercialization of the AI system robs [Sony] of proper control and compensation."

Sony represents some of the biggest music artists today, including Beyoncé, Adele, and Harry Styles, among many other world artists.

The letter was sent to AI technology developers, including several leading developers such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google, as well as music streaming service providers such as Spotify and Apple Music.

Sony asked companies to adopt "best practices" to protect artists and songwriters as well as warn against mining and data research without approval, asking streaming services to update their service requirements to emphasize the ban on data mining and training on their content.

The letter also informs developers that it is due to the nature of their operations and published information about their AI systems. "We have reason to believe that you and/or your affiliates may have made use without permission [Sony content] related to the training, development, or commercialization of AI systems," Sony said.

Sony insists a ban on the use of "automatic analysis techniques aimed at analyzing text and data in digital form to generate information, including patterns, trends, and correlations."

Sony gives developers a week-long deadline to provide details of all the content used for their models.

According to reports, Sony executives are already worried that a large number of company music has been "stealed" and want to explain the first legal steps to be taken.

The music industry has been active in fighting AI technology that utilizes artists or abuses copyrighted content, although not limited to the music industry alone. Other writers, actors, and creatives who regularly publish works have opened lawsuits or formed coalitions against major AI developers in an effort to gather bargaining power in the use of their content illegally.