In an interview with BBC News, Spotify boss Daniel Ek revealed that the company will not ban music created by artificial intelligence (AI) on its platform. He said that AI music is legitimate but should not be used to impersonate artists without their permission; It removed some music earlier this year that used the voices of AI-clones of Drake and The Weeknd.

Ek described to the BBC three categories of AI. He said that tools like auto-tune were fine because they could improve the music but tools that imitated artists were not. He also described a “controversial medium” where artificial intelligence is used to create music that is influenced by existing artists, but does not impersonate them directly.

One of the first apps people discovered with ChatGPT when it launched was its ability to spit out lines of poetry in seconds. Tools like DALL-E can also create artwork with simple guidance from the user. Similarly, there are also tools that can create music.

Enabling AI music on Spotify is probably a smart thing to do. Spotify’s main appeal is its massive music library that can be accessed for free. If AI music ever becomes a significant niche in the music market, then creators will be able to offer it through Spotify.

In an interview, Daniel Ek said that the issue of artificial intelligence in music will probably be discussed for ‘many, many years’. Because of its automatic nature, some people think it can’t really be put on the same level as music from humans that received emotional input and requires effort to produce.

If AI does make its way into popular music, it will essentially be indistinguishable to most listeners. However, for creators, who may be affected by the use of AI financially, this is certainly a contentious issue.

source: BBC news