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Musicians Sue AI Over Identity Theft
1 Sep
Summary
- AI music firm Suno is accused of using artists' identities without consent.
- Lawsuit claims AI models are trained on artists' unique attributes.
- Filters meant to prevent artist impersonation are allegedly easy to bypass.
A group of musicians, including Jason Isbell, David Lowery, Guy Forsyth, and Ed Calle, have filed a lawsuit against AI music giant Suno. The suit alleges that Suno has unlawfully trained its AI models on the identities of popular artists, violating right-of-publicity laws and exploiting their likenesses for commercial benefit.
The lawsuit claims Suno "encoded" artists' identities into its AI, allowing users to generate music, descriptions, and graphics that evoke specific musicians. Examples cited include AI-generated songs like "Paper Bell" imitating Jason Isbell, "Stone Blues in My Shoes" for Buddy Guy, and "Soft 70s confessional pop" for Carly Simon.
Plaintiffs argue that Suno's purported filters to prevent such prompting are easily bypassed. The suit details methods like using an artist's real name or inserting spaces between letters of a stage name, such as "m i c h a e l j a c k s o n," to generate content reminiscent of iconic artists.
Suno's CEO, Mikey Shulman, previously stated that their platform does not allow prompts for specific artists. However, the lawsuit contends that these alleged safeguards are insufficient and that the AI exploits artists' identifying attributes, turning them into "tokens" for commercial exploitation.
