Recently, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed a lawsuit against music generation startups Udio and Suno. On June 24th, the RIAA accused these two companies of using copyrighted music to train their models.

AI Music Artificial Intelligence (3)

Image source note: The image is generated by AI, provided by the image licensing service provider Midjourney

In court documents filed on Thursday, Suno admitted to using copyrighted songs to train its AI model but claimed that this was legal under the doctrine of fair use.

Mikey Shulman, CEO and co-founder of Suno, stated in a blog post published on the same day as the legal documents: "We trained our model on mid-to-high quality music available on the open internet... A lot of content on the open internet indeed contains copyrighted material, some of which belongs to major record companies."

Shulman also argued that training their AI model on data from the "open internet" is no different from "a child listening to rock songs and then creating their own," and he emphasized: "Learning is not infringement. It never has been, and it isn't now."

However, the RIAA responded: "This is a significant fact they have been trying to hide for months, only admitting when forced by litigation. Their massive infringement does not fit the 'fair use' doctrine. There is nothing fair about stealing an artist's life work, extracting its core value, and repackaging it to directly compete with the original... Their vision of the 'future of music' clearly intends to prevent fans from enjoying music from their favorite artists, as these artists can no longer make a living from it."

The issue of fair use is never simple, and for AI model training, even established principles may not apply. The outcome of this case, still in its early stages, could set a influential precedent, not only affecting the future of these two named startups but also potentially impacting more related fields.

Key Points:

  1. 🎶RIAA sues Udio and Suno for using copyrighted music to train models.
  2. 💻Suno admits to using copyrighted music for model training but claims it as fair use.
  3. 👀The outcome of the case may set a precedent that impacts related fields.