Spotify has removed more than 75 million “spammy” AI-generated music tracks from its platform in the past 12 months, the company said Thursday, as it stepped up efforts to combat the unauthorized use of AI-generated artist voices.
The Swedish audio company said it will improve its fight against impersonation violations, launch a new spam filtering system and work with partners to label tracks that use artificial intelligence.
“We envision a future where artists and producers have control over how and whether they incorporate AI into their creative processes,” Spotify said in a statement. mail on its website on Thursday. “As always, we leave these creative decisions to the artists themselves, while continuing our work to protect them from spam, impersonation and deception, and providing listeners with greater transparency about the music they hear.”
This comes as technology platforms struggle to cope with the significant increase in content generated by artificial intelligence. Although some authors mastered new technical toolsothers talk their way they hurt from people who used AI to impersonate them without their permission.
“In terms of what Spotify is doing, I think they're doing the right things for artists and doing the right things to keep Spotify intact at this point,” said Rob Enderle, chief analyst at Bend, Oregon-based advisory firm Enderle Group.
Spotify said it will only allow vocal impersonation in music if the artist allows it, and plans to reduce wait times for content inconsistency checks, “allowing artists to report inconsistency even in a preliminary state.”
“The unauthorized use of artificial intelligence to clone an artist’s voice exploits their identity, undermines their artistry, and threatens the fundamental integrity of their work,” Spotify said. “Some artists may choose to license their voice to AI projects – and that is their choice. Our job is to do everything we can to ensure that choice remains in their hands.”
The growing popularity of artificial intelligence tools will lead to an increase in the spread of online content created using the technology, including deepfakes, making it more difficult for tech companies to monitor, experts say.
“We are at the very beginning of this journey,” Enderle said. “The tools are getting more sophisticated as we speak, so this problem isn't going to get smaller, it's going to get a little bigger, and very quickly.”
