Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Steve Mack/GrandeDuc
Topics: Celebrity, Music, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, TikTok
Ali Condon
Topics: Celebrity, Music, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, TikTok
I don't know if you've noticed, but AI is sort of having a moment right now.
Ice Cube has noticed... and he isn't happy.
People are using it to make images, videos and code, optimise their work, teach them new things, and even just have a friendly chat.
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One of AI's strangest uses at the moment is creating fake music tracks using real artist's voices.
On TikTok, you can find people who have used AI to generate versions of their favourite songs sung by whoever they want, from Frank Ocean to Ariana Grande to The Weeknd.
A popular trend right now among AI users is having the voice of controversial rapper Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, sing songs that'd be totally out of character for him, from Ice Spice and PinkPantheress's 'Boy's A Liar' to Lana Del Ray's 'Summertime Sadness'. Some have even gone as far as to generate versions of Ye's voice singing songs by Taylor Swift, just to really make the most of the gimmick.
Meanwhile, an AI-generated track of Drake's voice singing Ice Spice's 'Munch' has gone viral ten times over.
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It all seems like a bit of fun at first but, legally, it's a little bit murky.
Ice Cube is the latest artist to call out AI and this bizarre music trend.
The rapper threatened to take legal action against anyone who uses his voice to create an AI-generated track - and I wouldn't be one to call Cube's bluff.
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Speaking to the Full Send podcast, the former NWA member said: "I don't wanna hear an AI Drake song... Yeah, I don't wanna hear that bulls**t. He should sue whoever made it."
When host Kyle Forgeard asked Cube what he would do if he found someone had done the same with his voice, he swiftly replied: "I’mma sue the motherf***er who made it and the people and the platform who play it.
"It’s like a sample, you know what I mean? Somebody can’t take your original voice and manipulate it without having to pay."
He added: "I think AI is demonic [and] I think AI is going to get a backlash from organic people."
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Cube is far from the first person to call out this copyright landmine.
Universal Music Group (UMG) has called on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music to outright ban AI generators from training on copyrighted songs.
The music giant has also been sending takedown requests to streamers who post AI-generated tracks on the likes of TikTok on YouTube, but since AI is ever-expanding and creating, it seems like there won't be a very straightforward solution to this problem.
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That is, unless you p*** off Ice Cube.