FILE - Nicki Minaj appears at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York on Aug. 20, 2018. Minaj will receive the Video Vanguard Award at the MTV Awards later this month. Minaj, who has won five MTV trophies for such hits as “Anaconda,” “Chun-Li” and “Hot Girl Summer,” will get the award and perform at the ceremony on Aug. 28 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
The letter, while acknowledging the creative possibilities of new AI technology, addresses some of its threats to human artistry. Those include using preexisting work to train AI models — without permissions — in an attempt to replace artists and therefore “substantially dilute the royalty pools that are paid out to artists.”
“This assault on human creativity must be stopped," the letter reads. "We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”Last month, Tennessee became the first state to pass legislation designed to protect songwriters, performers and other music industry professionals against the potential dangers of artificial intelligence.
The bill — dubbed the Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act or “ELVIS Act” — goes into effect July 1. “We employ more people in Tennessee in the music industry than any other state,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee told reporters shortly after signing the bill into law. “Artists have intellectual property. They have gifts. They have a uniqueness that is theirs and theirs alone, certainly not artificial intelligence.”