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Music AI is at the heart of a class-action lawsuit filed by musicians and producers against Google. The plaintiffs bring an argument that Google is using music content without permission, deploying it to train music-producing AI. The irony is painful for musicians, inasmuch as their work is used to train generative AI music creation. The argument specifies music which lives on Google-owned YouTube.
One might think Google would argue along the “fair use” line, but the company’s defense is based on the Terms of Service language presented to every YouTube uploader. The allowance in that ToS claims to give YouTube and its affiliates “: Google is bypassing standard “fair use” defenses. Instead, Google cites the Terms of Service for any upload, which gives Google “worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable license.”
Further, Google’s defense complains that the artists’ lawsuit failed to provide proof that specific tracks were used in AI training.
Eyes are on this case. If Google prevails, it could set an influential precedent in the legality of using source material across media categories in AI training.