Canadian Artist Grimes Allows People To Make AI Songs Using Her Voice

On 24th April 2023, Claire Boucher, stage name Grimes, via a tweet, welcomed musicians, or rather, AI model users to generate and create new songs with her voice using Artificial Intelligence.

Grimes tweeted, 鈥淚鈥檒l split 50% royalties on any successful AI-generated song that uses my voice. Same deal as I would with any artist I Collab with. Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings.鈥

The Canadian artist went on to add that she is currently working on software that will be able to simulate her voice well. She also added that she is open to releasing vocal tracks for people to use to train AI models.

Grimes鈥 announcement comes about a week after the release of a controversial AI song using the voices of Drake and The Weeknd titled 鈥淗eart On My Sleeve.鈥 Generative AI models have taken the world by storm over the past few months. They have had several sectors in turmoil including education, art, music, and even politics.

Artificial Intelligence and Music

In recent weeks, there has been a flurry of AI-generated tracks that feature vocals from popular artists including the likes of Drake, Kanye West, Ice Spice, Michael Jackson, and many others. Many have used AI models to produce covers of popular songs while others have written and generated entirely new songs using the vocals of a separate artist.

However, the problem AI poses to the music industry, became clear when 鈥淗eart On My Sleeve was released with almost indistinguishable vocals from those of The Weeknd and Drake. The song was posted on several platforms and gained millions of views before being taken down due to copyright infringement.

Following the attention gathered by the 鈥渇ake鈥 song, Drake鈥檚 record label, Universal Music Group (UMG) was quick to respond. The label called for the song as well as other AI-generated songs to be banned from music streaming platforms.

In a statement, the label noted, 鈥淭he training of generative AI using our artists鈥 music鈥 was 鈥渁 violation of copyright law鈥. Despite the song being removed swiftly from the platforms, there is no legal backing as of yet, to back UMG’s claims.

Another issue that has plagued AI models, is their use to spread violent, anti-semitic, and even politically biased productions. To this end, many models have resorted to banning and even restricting some words and prompts. For example, the image generation AI model, Midjourney has banned the word 鈥渁rrest鈥.

When questioned on what she would do if people were to use her voice to produce violent and antisemitic songs, Grimes said, 鈥(I) may do copyright takedowns ONLY for rly rly toxic lyrics鈥 or if the songs were 鈥渁nti-abortion or [something] like that,鈥 The Guardian reports.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the only rule… [I] don鈥檛 wanna be responsible for a Nazi anthem unless it鈥檚 somehow in jest, a la Producers I guess,鈥 she added.

However, there is an issue with her response on the cause of action if there was such a case. In March the US Copyright Office made a ruling that it is impossible to copyright AI-generated art (including music) since it is 鈥渘ot the product of human authorship.鈥

The music industry like many others, finds itself in unchartered waters as far as the use of AI is concerned. While Music labels are adamant in fighting AI, it is clear that there are those, like Grimes, who have (or will) decided to embrace the chaos.

Grimes, who has 2 children with Twitter CEO and developer of X.AI Elon Musk is in no way new to AI and she has utilized it before. She worked with the music label Endel in 2020 to produce an AI-generated lullaby for her baby X 脝 A-12.

She remarked, “I think AI is great,” to the New York Times. In terms of creativity, I believe AI can take the place of people. Therefore, I believe that as a species, we should eventually discuss how much AI will influence the arts.

Will more artists follow in Grimes鈥 footsteps or will they view AI as the antagonist to their careers, only time will tell.

Planning a trip to Paris ? Get ready !


These are聽础尘补锄辞苍’蝉听产别蝉迟-蝉别濒濒颈苍驳聽travel products that you may need for coming to Paris.

Bookstore

  1. The best travel book : Rick Steves – Paris 2023 –听
  2. Fodor’s Paris 2024 –听

Travel Gear

  1. Venture Pal Lightweight Backpack –听
  2. Samsonite Winfield 2 28″ Luggage –听
  3. Swig Savvy’s Stainless Steel Insulated Water Bottle聽–听

We sometimes read this list just to find out what new travel products people are buying.