How AI is creating a 'Wild West' for entertainers, music copyright, writers

Yahoo Finance entertainment reporter Allie Canal discusses the role of AI in the entertainment industry, including AI-generated voices in music tracks, AI taking the place of writers, and the possibility of lawsuits.

Video transcript

- Just about every industry is abuzz about AI, specifically generative AI. But there are some alarming wild cards that come with it, especially when it comes to the entertainment industry. Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal is here to talk about what some experts are calling a Wild West scenario. Ali, what can you tell us?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah, it's sort of this crazy moment right now when it comes to AI especially in the entertainment industry. And there have been many recent examples. One in particular is a song that went viral on TikTok called "Heart On My Sleeve." It features the AI generated voices of Drake and The Weeknd.

And it's led to a lot more questions when it comes to how these companies can really protect these artists and creators. Universal Music Group, which is the label that represents Drake, The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, a lot of really big names, they have spoken at length about the dangers of generative AI, especially if it's left unchecked.

The company says it's currently in talks with lawmakers and governments to try and protect and defend creators' rights. But proponents of AI says that it's a very tricky thing, because it's not like with this song and this example in particular, you are copying Drake's exact words or his song that he owns, but it's the voice.

And there's no current precedent for that. On top of that is that general property belongs to the person who created it. And AI isn't a legal person. So it just adds to further complications here. And it's just an incredibly fast moving space.

We've heard from Spotify CEO Daniel Ek address this as well, and it's really trying to balance, how do you leverage something like this to improve efficiencies and foster creativity, while also protecting those artists.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, that specific issue we saw a rise during the testimony over in Congress today with Sam Altman being asked about that-- you're talking about the music industry specifically, but we've obviously seen the applications of artificial intelligence in other parts of the entertainment industry. What are some of the concerns there?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Well, you can look at the current writers strike that's happening in Hollywood and, really, across the country right now as another prime example of this. The Writers Guild of America, they're demanding that restrictions be placed on the use of artificial intelligence in current and future projects. So they don't want artificial intelligence to be able to be trained on source material that real people, real writers created so that technology can then go out and spit multiple episodes or even a screenplay.

It's kind of nuts to think that that's a possibility. But it is right now. And it's a conversation happening on both sides of the aisle. The AMPTP, which negotiates on behalf of the studios, they've admitted that ongoing conversations are needed. We heard from Disney CEO Bob Iger, who said, overall, he's bullish on the prospect, but that it is going to lead to challenges and complications in the future.

- Yeah, certainly. And we just continue to have this broad conversation about generative AI, especially with OpenAI CEO on Capitol Hill today talking about the standards that are needed to deal with things like this. So it's certainly something we'll continue to watch. Thank you so much, Ali Canal,