ABBA‘s Björn Ulvaeus, and Rosanne Cash, Johnny Cash‘s daughter, are set to work with YouTube and Universal Music on a new AI project.
According to a statement regarding the project, Ulvaeus said: “While some may find my decision controversial, I’ve joined this group with an open mind and purely out of curiosity about how an AI model works and what it could be capable of in a creative process.”
He continued: “I believe that the more I understand, the better equipped I’ll be to advocate for and to help protect the rights of my fellow human creators.”
Other musicians that are attached to the project are One Republic‘s Ryan Tedder, composer Max Richter, record producer Louis Bell, Anitta, D4vd, American musician Don Was, Colombian musician Juanes, Rodney Jerkins,Yo Gotti and the estate of Frank Sinatra.
Richter said: “Like every new technology, AI brings with it opportunities, but it also raises profound challenges for the creative community. Therefore, I’m very happy to be part of the ‘artist incubator’ which will allow me to advocate for the interests of the creative community in the applications of AI to music and music distribution.”
YouTube chief executive Neal Mohan shared in a blog post that AI helps enhance “music’s unique creative expression while also protecting music artists and the integrity of their work”.
He added that the work have three principals such as a responsible embracing of AI, appropriate protections and scaling the Google video site’s content policies to meet technology challenges.
YouTube shared that there have been more than 1.7billion views of videos related to generative AI tools on YouTube in 2023 alone.
Chairman and chief executive of Universal Music Group, Sir Lucian Grainge, said: “Our challenge and opportunity as an industry is to establish effective tools, incentives and rewards – as well as rules of the road – that enable us to limit AI’s potential downside while promoting its promising upside.”
He continued: “If we strike the right balance, I believe AI will amplify human imagination and enrich musical creativity in extraordinary new ways.”
