<\/p>\n
The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) into the public sector has proven to be one of the biggest developments of the year on a global scale.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Major industries have been turned upside down by AI. In the creative sectors \u2014 the music industry in particular \u2014 AI is often seen as a double-edged sword: a creativity kickstarter and a thief in the night for copyright. <\/p>\n
However, the popular musician and producer Grimes has taken a different approach to AI. She was one of the first artists to be vocal about the technology after its explosion in popularity in late 2022 with the release of OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT. <\/p>\n
In April, Grimes famously said she would split 50% of the royalties with the creators generating AI music using her vocals. It was after this that Grimes announced her new platform, elf.tech, an open-source software program solely dedicated to legally replicating her voice for music creation.<\/p>\n
\nHOW TO MAKE MUSIC FEAT GrimesAI
– we can distribute it for you and you can earn royalties from your work: https:\/\/t.co\/p598CXaXnD<\/p>\n\u2014 Grimes (@Grimezsz) April 30, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In September, Grimes was included as one of Time magazine\u2019s Top 100 people in AI. Recently, Grimes and her team partnered with the music creation platform Slip.stream to make over 200 GrimesAI songs available for use by creators. <\/p>\n
Cointelegraph spoke with Grimes\u2019 manager, Daouda Leonard, who is also the co-founder and CEO of\u00a0 CreateSafe \u2014 a design and development studio building digital asset management protocols and tools \u2014 along with the team behind Slip.stream, to understand how creators can get ahead in their approach to AI. <\/p>\n
Daouda pinpointed the current moment on the timeline of the technological revolution as the \u201cDARQ [distributed, artificial, reality and quantum] ages. \u201cThe only way through it is to use it,\u201d he said. \u201cI think all industry executives, artists and companies need to be experimenting with new emergent technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy rights holders allowing new technology platforms to train with their data, they can be proactive about striking lucrative deals for their artists and catalogs.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
With AI, creators can now utilize artists\u2019 voices, for example, in their own creations, and AI companies are taking creative data to train their systems. Therefore, a strong content management system and royalties mechanism need to be priorities. <\/p>\n
Grimes\u2019 management said it\u2019s also using another emerging technology, smart contracts, to make this happen and manage metadata information about \u201cwho did what, when and what they\u2019re owed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slip.stream, as the platform that houses the available Grimes AI tracks, echoed the sentiment, saying: <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s up to forward-thinking artists, executives and companies to dream up and experiment with its applications to better protect their clients and capture any upside. It takes guts to zig when others zag.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When artists and management don\u2019t manage to stay on top of the latest developments, it can be too late to act. <\/p>\n
Lawsuits against AI companies have been springing up throughout the year, be it the Author\u2019s Guild launching a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI\u00a0or Universal Music Group (UMG) suing Anthropic AI, over creative copyright infringement. <\/p>\n
Related: <\/em><\/strong>Universal Music and Google in talks over deal to combat AI deep fakes: Report<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Leading by example, Grimes is showing the industry what is possible when artists both own their data and control the rights to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOwning your masters and publishing is only good if you know what to do with it,\u201d said Daouda. \u201cI don\u2019t know if there is a perfect artist to do such a move. Grimes felt that it was important to experiment and see what\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think every artist who is open to taking risks and curious about how technology can be a benefit to their career is perfect for doing this, so I\u2019m sure there are a lot of them.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Many industry insiders who have wrapped their heads around the possibilities that AI can bring to artists are trying to proactively find ways to reap the benefits without losing sovereignty and have touted the technology as a \u201ccreative amplifier\u201d\u00a0of sorts. <\/p>\n
Slip.stream said that when artists are proactive with their rights and content,\u00a0 shows that \u201cAI is not about replacing humans with robots, but establishing new norms and structures for artistic collaboration that were unavailable to the masses before CreateSafe and Grimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo give anyone in the world the ability to collaborate with their favorite artist opens up groundbreaking possibilities for creative output and fan engagement.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Grimes herself posted a similar sentiment on X (formerly Twitter) a few days after the announcement of her collaboration with Slip.stream: <\/p>\n
\nBasically now is the time to transition from being competitive to being collaborative<\/p>\n