YouTube has launched its Music AI Incubator in collaboration with Universal Music Group (UMG) to help inform YouTube’s approach to generative AI in music. The incubator will kick off with a genre-spanning cohort of creatives from UMG. According to Universal Music Group Chair and CEO, Sir Lucian Grainge, the group will explore, experiment and offer feedback on the AI-related musical tools and products they are researching.
The rise of generative AI has been a significant trend in 2023 with generative tools such as ChatGPT by OpenAI and Google’s Bard gaining massive popularity. According to YouTube, there have been more than 1.7 billion views of videos related to generative AI tools on YouTube in 2023 alone.
In addition to the program launch, YouTube has announced a set of AI music principles. According to the company, the framework is meant to enhance creative expression while also protecting artists on the platform. “These three fundamental AI principles serve to enhance music’s unique creative expression while also protecting music artists and the integrity of their work.” YouTube CEO, Neal Mohan, wrote in a blog.
YouTube’s AI Music Principles
YouTube CEO, Neal Mohan, shared the company’s new principles on AI music including:
- Principle #1: AI is here, and we will embrace it responsibly together with our music partners. As generative AI unlocks ambitious new forms of creativity, YouTube and our partners across the music industry agree to build on our long collaborative history and responsibly embrace this rapidly advancing field. Our goal is to partner with the music industry to empower creativity in a way that enhances our joint pursuit of responsible innovation.
- Principle #2: AI is ushering in a new age of creative expression, but it must include appropriate protections and unlock opportunities for music partners who decide to participate. We’re continuing our strong track record of protecting the creative work of artists on YouTube. We’ve made massive investments over the years in the systems that help balance the interests of copyright holders with those of the creative community on YouTube.
- Principle #3: We’ve built an industry-leading trust and safety organization and content policies. We will scale those to meet the challenges of AI. We spent years investing in the policies and trust and safety teams that help protect the YouTube community, and we’re also applying these safeguards to AI-generated content. Generative AI systems may amplify current challenges like trademark and copyright abuse, misinformation, spam, and more. But AI can also be used to identify this sort of content, and we’ll continue to invest in the AI-powered technology that helps us protect our community of viewers, creators, artists and songwriters–from Content ID to policies and detection and enforcement systems that keep our platform safe behind the scenes. And we commit to scaling this work even further.
