In response to copyright disputes caused by artificial intelligence-generated content, Sony Group recently developed a breakthrough technology that can accurately identify the original music materials used in AI-generated songs. This technology is expected to provide songwriters and copyright holders with powerful tools to help them seek reasonable royalty compensation from AI developers.
This new technology from Sony Group quantifies the contribution of each original work by analyzing the data used by the AI model in the process of training and generating music. For example, the system can specifically analyze that in a certain AI-generated song, "30% of the material comes from The Beatles and 10% comes from Queen." In terms of specific operations, if the AI developer agrees to cooperate, Sony can directly obtain data by connecting to its basic model system; if it cannot obtain cooperation, the technology can also estimate the usage of the original work by comparing the AI-generated music with the existing music library.
As the artificial intelligence craze grows, accusations abound that tech companies are using copyrighted music, videos and text without permission to train machines. In the music industry, AI cover songs that imitate the voices of famous singers are widely circulated on the Internet, causing concerns in the industry. As an industry giant that owns large record labels and music publishers and controls the music catalogs of superstars such as Michael Jackson, Sony Group hopes to use this technology to establish a new mechanism to distribute the income generated by AI music to original songwriters based on contribution ratios.
In Japan, copyright law divides music rights into two categories: moral rights held by songwriters and publishers, and neighboring rights held by performers and record producers. Traditionally, production companies and distributors collect and distribute royalties when songs are used in movies, TV shows or streaming services. Sony believes that if it is clear which music is used by AI in training and generating content, rights holders may be able to collect royalties from AI developers, which will also help prevent copyright infringement through unauthorized use.
This technology was developed by Sony AI (Sony AI), a subsidiary of Sony Group's R&D department, and related papers have been accepted by international conferences. Among other things, the unit has developed a way to prevent the AI from imitating specific animation styles (such as Studio Ghibli) or simply copying images it has learned. Sony said this traceability technology is also applicable to fields such as video, games and character design.
Regarding future application prospects, Sony Group envisions that AI development companies can integrate the technology into their own models, and content companies can use it as a bargaining chip in licensing negotiations. However, it is not yet certain when the system will be put into practical use. Industry insiders pointed out that some AI developers currently prioritize improving model performance and lack sufficient motivation to prevent intellectual property infringement. Therefore, the promotion and active adoption of this technology in the industry still faces uncertainty.
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