Blaze News investigates: The rise of 'soulless' music — how close is AI to replacing musicians?



Musicians are increasingly being emulated by artificial intelligence that is nearly indiscernible to the average ear.

It’s already been more than a year since a ghostwriter created a song that used the voices of top-selling artists Drake and The Weeknd.

This technology is being used far and wide, and if it weren’t for the fact that most who are using the technology are using recognizable songs from the Backstreet Boys or Britney Spears, for example, the emulation of popular artists could be even more prevalent.

A simple YouTube search of AI versions of deceased artists brings up a lengthy catalogue to choose from, each singing popular songs that escape copyright infringement. Meaning, they are not detected by the algorithms of Google, Instagram, or others.

Typically, the algorithm matches existing content on the platform and allows the content owner to apply for a copyright claim against the infringer. But when a user emulates an existing song with a different voice, he is getting the best of both worlds: the popular song and a different popular artist singing it who people haven’t heard before.

“Major labels have teams of people who work on this. They also have lawyers on retainer who have a quota and are ready to sue,” said Steven Lee Rachel, A&R manager from Baste Records.

“Of course, for the average independent artist, this solution is mostly out of reach ... [this] AI thing is new and very messy,” he told Blaze News.

New AI users can circumvent this completely, although without the added push of an existing artist. Enter: Suno.

Suno is a new app making waves for its ability to create full-length songs in a desired style and pace, with as specific subject matter as the user wants. The creator can inject lyrics or leave it up to the system to create its own from simple prompts, while also pulling references from the internet to fill in the blanks.

'AI has the potential to replace artists altogether.'

In fact, it took just seconds for Suno to come up with a song for this article using the following prompt: “A pop, boy-band song with multiple voices about artificial intelligence replacing musicians' jobs and causing the artists to go broke and become journalists.”

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"I think it should be illegal,” rapper Bryson Gray said of AI music. “Replicating someone’s voice and passing it off as them likely already is, but it needs to be rejected in almost all its forms,” Gray added, leaving room for parodies of public figures like the president.

Suno and fellow AI company Udio are being sued by labels like Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group, according to the Los Angeles Times. The groups allege that the platforms took material from copyright-protected songs.

Suno chief executive Mikey Shulman reportedly said that the company’s mission was simply “to make it possible for everyone to make music,” not to “memorize and regurgitate pre-existing content.”

“That is why we don’t allow user prompts that reference specific artists,” he said.

Udio reportedly said it stands by its technology, adding that “generative AI will become a mainstay of modern society.”

Likeness sells

Would artists sell their likeness for music to be made in their voice? Gray said he couldn’t see a true artist doing that, as he never would. But, in place of a lack of writing skills, some might, he added.

Baste Records’ Rachel said this was already happening and “has been in the works for a long time.”

“Remember the Tupac hologram?” he asked. “When KISS retired they sold off their image and likeness to the labels. This is happening for sure.”

“It will depend on the audience in terms of accepting it. For now, there is a bit of an anti-AI movement. When Paul McCartney used AI to finish the last Beatles song, I think people were a little weirded out. Eventually people will probably be more accepting of different uses of AI for legacy acts,” Rachel predicted.

While there is mainstream acceptance of AI in music to date, it is certainly at the forefront of other forms of modern media.

Legendary broadcaster Al Michaels is perhaps the first big name to publicly sell off his likeness to networks to be used in an AI format. The 79-year-old has sold the rights to his voice to NBC for use during coverage of the Olympics.

Michaels was “very skeptical” of the idea, according to Vanity Fair, before eventually accepting it.

“What would I sound like? ... Would I sound like a guy who just spews clichés? Would my voice be different?” he reportedly asked.

Once he heard it, however, the announcer is said to have changed his mind.

“Frankly, it was astonishing. It was amazing ... and it was a little bit frightening.”

The sports commentator said that the likeness was only about 2% off of being perfect.

Representatives from IBM alluded to this technology when previously speaking to Blaze News.

'The stuff I'm seeing now is creepy and soulless, and you can feel it.'

Referring to the company’s technology known as IBM watsonx, the reps said that the company is using AI similarly for both Wimbledon and the Masters.

Fans can have AI detail up-to-date action from the events and even have it read to them as if it were play-by-play announcing. Right now, voice actors are said to be lending their voices to the technology, something that would obviously change with time and depend on the popularity of the outcomes.

Similarly, AI tech has been publicly used for translating popular videos and podcasts.

YouTube’s top content creator, Mr. Beast, spoke on the topic in mid-2023 saying that he was using YouTube’s new audio dubbing technology to translate his videos into 11 different languages. This has the obvious benefit of massively expanding reach.

The key, which Yahoo reported, is that the translation is in the same voice, with the same inflections and emotions.

A few months later, Spotify would announce similar technology to translate its podcasts. The platform said its technology was developed in-house but with OpenAI’s voice-generation technology.

This technology is essentially made possible by feeding in the likely thousands of hours of speech that podcasters, YouTubers, and artists have into a program. The more data the program has, the easier it is to replicate the voice.

This is why so many at-home audio engineers have found such success in making media that sounds just like the intended artist. The AI programs are getting faster and better, too.

Microsoft’s VALL-E claims it can replicate a voice with just three seconds of audio.

The replacements

Artists that spoke to Blaze News about the potential of AI musicians and AI-generated music intersected at a few similar points; perhaps most prevalent was the idea of the humanity behind the music.

Folk rocker Five Times August, real name Brad Skistimas, called AI a slippery slope that “might be beneficial” in rare cases.

“The stuff I'm seeing now is creepy and soulless, and you can feel it. Obviously, AI technology will get better, but I like to think ultimately people will find their way to real artists with unique talents and voices once they realize there's nothing to humanly connect with,” he added.

“AI has the potential to replace artists altogether,” country artist Chad Prather warned. “The blood, sweat, tears, sacrifice, and grind can be eliminated.”

“You don’t need to sound good or look good to be marketable, and it has the potential to destroy the live music business. The most dangerous aspect is that legacy will be lost.”

To Prather’s point, this has and is being attempted.

AI rapper FN Meka was a disaster for Capitol Records when it allegedly went too far in 2022.

The so-called artist caused outrage when it consistently used the N-word and was called an amalgamation of stereotypes of black artists.

It’s been almost a year since Warner Music signed its own AI artist called Noonoouri. The pretend artist had deals with Dior, Versace, and Kim Kardashian’s brands.

While Noonoouri is still releasing music, the problem still exists that without that humanity behind them, AI artists still truly can’t exist; but advocates might claim that is reason enough to move forward.

FN Meka had a human voice perform the vocals, while Noonoouri was created in 2011 by Germans who used a real woman’s voice — altered by AI — to create the vocals. While it still has a following, it clearly hasn’t become as influential as the label had hoped.

“I think we'll definitely see major labels trying to leverage legacy artists who aren't here anymore, like Elvis or Michael Jackson, in an effort to create ‘new’ music,” Skistimas continued.

Hip-hop artist and attorney Patriot J said that he does see a future where "popular artists will sell their likeness" for AI songs. "All it takes is one major music artist to be the first domino to fall," he noted.

"Me personally, I wouldn't let my voice by used in that way, but just like GMOs are now labeled in stores, I'd hope AI-likeness music would be labeled on streaming platforms."

Baste Records’ Rachel added that “the new technology will bring new precedents" for the music industry.

“The Suno and Udio lawsuit will settle a lot of things. Everyone knew they were the best AI music generation tools, everyone knew they were infringing on copyrighted material, and everyone knew they were going to get sued. So now they are getting sued. Let's see what happens,” Rachel noted.

As is stands, the more likely scenario looking ahead is the continued authorized (and unauthorized) uses of existing artists. That is, until AI-generated programs get good enough at song writing, while simultaneously producing believable voices.

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'Only WHITE people are racist': IBM's Red Hat allegedly issues 10 'allyship commandments' to employees



IBM subsidiary Red Hat allegedly issued a series of commandments to employees that they must follow and must accept as "fundamental truths," including that only white people can be racist and that white people are responsible for ending racism.

Investigative journalist James O'Keefe and O'Keefe Media Group obtained what they purport is a document from IBM subsidiary Red Hat. Red Hat is an American software company founded in 1993 that was purchased by IBM in 2018 for $34 billion.

The alleged internal document, titled "Allyship Commandments," included a subheading stating that "your allyship commitment accepts these fundamental truths."

According to a program alleged to be in practice at the company, "allyship" refers to an "active and consistent effort to use your privilege and power to support and advocate for people with less privilege."

Among the company's alleged 10 commandments were that employees must never question "the reality of our Black friends and colleagues."

As well, the list demands that employees reject "the idea that race is political," accept that "WHITE people are responsible for dismantling racism," and accept that "only WHITE people are racist."

Strangely, it also reportedly stated that being an ally means not seeking "recognition or praise for a job well done."

BREAKING: OMG obtained an internal document from @IBM \xe2\x80\x98s RedHat that reads like a religious text: The "Allyship Commandments" are 10 race-based rules employees must observe.\n\nOne commandment states \xe2\x80\x9conly white people can be racist\xe2\x80\x9d\n\nAnother states, \xe2\x80\x9cAccepts that WHITE people are\xe2\x80\xa6
— (@)

O'Keefe also reported that a different section of the document stated, "Whiteness constructs the game, hides the rules, then rigs the game, over and over again."

Whistleblowers allegedly leaked the document just days after it was announced that America First Legal would be filing a federal civil rights complaint against IBM over race-based hiring practices.

The complaint was in response to a different O'Keefe leak, which featured a video of IBM CEO Arvind Krishna and Paul Cormier, chairman of Red Hat, detailing penalties, including termination, for leaders who fail to sufficiently hire on the basis of race and sex.

"I'm very clear about this. I expect at the executive level, so that is not just my directs, but all executives in the company, have to move forward by 1% on both underrepresented minorities," Krishna said. "Let me say it: Asians in the U.S. are not an underrepresented minority in a tech company. However, others are. Ditto on gender diversity."

"So we take underrepresented and gender. You've got to move both forward by a percentage," the IBM executive went on in the video. "That leads to a plus on your bonus."

Cormier noted that "multiple leaders over the last year plus that were held accountable to the point that they're no longer here at Red Hat ... because they weren't willing to live up to the [DEI] standards that we set in this space."

BREAKING LEAKED VIDEO: CEO of IBM @ArvindKrishna admits to using coercion to fire people and take away their bonuses unless they discriminate in the hiring process.\n\n\xe2\x80\x9cYou got to move both forward by a percentage that leads to a plus on your bonus," Krishna said about hiring\xe2\x80\xa6
— (@)

Red Hat did not immediately respond to a request asking for verification of the document's authenticity. This publication will be updated with any relevant responses.

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Trump adviser's legal group hits IBM with federal civil rights complaint over race-based hiring practices



An anti-woke legal group run by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller filed a federal civil rights complaint Tuesday against IBM, noting that there is reason to believe the New York-based tech corporation "knowingly and intentionally violated federal law" by discriminating on the basis of sex and race.

Investigative reporter James O'Keefe shared a video to X Monday wherein IBM CEO Arvind Krishna and other IBM executives can be seen detailing penalties, including termination, for leaders who fail to sufficiently hire on the basis of race and sex.

Miller's group, America First Legal, cited this video in its complaint to the EEOC, indicating that the comments expressed in the video by Krishna and Paul Cormier, chairman of IBM subsidiary Red Hat — and the company's corresponding hiring and procurement practices — contravened Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This complaint comes just weeks after IBM suspended its ads on X on the basis of disputed claims from the leftist activist outfit Media Matters, now being sued for defamation. IBM claimed at the time it "has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination."

A policy of discrimination

The video shared by O'Keefe Monday, apparently recorded in 2021 and shared by a company insider, appears to show Krishna and Cormier admitting to denying workers bonuses and canning executives for failing to discriminate against prospective hires.

"I'm very clear about this. I expect at the executive level, so that is not just my directs, but all executives in the company, have to move forward by 1% on both underrepresented minorities," said Krishna. "Let me say it: Asians in the U.S. are not an underrepresented minority in a tech company. However, others are. Ditto on gender diversity."

"So we take underrepresented and gender. You've got to move both forward by a percentage," the IBM chief executive says in the video. "That leads to a plus on your bonus."

"By the way, if you lose, you lose part of your bonus," Krishna continues. "Paul [Cormier is] held to the same standards. Paul and I have been working together to say, 'Okay, how do we apply those deeper into the organization?'"

Later in the video, Krishna can be heard noting the company's preferred racial and sexual demographics.

Cormier said that "multiple leaders over the last year plus that were held accountable to the point that they're no longer here at Red Hat ... because they weren't willing to live up to the [DEI] standards that we set in this space."

— (@)

The complaint

AFL noted in its letter to EEOC acting Director Timothy Riera, "Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits IBM from discriminating against an employee or an applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin[.] ... However, the evidence is that IBM is knowingly, intentionally, and systematically engaging in such unlawful employment practices."

"Krishna, Cormier, and others in management have embedded immoral and unlawful employment practices into the corporation's culture," the letter alleged.

Extra to referencing the 2021 leaked footage, AFL cited IBM's 2022 ESG report and the company's race-based "Supplier Diversity program" as further evidence of discrimination.

The ESG report detailed the company's "diversity-linked executive compensation" scheme, which links executives' compensation to their ability to hire candidates with preferred immutable characteristics, specifically women, black people, and Hispanics.

The supplier program seeks to prioritize building relationships with "businesses owned and operated by minorities, women, lesbian and gay, veterans, and service disabled veterans, and disabled persons." The company's 2022 ESG report notes that "IBM has committed to dedicating 15% of our first-tier supplier diversity spending to Black-owned businesses by 2025."

AFL requested the EEOC use its discretionary powers to file a "commissioner charge" against IBM and its subsidiary Red Hat.

AFL also penned a letter Tuesday to Krishna, highlighting IBM's alleged unlawful employment practices, unlawful contracting practices, and waste and breach of fiduciary duty.

Gene Hamilton, AFL vice president and general counsel, said in a statement, "Apparently, based on the video and the publicly available material on its website, the senior leadership at IBM is wholly committed to discriminating against Americans as a matter of formal corporate policy. This cannot stand."

Bloomberg Law, which indicated AFL may be setting the groundwork for the legal work of a second Trump administration with this and other initiatives, noted that IBM hadn't responded to a request for comment.

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Google, IBM quietly backtrack on race-conscious fellowships in wake of Free Beacon reports

Google and IBM are quietly backtracking in the wake of Washington Free Beacon reports about the companies capping the number of white and Asian students whom universities can nominate for prestigious research fellowships, which required that half of each school’s nominees be underrepresented minorities.

The post Google, IBM Quietly Backtrack on Race-Conscious Fellowships in Wake of Free Beacon Reports appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

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