Solicitors for the British Phonographic Industry have sent a letter to Voicify, which has since rebranded to Jammable, threatening a first-of-its kind legal action against the AI startup in the U.K., the trade association confirmed Monday.
"The music industry has long embraced new technology to innovate and grow, but Voicify (now known as Jammable), and a growing number of others like them, are misusing AI technology by taking other people's creativity without permission and making fake content," BPI general counsel Kiaron Whitehead said.
Jammable allows users to create songs using AI-generated voices from musicians, public figures and characters. Users can type their own lyrics or provide a recording to be parroted by the deepfake voice.
The company asks users to pay a subscription to gain access to more than 3,000 user-uploaded deepfake voices mimicking high-profile musicians such as Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, as well as public figures such as Donald Trump and Narendra Modi.
The AI company will have an opportunity to respond to the notice and take steps to avoid litigation in the English courts.
"Jammable is just one worrying example of AI developers encroaching on the personal rights of music creators for their own financial gain," Naomi Pohl, general secretary of the Musician's Union, said in an industry statement on RBI's threat of litigation.
While BPI has not yet filed a formal legal claim, the trade association alleges that the company infringes copyright sound recordings protected under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Following BPI's letter, Jammable changed its name from Voicify and removed guides providing users with details on how to make deepfakes, according to the trade association.
Artists and rightsholders have voiced their concerns en-masse regarding the recent advances in publicly available generative AI software, prompting both legal claims and regulatory action to help ensure intellectual property is protected.
While many rightsholders have sued generative AI companies in U.S. courts, Getty Images has led the charge in the U.K., filing a high-profile infringement suit against Stability AI alleging that its AI art platform Stable Diffusion infringes its intellectual property.
--Editing by Alyssa Miller.
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