CEO of the Recording Academy responsible for the Grammy awards expresses concern about the use of artificial intelligence in music

Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, the organization responsible for the Grammys, agrees that the music industry was one of the first industries to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) and explore its benefits. But he warns that a lack of regulation could cause problems.

In his interview with Yahoo Finance, Mason talked about how technology opens the door to creation. It raises questions about copyright, consent and the protection of artists.

“The productivity that comes with using this technology and creating things we haven’t heard of or thought about before is possible,” Mason says. “However, there must be rules and laws to guarantee the protection of human creators. “The fear of how what you’ve learned could be misused or used to impersonate someone who hasn’t accepted or allowed its use is something that really concerns us.”

According to Mason, key questions revolve around the origin of AI creations and identifying misuse of an artist’s voice or music. It highlights the potential of AI, as in the case of the Beatles’ new song “Now and Then,” which uses AI tools to extract John Lennon’s voice from an old demo tape.

“Artists need to be able to consent to a license for their voice or music to be used by AI, both in terms of learning and production. So at this point, artists will potentially have the opportunity to monetize new works if publishers or record labels want to, but only if they have a prior approval to do so.” There needs to be a deal,” Mason argues.

Some initiatives are already underway in the North American country. A bipartisan bill in the U.S. House called the “No Counterfeit and Unauthorized Duplications of Artificial Intelligence Act” aims to protect audio and video at the federal level.

In the state of Tennessee, the “Ensuring Similarity Audio and Video Security (ELVIS) Act” bill has been proposed to protect artists and songwriters against deepfakes by updating an existing law to address specific challenges of new AI tools.