Around 200 artists including Zayn Malik and Billie Eilish have signed an open letter calling for the end of the “predatory” use of AI.

Represented by the Artists’ Rights Alliance, a non-profit advocating for musicians, performers and songwriters in the digital landscape, the artists asked developers, music services and technology companies to stop using AI to “sabotage creativity” and undermine artists, songwriters and musicians.

The letter acknowledged that AI has “enormous potential” to advance human creativity, but the artists said that their work is being used without permission to train AI models with the aim of replacing the work of human artists and diluting the amount of royalties they receive.

“Unchecked, Al will set in motion a race to the bottom that will degrade the value of our work and prevent us from being fairly compensated for it,” the letter stated. “This assault on human creativity must be stopped. We must protect against the predatory use of Al to steal professional artists' voices and likenesses, violate creators' rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”

In November last year, YouTube announced it was developing AI tools in collaboration with Google DeepMind which allow users to create content featuring the voices of famous pop stars. The feature, called Dream Track, offers users the chance to create short songs by describing features such as lyrics and mood.

AI was also employed by Sir Paul McCartney to release a Beatles track last October over four decades after it had been recorded.

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