International dancehall singer-songwriter Wayne Wonder says he is not opposed to his voice being used by artificial intelligence (AI) technology, provided users are assured they operate fairly and are properly compensated.
“It’s crazy to copy something and make it similar enough that you can fool somebody. But you have to use it right. You have to use it right. If you use my voice, compensate me. That’s it. Be fair. I’m fine. But compensate me.” hold onto The artist said in a recent interview with The Entertainment Report Podcast.
He mentioned Susan Bennett, the original voice of Apple’s Siri (who was unaware her voice was being used and felt underpaid), as well as actress Scarlett Johansson, who recently challenged ChatGPT for sounding too similar to her. Johansson reportedly consulted with lawyers after ChatGPT creator OpenAI introduced an AI voice that sounded too similar to hers. This comes after the company offered Johansson to use her real voice in the product, which she rejected.
“I listened to the woman who voiced Siri, and years later, even when the iPhone first came out, I was like, Oh, yeah, make it fair. Get it sorted. Write me a check. Make it fair. Yeah. Get some kind of benefit out of it,” he added.
Wonder’s 2002 song hold onto It has been certified Gold in both the US (2022) and the UK (2020), with sales and streams of 500,000 and 400,000 respectively. His other most popular songs are: Bouncing, looking at you, driving happily Chum and Bashment Girl, Bonafide Love With Buju Banton Movie Star, Best, and Informant.
In April of this year, The Gleaner reported in an article titled “Marley Foundation, others sign open letter criticizing AI’s ‘assault on human creativity'” that Evon Mullings, general manager of the Jamaica Musical Society (JAMMS), stated that “many of Jamaica’s music creators are already beginning to feel the negative impact of AI on their lives.”
According to the article, the Bob Marley Estate, along with more than 200 music industry leaders and organizations, including Stevie Wonder, the Frank Sinatra Estate, Nicki Minaj, Billie Eilish, and Katy Perry, have spoken out against the irresponsible use of AI, arguing that it could have devastating consequences, devalue their work, and prevent fair compensation.
In a brief open letter published by the Artists Rights Alliance on April 1, the signatories noted that “if used irresponsibly, AI poses a significant threat to our ability to protect our privacy, our identities, our music, and our lives.”
The artists also noted that they are calling on all AI developers, tech companies, platforms and digital music services to pledge “not to develop or deploy AI music-generation technology, content or tools that diminish or replace the human artistry of songwriters or artists.”
The letter also stated that some of the largest and most influential companies have used musicians’ work to train their AI models without their explicit permission, and that “these efforts are directly aimed at replacing the work of human artists with mass amounts of AI-generated ‘sounds’ and ‘images,’ significantly diluting the royalty pool paid to artists.”
The letter also called for an end to attacks on human creativity and protection from the misuse of AI to steal the voices and likeness of professional singers, violate creators’ rights, and disrupt the music ecosystem.
The article also quoted Mullings as saying that AI technology is an “enormous force” that will “continue to gain momentum and advance”, and that many Jamaican music creators are already beginning to feel the negative impact it will have on their lives.
Mullings also said the Jamaican music industry’s dubplate production is “facing perhaps the greatest threat since this innovation began decades ago,” with bad actors using AI technology to create dubplates that mimic the sound and likeness of Jamaican music notables.
Mullings supported the Artists Rights Alliance’s open letter and said JAMMS is preparing a policy to revise music eligibility criteria for current and potential members for the purposes of royalty collection.
According to him, the entity is moving towards rejecting music that is 100% AI-generated or where the vocals are 100% AI-generated.
Arguing that the most worrying threat to artists and creators is that bad actors will use AI to disguise their likeness, voice or image for commercial purposes, Mullings said JAMMS plans to submit proposals to relevant government authorities to help develop laws to protect human creators from AI.
He also stressed that AI poses a significant threat to the principles of human dignity, freedom from artificial reproduction, and the right to life.
