22/09/2025

LYFE MONDAY | SEPT 22, 2025

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companies as well as AI-specific companies, such as OpenAI, Suno, and Udio, Mistral, etc are engaged in the largest copyright infringement exercise that has been seen,” John Phelan, director-general of the International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP), said. For nearly two years, the Brussels-based body, which represents music publishers and other industry professionals, investigated how generative artificial intelligence (AI) companies used material to enrich their services. The ICMP is one of a number of industry bodies spanning the news media and publishing to target the booming AI sector over its use of content without paying royalties. AI music generators such as Suno and Udio can produce tracks with voices, melodies and musical styles that echo those of original artistes M ONTREAL-BASED artist Audrey-Eve Goulet was initially uncertain as she watched an AI-powered robotic arm reproduce one of her works, but said the outcome was “really impressive”. “I was surprised, in a good way,” she said, as she watched the device grab a brush, dip it into a pot of paint and replicate her work stroke after meticulous stroke. Goulet had agreed to work with Acrylic Robotics, a Montreal-based company that says it aims to help artists earn a living by making high-quality replicas of their work, with their consent. Company founder Chloe Ryan said the idea began after coming to a discouraging realisation about her own income. She said she first starting selling paintings at 14, but grew frustrated at the weeks, or even months, required to make each piece. “I did the back of the napkin math, and I said, ‘Oh my god, I’m making US$2 an hour (RM8.40).’” Ryan studied mechanical robotics at Montreal’s McGill University and began considering how robots could help reproduce her own work, before launching a company to make the technology accessible to artists worldwide. ‘Last layer’ Assessing the robot’s performance, Goulet said: “It truly looks like one of my works.” “I like that you can see the strokes... You can really see where the brush went and the shape it drew,” she said, conceding the robotically producing version had “less story behind it” than her own. “My final piece might have gone through five lives before getting to this, but the robot only sees the last layer,” she said. Ryan said that by replicating “stroke chronology”, her company’s reproductions can capture “the aura of a piece... in a way that a photo print simply never could”. To reproduce Goulet’s piece, an Acrylic Robotics specialist recreated the work using digital brush strokes and pigments, developing

A brush paints the canvas in the Acrylic Robotics studio in Montreal.

An AI-powered robotic arm paints a canvas in the studio.

AI-backed robot painting aims to boost artist income

push to “let many more people make a decent living from (art).” But he cautioned: “When you make something that was scarce abundant, it’ll change people’s perceptions about its value.” – AFP

questioned whether the technology would ultimately lower the value of the product. Kearns, part of an Amazon scholarship programme that funds academics to work on technological challenges, said he understood the

ever seen,’” she said. Acrylic Robotics is focused on boosting artist income, especially for those who do not break into the elite gallery circuit, Ryan said. When approaching an artist, she sometimes suggests they send a few references pieces – work that has already been completed. When she tells them, “I will just deposit money in your bank account at the end of every month... There’s a warmer reception,” she said. The price of reproductions can vary, averaging between a couple of hundred to a thousand dollars. The revenue split with the artist fluctuates. An emerging artist who simply uploads a picture of a piece with limited value may get 5% of a sale, but that figure could rise to 50% for a prominent artist with their own base of interested buyers. “We have a wait list of about 500 artists,” Ryan said. Michael Kearns, a computer and information science professor at the University of Pennsylvania,

Association of America, a US trade group, filed a lawsuit in June 2024 against both companies. “What is legal or illegal is how the technologies are used. That means the corporate decisions made by the chief executives of companies matter immensely and should comply with the law. What we see is they are engaged in wilful, commercial-scale infringement,” Phelan said. One exception was Eleven Music, an AI-generated music service provider, which signed a deal with Kobalt Music in August, he said. When contacted, OpenAI declined to comment. Google, Mistral, Suno and Udio did not respond. Tech giants often invoke “fair use”, a copyright exception that allows the use of a work without permission under certain circumstances. copyright o Montreal-based firm reproduces high-quality replicas for sale instructions to guide the robot. Ryan plans to advance the technology, allowing artists to upload images directly. She wants to create an on-demand market where clients could make special requests, like a portrait of their dog in the style of their favourite artist. ‘Waitlist’ Ryan said she understands the artistic community’s concerns about generative AI, but stressed her company is grounded in the so-called “Three Cs” demanded by artists: consent, credit and compensation. “A lot of people, before they understand the why of what we’re building, see a robot painting and go, ‘Oh my god, this is the worst thing I’ve

Ryan working in the studio. – PICS FROM AFP

Tech firms guilty of ‘wilful’ copyright theft, says top music body AI companies have sucked up the world’s entire music catalogue and are guilty of “wilful, commercial-scale copyright infringement”, a major music industry group said. “The world’s largest tech such as the Beatles, Mariah Carey, Depeche Mode or the Beach Boys. The Recording Industry some models, which then use them for inspiration or reproduce them without permission, according to the ICMP. In response, rights holders are calling for tougher

– Universal, Warner and Sony – have entered into negotiations with Suno and Udio, aiming for a licensing deal. Music generated entirely by AI is already seeping onto streaming platforms. “Velvet Sundown”, a 1970s-style fake rock band, as well as country music creations “Aventhis” and “The Devil Inside” have racked up millions of plays on streaming giant Spotify. AI-generated music accounts for 28% of content uploaded daily on Deezer, the French music platform, which has reported “a surge” over the past year in uploads. It has an AI-music detection tool that is able to identify songs generated using models such as Suno and Udio. A major study in December last year by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, which represents more than five million creators worldwide, warned about the danger of AI-generated music. It forecast that artistes could see their incomes shrink by more than 20% in the next four years as the market for AI-composed music grows. – AFP

regulation, notably through the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act, to ensure transparency about the data used. “It is essential to understand the scale of the threat facing authors, composers and publishers,” warned Juliette Metz, president of the French music publishers’ association and also an ICMP member. “There can be no use of copyright-protected music without a licence,” she said. In the US, AI start-up Anthropic, creator of Claude, announced on Sept 6 that it had agreed to pay at least US$1.5 billion (RM6.31 billion) into a compensation fund for authors, rights holders and publishers who sued the firm for illegally downloading millions of books. The three US-based music majors

AI firms have been accused of copyright infringement to enrich their services. – 123RFPIC

‘Threat’ Research by the ICMP, first published in music outlet Billboard on Sept 9, claimed that AI companies had engaged in widespread “scraping”, a practice that uses programmes known as “crawlers” which explore the internet for content. “We believe they are doing so from licensed services such as YouTube (owned by Google) and other digital sources, including music platforms,” the group added. Lyrics can be harvested to feed