SZA Warns AI Is Exploiting Black Artists, Calls Out Diplo

A week ago, the Atlantic posted an upsetting report about datasets of music that are being used to train AI. If they weren't already aware, major artists from Bad Bunny to Nirvana are part of it. I even did a quick search on my favorite artists such as Squirrel Flower and the Cramps, and both of their music was a part of the dataset. It's fucked. One artist who's speaking out about how fucked it is is SZA.

Yesterday, the SOS singer posted on her regular Instagram and finsta, calling how disgusting the new technology is and pointing out the exploitative threat that this poses to creatives, specifically Black artists. She posted an image of searching her name in what seems like one of these new databases. She found that 238 of her songs, some of which are unreleased, were used to train AI models.

In another post, she called out Diplo who has been an advocate of AI and artists conforming to its use. She wrote:

lonno who needs to hear this but diplo has equity in suno and is actively attempting to train it on the best and brightest black minds of writers and producers. We make up 13% of the American population yet influence the world w our sound and perspective. I AINT HEARD A WHITE AI SONG YET.. why so disproportionate? We have no protection in legislature medical or creative. The easiest to steal from . DO NOT GIVE AWAY YOUR VIBRANIUM !!! DO NOT TRAIN AI W YOUR GENIUS. Fuck these weird ass vultures. I want smoke all summer

There's no documentation that I could find that ties Diplo as an investor in Suno, although he is a strong advocate and user of the software. In an interview several weeks ago, he expressed some admiration for the latest version of Suno, saying that it's getting better and moving around and adding stems to different songs. He admitted that currently he uses a lot of AI for ideas: "I use a lot now just like idea-wise. There’s not much that has been released yet but there is gonna be a lot that has little things I’ve added."

Diplo is, however, an investor in AI company Aaru, which focuses on predicting of human behavior and trends. That being said, maybe SZA has some info we're not privy to. Suno did reveal, earlier this month, that “leading artists, songwriters and producers” participated in this month’s fundraising round that valued the company at $5.4 billion. The company didn't disclose who the investors were.

Producer Kenneth Blume FKA Kenny Beats also posted some strong words for the AI company on his social media:

Hey

@suno You are true losers. Whoever’s running this account, and your boss, and their bosses boss. I can’t imagine going into work daily knowing you are stealing from countless struggling musicians. I can’t imagine being proud to earn a paycheck obliterating the work and dreams of artists. Get fucked, every single one of you

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