An artificial intelligence platform that can deliver complete songs in response to simple text prompts is set to expand after attracting an investment of $125 million.
Suno, which launched in December 2023, is one of the few systems that provides vocals along with music in any style and genre after users input a few words to start from.
The owners have refused to reveal how the AI model has been trained – leaving open the possibility that living artists’ work has been exploited without any compensation.
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The announcement comes after rock artists including Jon Bon Jovi, Pearl Jam and R.E.M. signed a letter describing AI as an “assault on human creativity” and that misuse of the technology threatened artists’ “ability to protect our privacy, our identities, our music and our livelihoods.”
“We started Suno to build a future where anyone can make music, to help people rediscover the joy of play and exploration we had as kids,” CEO Mikey Shulman said in a statement. “Technology is a means to that end, and today’s state-of-the-art creates the potential for a flourishing of new sounds, new styles and new artists in a way we’ve always dreamt about.”
Suno offers to “Make a song about anything” in return for users’ credits. The default example is “An uplifting grime songs about not being able to wait to see you again.” Its most popular genres include rock, metal and blues.
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Shulman added that the investment, received from a number of sources, would be used “to accelerate product development and grow our team of music makers, music lovers and technologists.”
In the Artist Rights Alliance letter last month, it was claimed: “Some of the biggest and most powerful companies are, without permission, using our work to train Al models.”
Signatories feared that, unless attitudes changed, the technology “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.”
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