NEWS
Jason Isbell has joined several other musicians in bringing a new federal case against AI music creation platform Suno.
The Grammy winning Cover Me Up artist is at the forefront of claims that Suno permits people to generate recordings inspired by musicians' personal identities without securing permission.
Filed in the US District Court in Massachusetts, the action also involves Camper Van Beethoven singer David Lowery, Texas blues artist Guy Forsyth and Florida based saxophonist Eduardo Calle.
The complaint likens Suno to the Borg, the Star Trek antagonists recognised for using their "resistance is futile" approach to take over victims and absorb them into a shared consciousness.
"That is what Suno does when users type an artist's name into its models to try and produce sonic variants of their work," attorney Alan D Rose stated in the filing on behalf of the musicians.
"It encoded musicians' identities into its AI model to create its commercial product without consent, and now exploits those identities by publicly using musicians' names to Suno's considerable commercial benefit."
Those involved want the case granted class action status and are requesting both statutory and punitive financial compensation. They are also seeking an order stopping Suno from collecting and profiting from performers' identities.
"A musician's identity is their property, but Suno took it without consent," Rose concluded. "This lawsuit is how these musicians resist the premise that resistance is futile."
