SoundCloud seems to have changed quietly Terms of Use To allow the company to train AI in a sound that users upload to its platform.
As spotted From the technological ethics of Ed Newton-Rex, the latest version of SoundCloud’s terms includes a layout providing the platform the permission to use the uploaded content to “update, train, [or] Growth ”AI.
“You explicitly agree that your content can be used to inform, train, develop or serve as an influx of intelligence technologies or mechanical information or services as part and to provide services,” read the terms last updated on 7 February.
The terms have a joy for content under “separate agreements” with third parties, such as disc labels. SoundCloud has several licensing deals indie tags In addition to the big music publishers, including Universal music and Warner Music Group.
TechCrunch was unable to find an explicit exemption option in the platform settings menu on the web. SoundCloud did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
SoundCloud, like many large creators’ platforms, hugs AI more and more.
Last year, SoundCloud worked with almost twelve suppliers to bring AI tools for reconstruction, vocal creation and creating custom samples on its platform. To one blog Last fall, SoundCloud said these partners will have access to content ID solutions to “secure rights holders [sic] Get appropriate credit and compensation “, and promised to” support the moral and transparent practices that respect the rights of the creators “.
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Some content and social media hosting platforms have changed their policies in recent months to allow AI first and third parties to be prepared. In October, the X Elon Musk X informed its privacy policy to let foreign companies train AI on user posts. Last September, LinkedIn modified its terms to allow it to scratch user data for training. And in December, YouTube began to let third parties train AI in a clip.
Many of these moves have sparked a reaction from users who argue that AI training policies should be opt-in as opposed to the exception and who argue that they must be credited and paid for their contributions to AI training sets.
Updated 2:22 PM Pacific: A SoundCloud Representative gave an email statement, which we published in part:
“SoundCloud has never used artists’ content to train AI models, nor to develop AI tools or allow third parties to scrape or use SoundCloud content from our platform for educational purposes.
Informing February 2024 on the terms of service was intended to clarify how the content can interact with AI technologies on the SoundCloud platform. Use cases include personalized recommendations, content organization, fraud detection and content identification with the help of AI technologies.
Any future AI application to SoundCloud will be designed to support people’s artists, to enhance the tools, the potential, the approach and the opportunities available to us on our platform. Examples include improving music recommendations, creating breeding lists, content organization and detecting fraudulent activity. These efforts are aligned with existing licensing agreements and moral standards. Tools such as [those from our partner] Musiio is strictly used to fuel the discovery of artists and to organize content, not to train AI genetic models.
We understand the concerns that are raised and remain committed to the opening of the dialogue. Artists will continue to have control of their work and inform our community every step of the way as we explore innovation and apply AI technologies responsibly, especially as the legal and commercial frameworks continue to evolve. “
