Plagiarism claims against Udio aren’t the only problem with AI songs

The Irish-led AI start-up is being sued by major record labels is using the ‘musical building blocks’ defence employed by Ed Sheeran last year

‘Common building blocks’: Ed Sheeran at New York Federal Court during his copyright infringement trial last year, which he won. Photo: John Minchillo/AP

Adrian Weckler

An Irish-led AI start-up called Udio was sued by the world’s biggest music labels last week. Its offence, the music companies said, was ripping off musicians’ songs and remixing their component sounds and styles for use as AI-generated tracks for Udio’s customers.

If you haven’t heard of Udio, it’s the ChatGPT of music. On its website, you can input a sentence or two about what kind of song you want, in any particular style, and including any number of topics or music effects. After about 30 seconds, it comes back to you with a few options.