YouTube launches Music AI incubator with Universal Music Group in generative AI push

YouTube's announcement comes amid a broader push by Google to infuse the technology across all its products

YouTube on August 21 announced that it is launching a Music AI incubator with the world's largest music company Universal Music Group as its first partner, as the Google-owned company starts firming up its plans to integrate generative AI technology to its video sharing platform.

"The incubator will help inform YouTube's approach (to generative AI in music) as we work with some of music's most innovative artists, songwriters, and producers across the industry, across a diverse range of culture, genres, and experience" YouTube chief Neal Mohan said in a blogpost.

Generative AI refers to technology that can generate text, images, sounds and other media formats in response to short commands or prompts from users.

As part of this initiative, Mohan said they will be working with a group of Universal Music Group's artists and songwriters including musical icon Frank Sinatra's estate, rapper Yo Gotti, ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus, singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash, producer Louis Bell, and composer Max Richter.

American musician Don Was, Colombian musician Juanes, artist d4vd, singer Anitta, songwriter and producer Rodney Jerkins, and OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder are also part of this programme.

This group will "explore, experiment and offer feedback" on the AI-related musical tools and products that YouTube is researching at present, said Universal Music Group chairman Lucian Grainge in a separate blogpost.

"Once these tools are launched, the hope is that more artists who want to participate will benefit from and enjoy this creative suite" he said.

This announcement comes several months after the YouTube chief had announced plans to introduce generative AI tools for creators in March 2023, amid a broader push by search giant Google to infuse the technology across all its products including its flagship search engine.

While Mohan didn't disclose any specific information on the AI-infused tools or products they are building at present, he said that working together with its music partners will help them better understand how these technologies can be valuable for artists and fans, how they can improve creativity, and where they can solve critical issues for the future.

A responsible, safe, and profitable ecosystem of music and video, where artists and songwriters can maintain their creative integrity, exercise their power of choice, and be fairly compensated, is key to their collective vision, Grainge said.

"Our challenge and opportunity as an industry is to establish effective tools, incentives and rewards – as well as rules of the road – that enable us to limit AI's potential downside while promoting its promising upside. If we strike the right balance, I believe AI will amplify human imagination and enrich musical creativity in extraordinary new ways" Grainge said.

In the blogpost, Mohan said they will further invest to reimagine and evolve its rights management technology Content ID in the new generative AI era. This because the ease of producing AI-generated content is increasing rapidly, which could amplify current challenges like trademark and copyright abuse, misinformation, and spam among others.

The company will also scale up its trust and safety teams and evolve its content policies to address these challenges, he said.

"In the months ahead, we’ll share more about specific technologies, monetization opportunities, and policies we’re developing. And we’ll continue to talk with additional partners about how to broaden our efforts" Mohan said.