MCNA Co-Chair Ashley Irwin testifies before US Congress on Artificial Intelligence

The Society of Composers & Lyricists President and Music Creators North America Co-Chair Ashley Irwin testified on artificial intelligence before US Congress on May 17th. SCL is a member of MCNA, a partner alliance of CIAM.

Irwin was invited to speak as part of an industry expert panel for the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet for “Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property: Part 1 – Interoperability of AI and Copyright Law”.

During his statement, Irwin addressed the impact of AI on creative industries and creators “who are already feeling the negative impact of generative AI on their craft and its potential threat to their profession.” Generative AI are systems or tools that generate content. They are fed content in order to produce new content based on patterns, characteristics, and structure of the inputted content, such as music made by songwriters, creators, and authors.

Irwin clarified SCL is “advocating for the creation of a policy framework that ensures generative AI is developed and utilized responsibly, ethically, and with respect for human creators and copyright”. He specified that creators have used algorithms and tools to create in the past and wish to “work with the AI companies to maximize the benefits and unlock new opportunities for collaboration, while also maintaining the integrity, and vitality of the creative community and its economic value.”

He called for AI companies to commit to crediting whenever works are used, receiving consent by creators for the use of works, and provide fair remuneration for the use of any human creator works used to provide input into and output from AI systems. This includes obtaining licenses for copyrighted works.

The full statement can be read here.

The full hearing can be viewed below.