Warner Music Group has acquired Sureel AI to strengthen protections for artists in the AI era.
Sureel AI is a platform that, according to its website, provides attribution tools for media owners, creators, and AI companies to “protect, control, and monetize [their] media in the AI revolution.” According to a press release, Sureel AI creates an “AI DNA” for works, enabling the detection of how different parts are used by AI technology.
“They did not ask for your permission. Your media is what an AI company calls its training data,” a statement on Sureel AI’s website reads.
Sureel AI’s platform is built around three pillars. First is protection, with rules that indicate to AI companies what they can and cannot train on. Secondly, there is control, which allows the user to determine how much or how little their media can be used or modified, and also what it can be merged with. Lastly, monetization allows users to license their media based on the extent to which their output influences AI platforms, according to the website.
The press release also notes that it has a name, image, and likeness suite for artists to track how their “voice, likenesses, and performance identities” are being used to train AI and generate content. This includes voice clones, AI-generated avatars, and style replication. With “millions of music assets” already on the company’s registry, Sureel AI is able to expand its attribution model into video and image as well.
Warner Music Group’s acquisition of Sureel AI is aimed at ensuring its resources benefit its roster of artists, songwriters, and rightsholders. Sureel AI will continue to operate as a standalone platform and will have access to Warner Music Group’s “resources, scale, and strategic support,” the press release notes.
“AI powers a large fan engagement and value creation opportunity for our industry, while making the human provenance of music more important than ever,” Robert Kyncl, Warner Music Group’s CEO, said in a press release. “Bringing Sureel into WMG strengthens our capability for protection, control, and monetization and ensures that the creative community remains in control of its intellectual property, name, image, likeness, and voice. We look forward to working with Tamay and his team to advance all of their incredible work.”
Sureel AI Founder and CEO Dr. Tamay Aykut commented:
“Rightsholders deserve to know how AI interacts with their work, and to share fairly in the value it creates. Sureel was built to make that possible, and with WMG’s backing, we can deliver on our mission at scale, building a more transparent and fair future and driving value growth for the whole music and entertainment ecosystem.”
