Country Star Lainey Wilson Issues Warning to Congress Over the Dangers of AI

This Sunday, as singers, musicians, and artists celebrate the 66th annual Grammy Awards, Lainey Wilson hopes to add to her accomplishments with nominations for Best Country Album and Best Country Duo/Group Performance. But besides being a rising star in country music, the singer recently discussed the dangers of AI used in the music industry in front of Congress. 

On Friday, Wilson sat down in front of the House Judiciary Subcommittee for the Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property: Part II – Identity in the Age of AI hearing. Not only speaking for herself, but the singer is also part of the Human Artistry Campaign, which is a group consisting of artists who are concerned about the power behind AI. With AI recently causing controversy surrounding Taylor Swift, Wilson admitted, “Many creators have already seen their life’s work and their own voices and images thoughtlessly ingested into AI models without their permission. Our identities represent years of work to hone our craft and make a livelihood out of our passion.”

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Claiming that AI can hijack an entire career’s worth of work in a “split second”, Wilson added that some performers are working alongside AI. She continued, “The important thing is that it should be their choice, and not a choice that an AI company gets to make for them. AI generated music and video using an artist’s unique identity to perform in questionable settings, or to sing lyrics that they would never write or express, that does not truly reflect who they are, is unacceptable. It is a personal violation that threatens a person’s dignity and can put at risk everything that they have worked so hard to accomplish.”

Lainey Wilson Wants To Protect “Freedom Of Expression”

Declaring that an artist’s “voice and likeness are their property”, Wilson also explained how AI is taking away people’s freedom of expression. “I have heard that some interests have criticized it as preventing freedom of expression that uses the voices and the images of other people. I’m a big proponent of free speech, and I’m certainly no lawyer, but I do know that if you take away the ability of artists to express themselves, you are by definition limiting freedom of expression.” 

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Like Wilson, many have experienced the advantages and disadvantages of AI over the last few months. And for the singer, she spoke out not just for the entertainment industry, but the fans too, calling for regulation. “It’s needed for high school girls that have experienced life-altering deep fake p**n using their faces, for elderly citizens convinced to hand over their life savings by a vocal clone of their grandchild in trouble. AI increasingly affects every single one of us.”

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 (Photo by JC Olivera/WireImage)