Google moves to dismiss musicians AI copyright lawsuit

Google has moved to dismiss a copyright lawsuit brought by a group of independent musicians who allege the company used their music to train its Lyria 3 AI model without consent or compensation. In a motion filed on June 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Google argues that by uploading their songs to YouTube, the artists granted the company a broad license that covers such AI development.

The lawsuit, originally filed on March 6, accuses Google of scraping approximately 44 million audio clips from YouTube to train Lyria 3, a sophisticated AI music model capable of generating full tracks with vocals and lyrics. The plaintiffs, including singer-songwriter Sam Kogon, composer Magnus Fiennes, producer Michael Mell, and members of the band Directrix, claim this constitutes copyright infringement.

Google's defense hinges on YouTube's terms of service, which state that users grant the platform a "worldwide, nonexclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable license" to use uploaded content. The company contends this license authorizes activities like reproduction, distribution, and the creation of derivative works in connection with its...