👉 Background: Sony Music is the world’s second largest record company, owned by Sony Entertainment and has worked with hundreds of artists worldwide including Billy Joel, Celine Dion, and Beyonce.

👉 What happened: Sony has sent out a letter to over 700 AI companies, warning them not to train their AI models on its content without permission. That includes everything from audio recordings to music compositions, and cover art.

👉 What else: The reason for this warning? Sony wants to leverage its warning to discuss licensing deals with these AI companies, in order to get compensation for the use of its content.

What's the key learning?

💡When one industry identifies a big revenue opportunity, the rest often follow. Sony's letter has come hot on the heels of rising tension between media publications and AI companies.

💡For example, last year, The New York Times sued Open AI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, claiming their content was used in training these AI models. And now, the music industry is following in these footsteps.

💡But it's not just Sony - artists like Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj have signed an open letter against the use of AI. And this movement could influence creators in other industries, like photographers, filmmakers, and more to push for compensation from AI companies too.