Dutch MP's wants AI apps to compensate Dutch artists, stop using their songs, voices

A parliamentary majority wants the Dutch government to stop AI apps using Dutch artists’ voices, songs, and lyrics. Victims must be compensated and songs with cloned voices must be taken offline, the lower house of the Dutch parliament said. A new Minister of Digital Affairs must tackle this, GroenLinks-PvDa suggested, AD reports.

The parliamentarians are responding to a plea from Herman van Veen, whose voice has turned up in the database of the AI app Udio. Research by AD found that music apps like Suno and Udio train their AI tools with copyrighted material from Dutch artists including Spinvis, Paskal Jakobsen, Stef Bos, Marcel Veenendaal, and Van Veen. Anyone can use the apps to create a credible song with these artists’ voices but without their permission. They also don’t get any royalties.

Parliamentarians say it is beyond time for the government to intervene. “Stealing chords from songs and voices shows that AI has gone completely crazy and is too much in the hands of multinationals that are not very concerned with ethics,” PvdD MP Christine Teunissen told AD.

“An AI copy of a voice is unknown territory and the legislator will quickly have to make clear where the boundary is,” said ChristenUnie MP Don Ceder.

GroenLinks-PvdA thinks the government is paying “far too little attention” to digital matters. “That is why it is high time for a new Minister of Digital Affairs, who will tackle problems like this,” said MP Barabara Kathman.

The CDA pointed to the European AI Act, which will take effect in 2025 and require AI to first get permission from artists before using their stuff. “The rise of Udio shows that there is no time to lose in translating this into concrete rules,” CDA MP Herman Krul said. The VVD, SP, Volt, SGP, BBB, and NSC supported that statement.

“This is yet another example of the negative sides of AI that urgently need to be regulated and addressed,” said BBB parliamentarian Mona Keijzer. SP parliamentarian Sandra Beckerman added: “The Netherlands is too slow and artists are suffering from this.”