IMS Ibiza Delegates Face the Future of AI: ‘Pandora’s Box Is Definitely Open’
Rachel Narozniak From April 26 to 28, some 1,300 delegates across sectors of the dance music industry descended on the Destino Pacha Ibiza resort to, in the theme of the 14th annual IMS Ibiza summit, face the industry’s future in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). The consensus? “Pandora’s box is definitely open,” Daouda Leonard, CEO and co-founder of Create Safe, proclaimed during a debate touted by conference programming as “possibly the most important IMS discussion of the 2023 event” (“Understanding the Unstoppable: AI & Music Unravelled, The Potential, The Threats, The Future”). To put it in Web3 terms, although generative AI may be in its “1.0 stage” in the music ecosystem at present, its implications for asset production, differentiation, rights, ownership, and artist-fan engagement, warrant discussion. At IMS, “Heart on My Sleeve,” a deep-fake “collaboration” crafted using AI that simulated the voices of two of music’s biggest stars, Drake and The Weeknd, served as a timely case study of AI as it relates to music creation and intellectual property (IP). The song, realistic enough in sound to support its arc from AI experiment to viral sensation, racked up more than 11 million views on TikTok before it was pulled from digital streaming platforms (DSPs) and social channels on April 17 following Universal Music Group’s invocation of copyright violation.