Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry are among 200 artists calling for a ban on ‘predatory’ AI in the music industry – amid fears the technology could replace them

Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry are among 200 high-profile artists calling for an end to the music industry’s “predatory” use of AI.

In an open letter, several of the world’s biggest stars have warned that the technology will “spark a race to the bottom” if left unchecked.

Using AI to steal artists’ voices, likenesses and sounds is an “attack on human creativity,” they said, and would “destroy the music ecosystem.”

The letter, issued by the Artists Rights Alliance (ARA), calls for a ban on AI tools that undermine or replace human songwriters or their work.

This move is part of an industry-wide push for better regulation of generative AI, the technology behind chatbots like ChatGPT and image generators like Midjourney.

Fears over the use of AI have increased in recent months after a song using AI to mimic the voices of Drake and The Weeknd went viral online.

Signatories of the latest letter range from rock stars of the past, such as REM and Jon Bon Jovi, to pop stars of the moment, including Jess Glynne and Zayn Malik.

It warns that AI will “violate our rights and devalue the rights of human artists” if used irresponsibly.

‘This attack on human creativity must be stopped. “We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal the voices and likenesses of professional artists, violate the rights of creators, and destroy the music ecosystem,” the letter said.

However, the letter does not call for a complete ban, but adds that responsible use of the technology could have benefits.

Concerns about the use of AI in the film industry – from writing scripts to producing scenes – were at the center of strikes by Hollywood actors and writers last year.

American Idol judge Katy Perry signed the letter warning that AI is an “attack on creativity.”

Nicki Minaj joins lawmakers’ push to ban AI tools that steal artists’ sounds

And it’s quickly moving into the music industry.

Last month, Tennessee – long known as the birthplace of country music – became the first US state to protect musicians from AI.

This legislation, sometimes called the “Elvis Act,” made vocal similarity a property right rather than a right of publicity.

The same already applied to names, photos and likenesses.

The state’s governor, Bill Lee, said: ‘Artists have intellectual property. They have gifts. They have a uniqueness that is theirs and theirs alone, and certainly not of artificial intelligence.”

Last year, music publisher Universal was among a group of companies that sued AI company Anthropic in the same state, alleging it used “countless” copyrighted lyrics — including the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows and the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter — to train his chatbot Claude.

Last month, the songwriter behind hits for Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue described the pace of change in the use of AI to potentially replace artists as “scary”.

Guy Chambers told The Guardian: “I think in the future we will reach a stage where an album will have to have a badge that says ‘this is a fully human record.’

“From what I’ve seen of AI, the acceleration is pretty scary, in terms of what it can do and how it could replace songwriters.”