Grammy Award-winning dancehall artist Shaggy is embracing artificial intelligence, telling World Music Views, “AI is here—there’s nothing we can do about it. Use it as a tool, but stay creative.”
His comments come as a UK cross-party group of MPs and Peers has released a report urging legislation to regulate artificial intelligence in the music industry. The report warns against deepfakes and AI-generated music misleading the public and calls for stronger protections for artists against unauthorized use of their work. A UK Music poll found overwhelming public support for AI regulation, with 83% backing clear labeling of AI-generated songs and 80% opposing the use of artists’ music to train AI without consent.
Key recommendations include a UK AI Act, mandatory AI-generated content labeling, stronger personality rights for artists, and a government-led international AI taskforce. Policymakers stress that AI should enhance, not replace, human creativity. Industry leaders emphasize the urgency of protecting music’s economic and cultural value before AI disrupts the sector.
Sky News interviewed will.i.am and Sean Paul about the role of artificial intelligence in music. Will.i.am, an early AI advocate, sees it as a tool for inspiration and creativity, recently demonstrating his AI radio app, RAiDiO.FYI. “If you’re basing what you’re going to do tomorrow off yesterday, you’re not growing,” he told Sky News. He believes AI should “inspire better, broader, deeper, faster” creativity and shouldn’t “stop you from being human.”
He argues that AI should not be feared, comparing its impact to TikTok’s transformation of the music industry. “I don’t think anything can water down our industry any more than TikTok has… We used to listen to three-minute songs, now we’re down to nine seconds.”
Sean Paul on the other hand, while open to experimenting with AI, is more cautious. He worries it could make artists lazy and devalue music, emphasizing concerns over copyright and fair compensation. He has used AI for music production but insists it must be properly regulated. “It’s a Pandora’s box—when you open it, it’s going to change all the parameters,” he said. He worries AI could make artists complacent: “I am apprehensive about certain parts of [it] in terms of making people lazy to writing… It can become a toy and make music more dispensable.”
However, he acknowledges AI’s potential as a creative tool. “I’ve used it for trying to finish riddim patterns that I have… I used it as a tool… as I think everybody should.”
AI, Copyright, and the Future of Music
Both artists agree on the need for regulations. Will.i.am supports an “artificial intelligence constitution” to prevent exploitation, stating: “I believe you should be licensed to put out AIs right now and you’re not.”
Sean Paul echoed concerns about compensation: “If it does happen that AI takes my stuff and I’m never compensated because of it (…) I will fight that.”
