DAACI, the inventors and developers of a comprehensive and ethical AI music ecosystem of adaptive, generative and creative AI assistive music tools and technologies, has been awarded significant grant funding across a trio of projects to propel the ethical integration of music and AI.
The first grant, awarded by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, brings DAACI, in collaboration with BIMM University and Lewis Silkin LLP nearly £1m from the Innovate Bridge AI Grant to Improve Productivity, with £937,312 allocated, and DAACI receiving £451,720 after match funding.
This grant aims to establish a compliance mechanism for AI-generated music works in a Web3.0 world, placing DAACI at the forefront of the dialogue surrounding transparency, attribution, and ethics in generative music and AI.
BIMM, one of Europe’s leading creative arts universities, will contribute testing activities and specialist songwriting and production input, through its AI_Labs. Meanwhile Lewis Silkin LLP will offer valuable market insight into ethical AI and sustainable reward models for creators and rights holders.
In the emerging Web3.0 world, AI offers composers and artists new ways to access music generation. The project addresses licensing uncertainties, focusing on the development of an ethics standard for all AI music companies, ensuring fair royalty distribution among rights holders including writers, publishers, labels, artists, producers and performers.
Rachel Lyske, CEO of DAACI, emphasises the project’s importance and benefits, “Innovate UK’s support of our approach is a vital step forwards in our mission of creating a world-leading framework and Innovate UK has recognised the importance of the opportunity in front of us.
“The current debate around licensing and ownership of data sets that are used to create AI generated output doesn’t go deep enough. These data sets are made up of final output, but that’s not the whole story. The recordings include the work of composers, performers, producers; they include artistic endeavour, experience and knowledge. So the debate should go further. We acknowledge the input of the artists, producers and all involved so new tracks can be actually composed as opposed to simply generated. This is true to how music actually works, let’s maintain the integrity of human artistry and use AI to amplify that, rather than replace it.
“I’d like to thank the team and all our partners who have shared our vision to bring this project to life. It’s important that we embed a unified approach, we don’t operate in a tech silo, and I’m looking forward to the exciting developments to come.”
David Jones-Owen, CEO and Vice-Chancellor at BIMM University adds “We are proud to partner with DAACI on this groundbreaking project, which represents a significant advancement in the ethical integration of music and collaborative AI. By contributing our expertise and resources through our AI_Labs, we aim to support the development of innovative solutions and the establishment of ethical and legal processes that will benefit our students and the entire music industry.”
Cliff Fluet, Joint Head of Media & Entertainment at Lewis Silkin LLP concludes, “As leaders in the field of ethical AI and sustainable business practices, we are excited to collaborate with DAACI on this important initiative. Our market insight and legal expertise will play a crucial role in ensuring that the development of AI-generated music aligns with ethical standards and promotes fair treatment for both creators and rights holders.”
A second grant, Creative Catalyst: AI in the Music Industry has been awarded for a total of £184k. DAACI leads the project, with University of Arts London (UAL) as Academic Partner, with DAACI awarded £123k, and UAL £61k.
The aim of this project is to advance the development of Artificial Intelligence products and services within the global music supply chain which benefit and strengthen the UK Music Sector – creating a transparent and responsible User Interface to reduce bias in AI-generated music technology.
DAACI pioneers generative AI tech, breaking barriers in music creation. Unlike systems reliant on limited datasets, pre-recorded tracks or edited auto samples, DAACI dynamically composes in real-time using composers’ heuristics, fostering inclusivity across genres.
“UAL Creative Computing Institute is delighted to be partnering with DAACI on this project, combining their cutting edge position working with AI in the creative industries with UAL’s research expertise in creative computing and explainable AI. The threat of bias and marginalisation of music by AI is a real and growing challenge – this is an exciting opportunity to create a more inclusive and representative world of music by building new ways to broaden the musical palette of AI,” comments Professor Nick Bryan-Kinns, Professor of Creative Computing at University of the Arts London.
An additional Innovate UK has been awarded to Pyrsos AI Research Ltd with DAACI as a collaborator, to develop an AI tool for instant music track recommendations tailored to specific video clips, for example, movie trailers.
Despite the increasing consumption of video and music content and the growing power of AI, there’s a lack of efficient tools for enhancing creative efficiency and simplifying video music searches. Pyrsos AI Research Ltd aims to address this gap by creating a unique AI recommendation engine to serve the UK’s music sector and enhance global media output diversity and efficiency.
This project leverages Pyrsos’ research capabilities and DAACI’s music catalogue and software infrastructure to develop cutting-edge machine learning technology accessible to a wide audience.
“Receiving an Innovate UK grant is not only an honour but also a great chance to advance the still largely unexplored research area of cross-modal recommendation. Apart from being technologically cutting-edge, we believe that we can build the foundation for a series of truly game-changing applications.” comments Dr Nadine Kroher of DAACI.
Prof Aggelos Pikrakis, Research Scientist at Pyrsos AI adds “We are confident that the support of this Innovate UK grant will act as a catalyst for the development of cutting edge, AI enabled technology across multiple dimensions, that will provide new music recommendation possibilities to video and movie content creators while allowing for fair and ethical access to music sources.”
The grants and collaborations between DAACI, BIMM University, Lewis Silkin LLP, UAL and Pyrsos AI Research Ltd represent a significant stride toward the ethical integration and development of music and AI. These grants mark a pivotal moment in addressing licensing uncertainties and advancing cutting-edge AI innovation in the music industry, ushering in a new era of diverse and inclusive music production.