Wayne Wonder: ‘AI Technology Can Use My Voice If Compensation Is Fair’

International Dancehall singer-songwriter Wayne Wonder says he has no objection to having his voice utilized in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, provided that users operate with fairness and ensure he is properly compensated.

“It’s crazy that you can just take something and mimic it, and it sounds close enough that it can fool somebody. But you have to just use it the right way. Use it the right way. Say you use my voice, compensate me, bro. That’s it. Just be fair. I don’t have a problem. But, you know, compensate me,” the No Letting Go artist said during a recent interview on The Entertainment Report Podcast.

He referenced Susan Bennett, the original voice of Apple’s Siri, who was unaware her voice was used and felt under-compensated, as well as actress Scarlett Johansson, who recently challenged ChatGPT over one of its newest voices sounding too similar to hers. Johansson reportedly sought legal counsel after OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, introduced an AI voice remarkably similar to hers—a development that followed her prior refusal of the company’s offer for her to use her actual voice on their product.

“I was listening to the lady that did the Siri voice. And over the years, like from the early, when iPhone just started out, I was like, damn, like, you know, oonu just fi be fair, bro. Just sort out. Just cut me my check, bro. Just be fair. Yeah. Sort out some benefits from it,” he added.

Wonder’s 2002 track No Letting Go has received Gold certifications in both the United States (2022) and the United Kingdom (2020), signifying sales and streaming of 500,000 and 400,000 units, respectively. His other most popular songs include Bounce Along, Watching You, Joyride with Cham, Bashment Girl, Bonafide Love with Buju Banton, Movie Star, The Best, and Informer.

In April this year, The Gleaner newspaper, in an article titled ‘Marley Estate, others sign open letter critical of AI’s ‘assault on human creativity’, noted that the general manager of the Jamaica Music Society (JAMMS), Evon Mullings, had opined that “many Jamaican music creators have already begun to feel adverse effects of AI on their livelihood.”

The article noted that the Bob Marley Estate had joined more than 200 influential music industry figures and entities, including Stevie Wonder, the Frank Sinatra Estate, Nicki Minaj, Billie Eilish, and Katy Perry, in opposing the irresponsible use of AI, arguing that it could be catastrophic, devalue their work and hinder fair compensation.

In a terse open letter, which was released by Artists Rights Alliance on April 1, the signatories noted that “when used irresponsibly, AI poses enormous threats to our ability to protect our privacy, our identities, our music, and our livelihoods”.

It also noted that artists were requesting a pledge from all AI developers, technology companies, platforms and digital music services “that they will not develop or deploy AI music-generation technology, content or tools that undermine or replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists”.

The letter had also stated that some of the biggest and most powerful companies had been using the work of musicians without their expressed permission, to train AI models” and that “these efforts are directly aimed at replacing the work of human artistes with massive quantities of AI-created ‘sounds’ and ‘images’ that substantially dilute the royalty pools that are paid out to artistes”.

The letter also called for a stoppage to the assault on human creativity and protection against the predatory use of AI to steal professional singers’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.

The article also quoted Mullings as saying that AI technology was like “a juggernaut” that would “continue to advance with a force” and that many Jamaican music creators have already begun to feel the adverse effects of AI on their livelihood.

Mullings also said that the dubplate creation aspect of the Jamaican music industry was “facing possibly its biggest threat since this innovation started decades ago”, as unscrupulous persons were using AI technology to create dubplates by impersonating the sound and likeness of some of the island’s music luminaries.

Mullings, in supporting the Artist Rights Alliance’s open letter, had said that JAMMS was in the process of preparing a policy that will guide revised eligibility criteria for music from existing members or prospective members for the purpose of earning royalties.

According to him, the entity was heading in the direction, where it would reject music which is 100 per cent AI generated and where the vocals are 100 per cent AI generated.

Arguing that the most alarming threat to artistes and creators, was the impersonation of their likeness, voice, or image by AI for commercial gain by unscrupulous individuals, Mullings had said that JAMMS planned to present proposals to relevant government authorities to help shape laws protecting human creators from AI.

He also emphasized that AI significantly threatens the principles of human dignity, freedom from artificial replication, and the right to a livelihood.