Alphabet is developing an AI tool that would let creators generate music in the voice of famous recording artists. Lyor Cohen, global head of music for Google and its YouTube subsidiary, has reportedly been in discussions with music labels for several months about obtaining the rights to use songs by major artists to train an AI model in this manner. The discussions continue, but not without raising concerns in the music business. Meanwhile, other AI tools are already generating new content, but not without facing some resistance. The use of artificial intelligence to generate creative works in the style of others is being hashed out in the courts.

Last week, a lawsuit led by Universal Music Group targeted Anthropic for copyright infringement by its AI chatbot, Claude, for wholly reproducing lyrics as well as generating “new” songs that borrow heavily from rights-protected works, according to Quartz.

In August, YouTube announced an AI music incubator with UMG as a partner, along with its artists, who have been invited to contribute input to shape the company’s AI strategy.

“The new AI tool, which YouTube had hoped to debut at its Made on YouTube event in September, will in beta let a select pool of artists to give permission to a select group of creators to use their voices in videos on the platform,” Billboard reports, noting that “from there, the product could be released broadly to all users with the voices of artists who choose to opt in.”

“YouTube will have to navigate a path to legal use of this new technology,” writes Bloomberg, noting the streamer has “had a fraught relationship with the music industry in the past, but that has improved in recent years as the site increased its royalty payments.”

Cohen, a former CEO of Warner Music Group, speaks the language of record labels, and Bloomberg says he “has been talking about artificial intelligence” to numerous people in the industry.

In September, YouTube unveiled new generative AI tools that will let users do things including automated voice dubbing and search for the right musical backing track. “Next year, we’ll also make it easier to find a soundtrack for your video with assistive search in Creator Music,” YouTube wrote in a blog post that says users can “simply type in a description of your content and AI will suggest the right music at the right price.”

Labels began focusing on AI more after a song that sounded like Drake collaborating with The Weeknd but wasn’t went viral online.