Ircam Amplify launches AI music detection tool

Founded in 2019, Ircam Amplify, a subsidiary of French audio research institute IRCAM, is also behind Stereo to Spatial, a flagship product unveiled last year to offer “seamless and affordable spatialisation process for record labels and digital distributors.”

The new tool, dubbed AI-Generated Detector, which will be available during the Music Biz Conference in Nashville, US, this month, incorporates a tagging system that can screen up to 5 000 tracks in less than a minute with an accuracy rate of 98.5% in identification.

“Leveraging our music information retrieval (MIR) and audio AI expertise, we trained a dedicated algorithm through a deep neural network on both humanly created and publicly available AI-generated music datasets,” Ircam Amplify chief product officer Romain Simiand said. “The detection training proved so specific to each model that we were able to state which one has been used to generate the tracks.” 

Ircam Amplify CEO Nathalie Birocheau described the tool as a “game changer” that will offer transparency and strategic advantages to users for informed decision-making about music content.

In 2023 alone, some 170 million tracks were generated using AI, presenting perceived threats to human creativity, copyright infringement, and reduced compensation for creators, compelling Spotify to pull down tens of thousands of AI-generated songs last May following complaints of copyright infringement.

“Generative AI is reshaping the creative landscape, especially in the music sector, where everyone can create music using AI tools,” Birocheau said. “This is, quite rightfully, a concern for all those who are involved in the creation, distribution and revenue-sharing of music.”

On Monday, a bipartisan group of UK lawmakers supported a report urging AI regulation in the music industry to safeguard human creators. Titled Artificial Intelligence and the Music Industry – Master or Servant? and funded by UK Music, the report proposes laws to protect artists’ identities, mandate clear labelling of AI-generated content, and require AI developers to obtain copyright permissions. It was supported by 83% of UK adults and endorsed by industry groups like AIM, BPI, and PRS for Music.

Last month, a coalition of creative industry bodies welcomed the EU’s new AI Act for requiring transparency from developers but stressed the need for further steps to address legal ambiguities and ensure fair compensation, as well as creators’ right to consent or refuse the use of their work in AI models.