John Legend and Charli XCX agreed to have their voices cloned by YouTube. It's the start of an AI war among musicians.

• YouTube has launched a new AI music tool that will let creators use the voices of famous artists.
• The tool is one of the first real attempts to commercialize AI-generated music.

YouTube has launched a new AI music tool that lets creators use the voices of famous artists.

The company's AI experiment, Dream Track, marks one of the first real attempts to commercialize AI-generated music. Launched on Thursday, the tool will allow some creators to use AI versions of artists' voices for soundtracks of up to 30 seconds.

In a blogpost explaining the new tool, the company said: "By simply typing an idea into the creation prompt and selecting a participating artist that appears in the carousel, an original Shorts soundtrack featuring the AI-generated voice of that artist will be produced for the creator to use in their Short."

The tool could be a pivotal moment for the music industry, which has had a rocky time with generative AI.

Several artists were initially horrified by the tech's uncanny ability to mimic their voices. Record labels also balked at the potential for revenue loss, while streaming platforms clamped down on their songs being used in AI training data.

Despite the noise around the tech, ongoing complications, including a copyright lawsuit from Universal Music Group and other publishers, have largely confined AI-generated music to social-media platforms like TikTok.

YouTube's new tool, developed with Google DeepMind, has the potential to push AI-generated music into the mainstream.

Nine major artists have signed up for YouTube's experiment: Alec Benjamin, Charlie Puth, Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, John Legend, Sia, T-Pain, Troye Sivan, and Papoose.

In the blogpost published by YouTube, Puth said he was "excited and inspired" by the project. He praised the company for understanding "the need to work together to develop this technology responsibly."

However, the widespread adoption of AI-generated music risks upsetting some more outspoken artists. The differing stances of those in favor of AI's use in music and those who are bitterly opposed mark the start of a conflict that's likely to escalate.

Several musicians, including Drake, Nick Cave, and Ice Cube were quick to speak out against the technology — and they did not hold back.

YouTube reportedly faced difficulties developing the tool after failing to get any music companies to participate. In October, Bloomberg reported that music companies still had questions that YouTube was working to supply answers for.

Perhaps in an attempt to calm fears around the unauthorized use of the technology, YouTube also announced this week it was introducing a tool that allowed labels and distributors to flag AI content that mimicked an artist's voice.

Other areas of the music industry also appear to be softening on AI.

Spotify, which previously pulled a viral song that featured AI-generated vocals from Drake and The Weeknd, recently confirmed it didn't plan to remove all AI-generated music from the platform.