SoundCloud appears to have quietly changed its terms of use to allow the company to train AI on audio that users upload to its platform.
As spotted by tech ethicist Ed Newton-Rex, the latest version of SoundCloud’s terms include a provision giving the platform permission to use uploaded content to “inform, train, [or] develop” AI.
“You explicitly agree that your Content may be used to inform, train, develop or serve as input to artificial intelligence or machine intelligence technologies or services as part of and for providing the services,” read the terms, which were last updated February 7.
The terms have a carve out for content under “separate agreements” with third-party rightsholders, such as record labels. SoundCloud has a number of licensing agreements with indie labels as well as major music publishers, including Universal Music and Warner Music Group.
TechCrunch wasn’t able to find an explicit opt-out option in the platform’s settings menu on the web. SoundCloud didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
SoundCloud, like many large creator platforms, is increasingly embracing AI.
Last year, SoundCloud partnered with nearly a dozen vendors to bring AI-powered tools for remixing, generating vocals, and creating custom samples to its platform. In a blog post last fall, SoundCloud said that these partners would receive access to content ID solutions to “ensure rights holders [sic] receive proper credit and compensation,” and it pledged to “uphold ethical and transparent AI practices that respect creators’ rights.”
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A number of content hosting and social media platforms have changed their policies in recent months to allow for first- and third-party AI training. In October, Elon Musk’s X updated its privacy policy to let outside companies train AI on user posts. Last September, LinkedIn amended its terms to allow it to scrape user data for training. And in December, YouTube began letting third parties train AI on user clips.
Many of these moves have prompted backlash from users who argue that AI training policies should be opt-in as opposed to opt-out, and who argue that they should be credited and paid for their contributions to AI training datasets.
Updated 2:22 p.m. Pacific: A SoundCloud spokesperson provided a statement via email, which we’ve published in part below:
“SoundCloud has never used artist content to train AI models, nor do we develop AI tools or allow third parties to scrape or use SoundCloud content from our platform for AI training purposes. In fact, we implemented technical safeguards, including a ‘no AI’ tag on our site to explicitly prohibit unauthorized use.
The February 2024 update to our terms of service was intended to clarify how content may interact with AI technologies within SoundCloud’s own platform. Use cases include personalized recommendations, content organization, fraud detection, and improvements to content identification with the help of AI technologies.
Any future application of AI at SoundCloud will be designed to support human artists, enhancing the tools, capabilities, reach, and opportunities available to them on our platform. Examples include improving music recommendations, generating playlists, organizing content, and detecting fraudulent activity. These efforts are aligned with existing licensing agreements and ethical standards. Tools like [those from our partner] Musiio are strictly used to power artist discovery and content organization, not to train generative AI models.
We understand the concerns raised and remain committed to open dialogue. Artists will continue to have control over their work, and we’ll keep our community informed every step of the way as we explore innovation and apply AI technologies responsibly, especially as legal and commercial frameworks continue to evolve.”
