Singer laments AI threat as fakes make her viral in China

Singaporean Stefanie Sun ponders becoming first musician to be ‘replaced’ by artificial intelligence

Singaporean pop singer Stefanie Sun – and her songs – are trending on Chinese social media platforms in a surge in interest driven by an artificial intelligence-generated copy of her voice.

Since the release of her debut album, Yan Zi, in 2000, Sun – who is also known as Sun Yanzi – has amassed a substantial fan base on the mainland and in Hong Kong.

Among her 4 million Chinese followers on the QQ Music app, one of the most prominent pop music platforms, Sun’s songs, “What I Miss”, “Meet”, and “Begin to Understand”, have each received more than 9 million likes.

Recently, despite having not released a song in six years, AI technology has seen her popularity rise to another level.

On major social media platforms, AI-generated accounts with the name AI-Sun Yanzi have attracted large numbers of listeners thanks to their impressive ability to mimic not only Sun’s voice, but the unique breathing sounds she makes.

The AI accounts cover a wide range of well-known pop music, including Jay Chou’s “Hair Like Snow” and Nan Quan Mama’s “Rainy Day” – all from Taiwan.

A video featuring a copy rendition of “Hair Like Snow” has amassed upwards of 2 million views on the Bilibili platform.

People have joked that AI fakes are “the most diligent singers in the Mandarin music industry in 2023” owing to their remarkable ability to produce large amounts of music in a short time.

Meanwhile, the hashtag “Stefanie Sun becoming the first musician to be replaced by AI” has been trending on social media.

But AI “performers” are not for everyone, especially Sun’s fans.

One said: “This sounds fake. It mimics the vocal tone of Sun around 2001 and Jay Chou’s ‘Hair Like Snow’ hadn’t been released at that time.”

“AI-Sun Yanzi can mimic her tone, but not her emotions. It can imitate her voice, but not her live performances,” added another.

On May 22, Sun responded in a heartfelt online post.

“My fans have officially switched sides and accepted that I am indeed ‘an unpopular singer’ while my AI persona is the current hot property. I mean, really, how do you fight with someone who is putting out new albums every few minutes?” she said.

Acknowledging that AI has reshaped a wide range of industries and referring directly to the phenomenon, she said: “The very task we have always convinced ourselves; that the formation of thought or opinion is not replicable by robots, the very idea this is beyond their league, is now the looming thing that will threaten thousands of human conjured jobs. Legal, medical, accountancy, and currently, singing a song.

“In this boundless sea of existence where anything is possible and where nothing matters, I think it will be purity of thought, being exactly who you are that will be enough,” the singer said.

The AI-Sun Yanzi discussion has revealed the double-edged-sword implications of such technology in the music industry.

While fuelling the creation of music, AI also raises apprehensions regarding copyright infringement. “When AI ‘singers’ cover songs, it may potentially infringe upon the rights of the original artists, as well as the rights of original songwriters and record producers,” said Yunkai Li, a partner at Tian Yuan Law Firm.

“Whether AI covers songs by Sun Yanzi herself or other artists, it involves similar copyright infringement issues,” Li said.

Also, if a platform established a specialised content section for AI cover versions and directly shared revenue with creators, then in the event of copyright infringement, the platform would also share the corresponding legal responsibility with the creators, Li said.

On April 11, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued a draft policy paper titled “Measures on the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services”, which has been seen as an exploration of a possible regulatory framework for AI in this area.

But many issues remain unresolved.

“In the field of AI music, current laws only provide protection for voice rights to living individuals. If a user utilises the voice of a deceased celebrity to cover relevant songs, the legality of such usage remains uncertain,” Li said.

“For instance, if AI technology is employed to learn Beethoven’s compositional style and create Beethoven’s Symphony No. 10, whether it constitutes infringement is a question that cannot be definitively answered under existing legal provisions,” he added.