To the Editor:

In an email to me on April 4, 2024, William Meade, engaged by Local 802 to “educate” the membership about AI, referred to companies that he is working with “in China and of all places Nigeria.” He wrote that he’s making “crazy advancements.”

I asked: “What companies are you working with?”

In the exchange that followed, Mr. Meade repeatedly refused to name the six companies he worked with, or identify whether their Generative AI systems engage in the ingestion of music without consent.

If Mr. Meade has a material interest in GAI companies, he clearly has no business chairing an AI union committee, particularly if the companies in question train GAI systems on our work without our consent and compensation.

But Local 802’s leadership refused to demand transparency even after being informed of the exchange above, insisting that all viewpoints must be represented. (What’s next? An Allegro column by David Byrne about exciting new Broadway technologies?)

An artist rights policy expert said to me, “Meade’s writing is more AI evangelism than education for musicians.”

And Local 802 Jerome Harris told me, “Meade’s column…mentions uses of generative AI by musicians and producers; it says almost nothing about its use by non-musicians to cut musicians and producers out of work…”

The real expert consensus is clear: unregulated GAI poses an “existential threat” to musicians, according to AFM Secretary-Treasurer Ken Shirk. And indie recording musicians face the highest risk.

But instead of fighting back, Local 802 permits a businessman with potentially opposing interests to sell his entrepreneurial vision in Allegro.

Meade’s columns paint a rosy picture of AI “unleashing creativity” while offering up quotes by Scott Galloway (a “professor of marketing, business leader and entrepreneur”) — including a sentence that seems to disparage SAG-AFTRA and WGA’s hard-won strikes as “naïve” and “short sighted.” (Galloway also calls for Section 230 “safe harbor” reform, when he means section 512 DMCA. Oops.)

If 802’s leaders don’t understand AI, that’s ok.

It’s their failure to understand unionism that’s unforgivable.

— Marc Ribot

To the Editor:

I am a trumpet player and composer, a member of Local 802 since 1980, and an activist for copyright and artists’ rights, including membership in the Local 802 Artists Rights Caucus and the AFM Indie Musicians’ Caucus. I am extremely disappointed in the local’s reaction to member activism around artificial intelligence. So far it has included creating a committee on AI with a hand-picked chair, who, by his own words, has a commercial interest in the use of AI. There has been no discussion of the currently accepted expectations of musicians around the world for receiving credit and compensation for work used in AI, or the concept that our work can only be used with our consent. As indie musicians, our jobs and our music are most at risk regarding the use of Generative AI, yet our requests for the committee to be open to all members was rejected by the local. We also have not received an answer to our question as to whether members would have the right to elect a chairperson or if we would have a voice in the output of the committee. This is unacceptable. We need a committee that can freely work towards establishing suggested guidelines for future negotiations and to work towards advocating for legislation that will help protect our creative work and our livelihoods. 802 members of the IMC are ready and willing to take part in this committee if it is open to all and run democratically. Rather than controlling what type of messaging comes out of this committee through a hand-picked chair and his articles, the local should be looking to support us as we independently examine the issues from the perspective of protecting our intellectual property from abuse and saving the business of music from being decimated by AI entrepreneurs.

— Ben Bierman

LOCAL 802 PRESIDENT SARA CUTLER RESPONDS: Local 802 thanks Marc Ribot and Ben Bierman for their letters above.  But they are incorrect when they say 802 is trying to control the workings and message of our new AI Advisory Committee (which we are still assembling).  All members are welcome to serve.  And while all committees are appointed by the president, this one came about because Local 802 member Bill Meade came to us with a proposal for an AI educational campaign.  I would be happy to appoint Ribot and/or Bierman to the committee, but they have refused to serve on it unless their demand is met that an “employer” not serve as chair. Making such a demand before even joining a committee gives me pause. Bill has acted as an employer as well as an employee and an independent contractor over his decades-long career, and thus brings multiple viewpoints to the use of AI. His willingness to bring voices from all parts of the AI community to Allegro in an effort to educate us all on the topic needs no apology.

We wish to inform the entire Local 802 membership that all are welcome to serve on the AI Advisory Committee. To join, learn about, or contribute to this process, we ask that you contact Local 802 Chief of Staff Dan Point. It is Local 802’s hope that together we can engage in a meaningful dialogue so that this technology does not further displace jobs for working musicians. As I wrote when this committee was announced, “This is not a time to sit back and hope for the best. Let’s get educated and let’s get involved!”

E-mail letters to the editor and feedback to Allegro@Local802afm.org