{"slug": "investigation-by-the-atlantic-reveals-many-millions-of-songs-used-for-ai-music", "title": "Investigation by The Atlantic reveals many millions of songs used for AI music training", "summary": "The Atlantic published searchable databases revealing that millions of copyrighted songs, including hits from Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny, were used to train AI music models. The investigation highlights ongoing legal battles against AI platforms like Suno and Udio, which have claimed fair use for scraping protected content. The databases could support future copyright lawsuits in the music industry.", "body_md": "# Investigation by The Atlantic reveals many millions of songs used for AI music training\n\nTaylor Swift, Bad Bunny and many, many more artists have had their work fed into AI models.\n\nWe're always glad to see more publications and groups digging deeper into artificial intelligence and its impact. Today, *The Atlantic* has [published](https://www.theatlantic.com/category/ai-watchdog/) four searchable databases of music that has been used to train AI models. The scope is pretty staggering, with 12 million tracks in one database, 9 million in another, and the two final ones each containing about 100,000 songs.\n\nThe accompanying [article](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/06/ai-music-generators-suno-google-udio/687485/?gift=XykDc_qyxjjKAvqueifCeVueQlyDmjxACfclHl3tdg0&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share) by staff writer Alex Reisner gives further context to just how much copyrighted music was used for AI training, including hit tracks from Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny. He points to some of the legal cases already underway against generative AI music platforms, such as [Suno and Udio](https://www.engadget.com/record-labels-sue-ai-music-generators-for-massive-infringement-of-recorded-music-172915925.html), which have often made claims of fair use as a defense for wholesale scraping copyright-protected content to power their platforms. A similar case [in book publishing](https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-reaches-a-settlement-over-authors-class-action-piracy-lawsuit-210338494.html) didn't make headway with a judge on claims of copyright infringement, but piracy allegations have proved to be a more compelling argument. The full results and payout from that suit are still [pending](https://www.engadget.com/ai/judge-rejects-anthropics-record-breaking-15-billion-settlement-for-ai-copyright-lawsuit-033512498.html), though the initial settlement was for $1.5 billion. Having sources such as these databases from *The Atlantic* could help parties in the music industry try for similar lawsuits in the future.\n\nMany music streaming services have taken steps to [prevent](https://www.engadget.com/ai/spotify-is-testing-a-tool-to-help-real-artists-deal-with-ai-slop-on-their-profiles-161013653.html), [identify](https://www.engadget.com/2192024/deezer-ai-music-detector/) or [label](https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/apple-music-can-now-flag-ai-content-but-only-if-distributors-elect-to-label-it-121521873.html) generative AI creations, but those efforts have seen varying degrees of success. They also haven't stopped scammers from [creating imitations](https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/an-ai-copycat-of-king-gizzard--the-lizard-wizard-went-unnoticed-on-spotify-for-weeks-220018144.html) of existing bands and trying to benefit off their work with AI copycats.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/investigation-by-the-atlantic-reveals-many-millions-of-songs-used-for-ai-music", "canonical_source": "https://www.engadget.com/2194804/investigation-by-the-atlantic-reveals-many-millions-of-songs-used-for-ai-music-training/", "published_at": "2026-06-15 20:24:59+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-15 20:39:40.236000+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-ethics", "ai-policy", "ai-products", "ai-research"], "entities": ["The Atlantic", "Taylor Swift", "Bad Bunny", "Suno", "Udio", "Alex Reisner"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/investigation-by-the-atlantic-reveals-many-millions-of-songs-used-for-ai-music", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/investigation-by-the-atlantic-reveals-many-millions-of-songs-used-for-ai-music.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/investigation-by-the-atlantic-reveals-many-millions-of-songs-used-for-ai-music.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/investigation-by-the-atlantic-reveals-many-millions-of-songs-used-for-ai-music.jsonld"}}