Japanese technology and entertainment giant Sony have announced the development of a new artificial intelligence tool designed to identify musical works used in generating AI-created music, as global concerns over copyright protection continue to grow.
The technology, developed by Sony’s AI division, functions as an attribution engine capable of analyzing AI-generated songs and estimating which artists or original recordings influenced the final output.
The system can reportedly determine stylistic similarities and assign percentage levels of influence to specific musicians.
Although still in the research and development phase, the innovation forms part of a rapidly expanding ecosystem of copyright management solutions emerging alongside generative AI technologies.
Sony’s initiative joins similar efforts by several startups working to trace the origins of AI-generated content. These tools aim to help creators and rights holders receive compensation when their works are used to train or influence AI systems.
Music attribution platforms such as Sureel, Musical AI and Neutune are already exploring licensing and royalty-tracking arrangements with music rights organisations, enabling payments tied to AI-generated outputs.
Beyond music, attribution technology is also being applied to text, images and video content. Companies like ProRata focus on written material, helping publishers monitor how their content is used by AI platforms and facilitating royalty payments through licensing agreements.
Media and entertainment companies increasingly view attribution engines as a pathway to fair compensation in an era where AI-generated content is expanding rapidly.
However, adoption faces challenges, particularly the need for cooperation from AI developers and trust from copyright owners.
Most attribution systems rely on access to AI training data to accurately match outputs with original works something not all AI companies are willing to provide.
Also, rights holders remain cautious about relying on estimation models whose internal calculations are often proprietary.
Alongside attribution tools, AI detection technologies are gaining traction. These systems analyse content to determine whether it was produced by artificial intelligence rather than human creators.
Detection tools first gained prominence in education following the rise of AI writing platforms, but they are now expanding into music streaming and digital distribution services.
Platforms such as Deezer have introduced systems that tag fully AI-generated music and may exclude such tracks from recommendation algorithms or royalty payments.
Experts describe the development of AI detection and attribution technologies as an ongoing technological arms race, with AI developers continually refining models to make machine-generated content increasingly indistinguishable from human-created work.
Industry analysts compare the current moment to the early 2000s, when file-sharing platforms like Napster disrupted the music industry and prompted the creation of digital rights management and content-recognition systems now widely used across streaming platforms.
As generative AI reshapes creative industries, similar copyright protection technologies are expected to evolve into standard infrastructure supporting fair use, licensing and revenue distribution for artists and content owners worldwide.
The emergence of these tools signals a broader shift toward balancing technological innovation with intellectual property protection in the fast-changing digital media landscape.
