The biggest U.S. record labels are suing two artificial intelligence startups, marking a major step in the music industry’s battle to prevent its unlicensed intellectual property from being used to train generative AI models.

The Recording Industry Association of America filed two lawsuits on Monday against Suno AI and Uncharted Labs, which makes Udio AI, on behalf of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group.

The AI startups operate by using text prompts to create songs in seconds. But in order to develop those songs, the AI software has to be fed existing music in order to pick up on what sounds good. For example, Udio powered the viral “BBL Drizzy” song.

The complaints follow a flurry of similar lawsuits filed by artists, newspaper publishers, comedians, and authors that allege artificial intelligence companies are infringing on their registered copyrights.

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