🔗 Share this article Activist Collective Claims to Have Extracted Countless of Audio Files from the Streaming Giant An activist group has stated to have scraped a vast number of songs from Spotify and is preparing to release them publicly. Possible Impetus for Artificial Intelligence Development Observers noted the apparent leak could aid AI companies searching for data to train their models. A group called Anna’s Archive reported it had obtained 86 million audio tracks from Spotify and 256 million entries of associated data such as artist and record names. Spotify, which hosts more than 100 million songs, confirmed that the leak did not constitute its full catalog. “We have identified and disabled the malicious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping,” stated a company spokesperson. The Swedish service, which has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, further explained that an inquiry into unauthorised access found a third party collected public metadata and used illicit methods to circumvent DRM protections. Archive's Declared Goal and Concerns The streaming service does not believe the audio acquired by Anna’s Archive has been released yet. Anna’s Archive, which is known for providing links to pirated books, wrote in a blog it wanted to create a ‘historical repository’ for music. They claimed the audio files represented 99.6% of all music listened to by its listeners and would be distributed via ‘torrents’, a means of exchanging large data files online. “Naturally the service doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a fantastic beginning,” commented Anna’s Archive, which describes its purpose as “preserving humanity’s knowledge and heritage”. AI Training and Intellectual Property Battleground A composer and campaigner for defending artists’ rights, said the breached music would likely be utilized for training artificial intelligence systems. “Educating models on illegally sourced data is unfortunately common in the AI industry, so this accessed music is highly likely to be used instructing AI models,” he stated. The group's website alludes to LibGen, a huge online repository of pirated books that has reportedly been leveraged by Meta to develop its systems. The co-founder of an AI startup wrote on LinkedIn that members of the public could in theory “create their own private free version of Spotify”. The executive said it could also allow tech companies to “educate models on contemporary music at a large volume”. Copyright has emerged as a key issue between creatives, writers and creatives on one side and tech giants on the other. Government Proposals and Responses In the UK, artists and writers have protested against a ministerial suggestion to let AI companies use copyright-protected work without permission unless the owner opts out. Virtually every respondent to a government call for evidence on the proposal has backed artists’ concerns. A government minister for science, research and development informed parliament this month there was “little consensus” on the matter, noting that ministers would “take the time to get this right”. The government has committed to make policy proposals on AI and copyright by next year.