Nov 19 (Reuters) - Warner Music Group ( WMG ) has

settled a copyright infringement case with artificial

intelligence company Udio and will jointly launch a new platform

for song creation in 2026, the companies said on Wednesday.

The new subscription service, which will be powered by AI

models trained on licensed and authorized songs, enables new

revenue streams for the artistes and songwriters while

protecting their work.

Universal Music Group has also settled a similar copyright

case with Udio last month.

The deals come at a time when a surge in AI-generated tracks

has triggered some platforms like Deezer to clearly

mark AI-generated music due to ethical and copyright concerns.

Udio's rival Suno, which raised $250 million at $2.45

billion valuation, has also been caught in a copyright dispute

with Warner Music Group ( WMG ), Universal Music Group and Sony

Music Group.

Both companies allow users to generate songs using

AI-powered text prompts.

The record labels had sued Udio and Suno last year, alleging

the AI companies copied hundreds of songs from some of the

world's most popular musicians to teach their systems to create

music that will "directly compete with, cheapen, and ultimately

drown out" human artists.

Udio and Suno said the use of copyrighted sound recordings

to train their systems qualifies as fair use under U.S.

copyright law, and they called the lawsuits attempts to stifle

independent competition.

Recently, a Deezer and Ipsos survey reveled that a

staggering 97% of listeners cannot distinguish between

AI-generated and human-composed songs, fanning fears that AI

could upend how music is created, consumed and monetized.

A May survey by Luminate found the majority of U.S.

audiences were indifferent to or accepting of AI use in cinema

tasks like visual effects, but sceptical of AI-written scripts

or synthetic actors.