YouTube has long been associated with music and copyright protection, but generative AI advancements have made policing content harder than ever. Listening to an AI cover of a popular song will demonstrate how quickly AI content has evolved, and it makes you question if most of the credit should go to the AI’s developer, the data used to train the model, or the artist who made the original. To help deal with the rising use of AI in music, YouTube has announced a new partnership and a set of core philosophies with an eye toward the future.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan published a blog post announcing a strategic partnership with key players in the music industry to explore the responsible integration of AI technology. There are three principles the company wants to lean on: embracing AI together with music partners, balancing creativity and protection, and investing in trust and safety.

On that first front, it’s clear YouTube is getting ready to go all in on AI, even if the blog post did not contain much in the way of specifics. As part of this initiative, YouTube introduced the Music AI Incubator program, a joint effort with multiple partners, including Universal Music Group and its roster of talents. It appears YouTube’s goal here is to work together with the music industry on generative AI projects.

This isn’t like the AI push we saw with the new AI-generated summaries and the AI tools for creators that YouTube is introducing. While those tools had a clear direction, YouTube really glossed over how the Music AI Incubator could work or when users might be able to see anything from it. This feels more like an overview of a coming plan than a real announcement of new features, so it may be more of a reaction to how quickly AI has evolved in making music.

The second part of the initiative that aims to balance creativity and copyright protection could ultimately have the most impact — making sure artists get paid for their work is a big part of YouTube’s Content ID system and how it manages the rights to sounds and audio. Investing in trust and safety, the final principle, appears to be part of a larger push, as Google has recently implemented a Transparency Center to make it policies more accessible, particularly those centered around AI.