On April 1, renowned Mandopop singer Zhou Shen released the theme song 'Chronicle of the Moon' for the ancient costume fantasy drama 'Moon Scale Chronicles,' with a clear copyright notice in the song's introduction and lyric sheet stating 'Prohibited for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Training.' This move marks the first case in China where copyright red lines were drawn against AI technology at the time of the work's release, signaling that musicians have entered a new phase of 'digital defense' in protecting their voice rights and creative sovereignty.
The notice specifies in detail: Without the written permission of the copyright owner, any use or distribution (including covers, re-recordings, remixes, etc.) is strictly prohibited; without authorization, the work is strictly forbidden for use in AI training, imitation, learning, generation, and other activities. This directly addresses the increasingly rampant phenomena of 'AI voice cloning' and 'algorithmic song washing' in the industry. Zhou Shen has previously expressed a rational perspective on AI technology in public, emphasizing that while AI can achieve extreme precision through algorithms, it cannot replicate the 'vivid emotions' and artistic soul honed through repeated refinement in human singing.
In 2026, as AI music enters commercial exploration, this 'hardcore' notice not only builds a technical firewall for original voices but also provides a standardized paradigm for addressing the authorization legitimacy of AI training data. Industry experts believe that this approach, which locks in intentional infringement from the source of the work, will significantly lower the threshold for evidence in subsequent copyright enforcement. With leading artists taking the initiative, the music industry is accelerating the construction of legal consensus on the boundaries of human-machine collaboration, reaffirming that irreplaceable human emotion remains the core moat of artistic creation amid the wave of technological advancement.
