The Sound Ethics 2026 University AI Music Research Initiative

Turning Research Into Responsible Practice

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In collaboration with universities, artists, and music industry leaders, we are establishing responsible practices for the next generation of AI scientists and ML engineers working at the intersection of music and AI.

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We believe it is our responsibility as artists to provide a roadmap for the responsible practices we want AI companies and developers to follow. One of our objectives is to define the options available today and evaluate the different systems and approaches, where they work, where they fall short, and what responsible implementation really requires in practice.

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Together, these projects help establish a practical roadmap: how to conduct AI research properly, how to carry those practices into production, and how to apply AI commercially while respecting creative rights throughout the entire process.

Milestones Across the Initiative

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• More than 100 direct contributors: More than 100 researchers and collaborators have now worked directly on Sound Ethics projects.
• Three university teams advancing AI detection: Alongside models trained internally at Sound Ethics, three university teams across two institutions have contributed to our AI-detection research, with each project building on the work and findings that came before it.
• Attribution research moving into its next phase: Attribution work that began internally in 2023 expanded through our 2025 NYU collaboration focused on attribution methods and Gen-AI systems. That work is continuing until June 2027 with UC Berkeley Eng. and NYU DS researchers.