AI & Models
Google Labs acquires music AI startup ProducerAI
Google Labs has acquired music-generation startup ProducerAI, integrating its technology with the Lyria 3 model to position AI as a creative collaboration partner for users.
On Tuesday, Google announced that ProducerAI, a music-generation platform backed by the musical duo The Chainsmokers, will become part of Google Labs, Google’s division for experimental products. ProducerAI allows users to write natural language requests to generate music. The platform utilizes Lyria 3, Google DeepMind’s music-generation model, which can turn text and image inputs into audio outputs.
The acquisition follows Google’s announcement last week that Lyria 3 capabilities are being introduced into the Gemini app. Elias Roman, Google Labs’ senior director of Product Management, noted that ProducerAI allows users to interact with the model more like a collaboration partner, adding that the tool has allowed him to create in new ways. Musician Wyclef Jean, who used the Lyria 3 model and Google’s Music AI Sandbox, also emphasized that humans must remain the most creative in this era. “This is not just a machine where you’re clicking a button a hundred times, and then you’re done. It’s a careful kind of curation where you’re going through and saying, ‘Oh, I think that’s something we can use,’” said Jeff Chang, director of Product Management at Google DeepMind.
The deal comes amid deep divisions in the music industry over generative AI. In 2024, hundreds of musicians, including Billie Eilish, Katy Perry, and Jon Bon Jovi, signed an open letter opposing AI music-generation tools. Legal battles and commercial deals highlight the industry’s split:
- A cohort of music publishers sued the AI company Anthropic for $3 billion, claiming that the company illegally downloaded more than 20,000 copyrighted songs, including sheet music, song lyrics, and musical compositions.
- Anthropic was already ordered by the court to offer a $1.5 billion settlement to authors whose books were pirated for AI training.
- Other artists have embraced the technology for audio improvement, such as Paul McCartney using AI noise reduction to clean up a John Lennon demo for a Beatles track that won a Grammy in 2025.
- In Mississippi, 31-year-old Telisha Jones used the AI tool Suno to turn her poetry into a viral song, signing a record deal with Hallwood Media reportedly worth $3 million.
The legal landscape remains complex; one federal judge, William Alsup, ruled last year that training on copyrighted data is legal, but pirating it is not.
Why it matters
The integration of ProducerAI into Google Labs allows users to interact with the Lyria 3 music-generation model as a “collaboration partner,” marking a shift in how users communicate with AI tools.