If you have concerns about artificial intelligence utilizing your music for its learning purposes, you might want to think twice before uploading it to SoundCloud.

A recent TechCrunch report indicates that SoundCloud discreetly revised its terms of service last year, allowing AI training on the audio shared on its platform. The revised terms express: “You explicitly agree that your Content may be utilized to inform, train, develop or act as input to artificial intelligence or machine intelligence technologies or services as part of and for providing the services.”

In response to the report, SoundCloud provided clarification, asserting that it does not currently use audio uploaded by users for AI model training. However, the company did not dismiss future possibilities.

“SoundCloud has never used artist content to train AI models, nor do we develop AI tools or permit third parties to scrape or utilize SoundCloud content from our platform for AI training purposes,” stated Marni Greenberg, SoundCloud’s SVP and head of communications, in a comment to The Verge. “In fact, we’ve implemented technical safeguards, including a ‘no AI tag’ on our site, to clearly prohibit unauthorized use.”

Greenberg noted that music licensed from major labels is specifically excluded from any AI training under the current terms. She also highlighted that users will have the ability to opt out if SoundCloud decides to allow AI training on user-generated content in the future.

“The [terms of service] clearly prohibit the use of licensed content, such as music from major labels, for training any AI models, including generative AI,” Greenberg mentioned. “For other types of content uploaded to SoundCloud, the TOS permits the possibility of AI-related use. Importantly, no such use has occurred to date, and SoundCloud will implement stringent internal permissioning controls to manage any potential future use. Should we ever contemplate using user content to train generative AI models, we would provide clear opt-out options in advance—at a minimum—and will remain dedicated to transparency with our creator community.”

In conclusion, SoundCloud is not presently using your music, podcasts, or other audio to train AI. However, the platform’s updated terms imply it is preparing for the possibility of doing so in the future.