A producer filed an anonymous lawsuit against Kanye West, claiming that the singer used alleged AI vocal programming in his songs for West’s album Vultures II his second collaborative LP with Ty Dolla $ign. The rumors of West using AI to model his own voice for his music has truth to it due to this lawsuit. Pitchfork reports that this lawsuit is due to the producer allegedly not getting paid for his work on Bully and Vulture II, also that West and his label YZY allegedly failed to include the producer in the album’s production credits on streaming platforms although he heavy contributed to the AI vocal programming in these two projects. Because of this he is seeking “at least $110,000 for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law and the Los Angeles Freelance Worker Protections Ordinance” (Pitchfork).
The producers work on Vulture II, “appears on five tracks, included, per RS, the creation of “at least 13 custom AI voice models, more than 400 individual vocal generations, and source material using his own voice” (Pitchfork). Ironically, West has stated that Bully used no AI although he’s said he used technology in his writing and recording process. “Last week, he settled a 2024 lawsuit brought against him by Lauren Pisciotta, his former assistant, who had accused him of sexual assault and harassment. Another lawsuit against West—this one over an uncleared sample in an early version of his Donda track “Hurricane”—recently went to court and broke in favor of the plaintiff, with West himself ordered to pay just shy of $200,000” (Pitchfork).
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