Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst Advocate for Artist Rights in AI Era with Digital Tools

Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst have long addressed concerns about AI's role in artmaking, predating recent debates sparked by AI-generated artworks winning competitions. Herndon, a musician, developed Holly+, a digital twin that reinterprets songs using her voice through AI experiments. In March, their online tool, which lets artists verify if their work trained AI models and opt out, gained 40,000 signatories, with Stability AI among companies agreeing to respect these preferences. Herndon served on the 2024 jury for IRCAM's Generative Music Prize in Paris. She was named to Time magazine's '100 AI' list in September. Dryhurst expressed enthusiasm for machine learning while prioritizing artist welfare in an interview with Freethink magazine. The couple's advocacy highlights the intersection of AI technology and creative rights as AI learns from human-made art.