Is AI music legal?

Which three separate questions hide inside this one?

1. Can you make and release AI music? Yes. No US law prohibits creating or distributing music made with AI tools. Your practical constraints are the tool's terms, platform policies, and the rights of other people (voices, samples, compositions you didn't license).

2. Was it legal to train the models? This is the live dispute. The major-label cases against Suno and Udio, filed June 2024, put exactly this question in front of two federal courts — and as of August 19, 2026 neither has ruled on the merits. Some plaintiffs exited via settlements and licenses; Sony is still litigating against both companies and filed a second Udio complaint in July. Anyone stating the training question is "settled law" — in either direction — is ahead of the courts.

3. Whose voice and likeness is it? Cloning a recognizable artist's voice runs into state right-of-publicity law — Tennessee's ELVIS Act is in force — and a federal framework (the NO FAKES Act, S.4591) has been reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee but is not law as of August 19, 2026.

Every case, statute and bill above is a live record in the Index with its procedural status and primary documents.