Folk musician Murphy Campbell targeted by AI fakes and copyright trolls | The Verge

EntertainmentAIPolicyA folk musician became a target for AI fakes and a copyright trollMurphy Campbell plays public domain ballads, but YouTube accepted the copyright claim anyway.by Terrence O'BrienApr 4, 2026, 5:52 PM UTCLinkShareGiftMurphy Campbell is at the center of a brewing storm around AI and a broken copyright system. | Image: Murphy CampbellEntertainmentAIPolicyA folk musician became a target for AI fakes and a copyright trollMurphy Campbell plays public domain ballads, but YouTube accepted the copyright claim anyway.by Terrence O'BrienApr 4, 2026, 5:52 PM UTCLinkShareGiftPart OfAll the latest in AI ‘music’see all updates Terrence O'Brien is the Verge’s weekend editor. He has over 18 years of experience, including 10 years as managing editor at Engadget.In January, folk artist Murphy Campbell discovered several songs on her Spotify profile that did not belong there. They were songs that she had recorded, but she’d never uploaded them to Spotify, and something was off about the vocals.She quickly surmised that someone had pulled performances of the songs she posted to YouTube, created AI covers, and uploaded them to streaming platforms under her name. I ran one of the songs, “Four Marys”, through two different AI detectors, and it seemed to support her suspicions with both saying it was probably AI-generated.Campbell was shocked, “I was kind of under the impression that we had a little bit more checks in place before someone could just do that. But, you know, a le...