I’m excited to share that Poison Pill has been selected as a finalist in Music Ally’s SI:X 2025 startup competition.
For those who haven’t come across it yet, SI:X (Startups Innovating in Music) is one of the most respected showcases for emerging music-tech companies — highlighting projects that are shaping the future of how music is created, distributed, and valued. Being recognised alongside such an inspiring group of founders and technologists means a lot.
Poison Pill was built to tackle a growing problem: unlicensed AI training on musicians’ work. Generative AI companies have been scraping music without consent, using it to train models that can imitate artists — often without credit or compensation.
Our approach uses adversarial noise, an inaudible layer added to tracks that disrupts AI training, giving musicians and rights-holders a technical way to assert control and demand fair licensing.
As I said in recent interviews with Music Ally and MusicRadar, if we can protect even a fraction of independent music — say, 20% — we can shift the balance of power and bring AI firms to the negotiating table.
Being recognised by Music Ally reinforces that this conversation matters. It’s not just about blocking scraping — it’s about building a fairer relationship between artists and AI.
The next stage of SI:X will give us a chance to present Poison Pill to industry leaders, investors, and other innovators who care about the future of music and technology. I’m looking forward to the discussion — and to connecting with others who believe musicians deserve a say in how their work is used.
If you’d like to follow along, you can read the announcement on Music Ally here and check out Poison Pill at poisonpill.ai.