Spotify Bans Recommendations for AI Artists

Spotify Bans Recommendations for AI Artists

Spotify will soon label AI artists and remove their music from your recommendations. This change, which will begin rolling out in mid-September, means you will see an " AI Persona " badge on the profile of an artist who " does not represent a real person ".

The music streaming platform will allow artists to disclose that they are an AI persona starting today, but will not rely solely on self-identification. Spotify states that it will use human review and AI tools to determine if someone's profile, including their name and image, " appears to represent photorealistic AI-generated identities ". If Spotify determines that an artist's identity may be AI-generated, it will apply a " Likely AI Persona " badge. Spotify will first review artists who meet " defined audience thresholds " to cover the most listened-to profiles.

Music from AI personas will not appear in editorial suggestions or personal recommendations by default. " Listeners have clearly told us that they do not like seeing an artist profile that seems human, only to discover later that the persona is AI-generated," says Spotify. " We are adjusting our algorithms to highlight authentic human artists and, based on available signals, we strive not to include undesirable or low-quality content in our recommendations."

This decision comes as AI-generated music continues to flood streaming platforms, with the music streaming service Deezer recently revealing that AI-generated tracks now account for half of its daily downloads.

Spotify clarifies that its new labels pertain only to an artist's identity, not how they created their music. While Spotify currently does not have a system to identify AI-generated music like Deezer does, it allows artists to disclose the use of AI and has launched a " Verified by Spotify " badge to indicate that they are a real person. The platform will inform artists if it applies a " Likely AI Persona " badge to their profile and will also give them the option to appeal. Spotify plans to add a feature allowing listeners to report artists with potentially AI-generated identities.