As the AI era threatens to lay further siege to Spotify, the streaming service is drawing a line in the sand in the battle against AI slop artists.
Spotify is rolling out a new label next month for accounts on the platform that appear to be AI generated, the company said Tuesday. Starting in mid-September, the streamer will affix “AI Persona” labels on profiles that appear to be lacking in, well, human nature. Those badges will appear on the artist’s profile, in the search tab and alongside their names on playlists — but profiles with such labels will be excluded from the company’s prized algorithmic recommendations for its users. Spotify will allow artists to proactively disclose a profile is an AI Persona, but for those who don’t, the platform’s human moderators will do it themselves after a review using their own AI tools.
“True artist-fan connection can only be built on a foundation of trust and authenticity,” the company said on Tuesday. “In music, that means listeners need to be able to trust that the artist behind the music is who they say they are. That’s more essential than ever in the age of generative AI.”
Popular on Variety
The move is an effort to combat the wave of fake, AI-generated accounts that have overrun the service in recent years, with many of those songs generated on AI music generators such as Suno and Udio. The “AI Persona” badge comes after the service in April added a badge for human artists to note they’ve been “Verified by Spotify,” which also followed new tools to let listeners see how an artist used AI in their song while also getting a look at how each credited artist contributed to a track.
“Listeners have been clear in telling us that they don’t like seeing an artist profile that seems human, only to find out that the persona is AI-generated,” the service added. “The badge signals to listeners that an artist’s identity may be AI-generated and does not represent a real person.”
Even as Spotify takes action against AI slop, including banning unauthorized vocal impersonations and filtering out mass-uploaded spam, it’s also infused its platform with the technology. It introduced a ChatGPT-like feature last month that lets users engage with a conversational AI assistant to help figure out what they want to listen to. It’s also introduced an “AI DJ” and, through a licensing deal with Universal Music Group, the ability for fans to remix or cover select songs using AI. The company is also working with UMG and other labels, including Warner Music Group and Sony, to develop “responsible AI products.”