Xania Monet, an AI-powered artist, has over 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Artificial intelligence has become prominent in nearly every discipline, now seeping into the art of creating music. Topping music charts, AI musicians have passed human artists who have devoted significant time and energy to reach fame. Listeners must be aware of the ethical concerns that AI-generated music poses, as we cannot let technology take over the artistic talent required to produce music.
The emergence of AI in modern music has transformed how composers, songwriters and listeners experience the world of music. Many have found it useful to break down components of songs, enliven a conceptual idea or personalize playlists.
However, these advancements have developed beyond assisting the production process with their ability to create a human-like musical persona from scratch. Touching a wide range of genres, listeners began to speculate the legitimacy of AI artists months after their rise to fame, in some cases. In the past several years, 10 AI musicians appeared on Billboard’s radio and streaming charts across all genres — from R&B to country.
Those who come across AI artists may unknowingly classify them as any other singer due to their humanlike sound. Knowing this, listeners must be aware of the origins of their favorite musical artists.
Xania Monet was the first AI-powered artist to reach a Billboard radio chart and sign a multi-million-dollar record deal with Hallwood Media. The creator of Monet, Telisha Nikki Jones, a Mississippi-based poet, decided to leverage the power of her written words with Suno, an AI music producing platform.
“Xania is an extension of me, so I look at her as a real person,” she told CBS Mornings.
Sitting at 1.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify, her rapid rise to fame is not ethical compared to the dedication required for real musicians to produce their art.
Spotify’s AI song recommendation algorithms give hyper-realistic AI artists an advantage. Two central algorithms are used: collaborative filtering, which assesses what songs are commonly played in succession or added to playlists, and content-based filtering, which delves into metrics within each song, like danceability, rhythm or even cultural context. When AI-generated songs are created with the objective of having similar attributes to those made by human artists, the AI songs are more likely to be recommended over real musicians because of these algorithms.
Consequently, streaming AI-generated music is detrimental to smaller artists. Singer-songwriter Christiana Miller posted a TikTok on Jan. 20 expressing her frustration, saying the millions of streams lost to AI music are enough to change the career of a real artist who has put in the time and effort to craft their music.
Spotify does not have a policy that requires musicians to be labeled as AI. Without a label on AI-produced music, listeners become unaware of what type of music they are supporting. Robert Neri, Chief Executive at European record label Ivors Academy, warns that without AI labels, big tech continues to profit while leaving smaller artists behind.
On average, producing a single song in 2026 can cost between $1,000 and $10,000. Independent artists are challenged with paying out of pocket for renting a recording studio, hiring production engineers and distributing music. This estimate does not include visuals and cover art, marketing costs and live performances.
AI musicians do not face this issue. Their inhuman capabilities can fabricate an idea alone into a full-production album through a simple prompt, allowing them to release more tracks within a shorter span of time. Sienna Rose, an AI R&B musician, released 45 tracks between Sept. 28 and Dec. 5, in contrast to an average of 8-13 songs released per year by human artists.
Creators behind AI music facades avoid admitting that they are AI-generated, some described as “Not entirely human” or “AI-assisted.” While AI music production is undoubtedly initiated by a human, it does not capture the human creativity and expression used by real artists — it is derived from technology’s impression of human-created music.
As the realistic sound of AI music continues to blur with human-made music, listeners will likely become less capable of discerning what raw talent sounds like in the music industry. Listeners should be able to enjoy music without diving into an artist’s background to decipher whether they’re a human or not.
Despite the current lack of labeling, Spotify announced in Sept. 2025 that they are taking steps towards standardizing an AI label that reflects specific ways in which songs were made with AI. They plan to include details in music credits that indicate what role AI had in the production process — instrumentation, vocals or post-production. The statement claims that this will not punish AI artists but instead will restore trust throughout the music ecosystem.
This adaptation is necessary, but it does not address how Spotify’s algorithms continue to favor AI songs. In turn, smaller, more experienced human artists are put at a disadvantage. Moreover, this new label representing AI’s role in a song’s production process will only be found in the music credits, which are not overtly visible to listeners. While this is a step in the right direction, complete transparency is necessary to ensure fairness.
Deezer, another music streaming service, uses an AI detection tool to be fully transparent with what tracks are available to stream. CEO Alexis Lanternier said the tool removes AI music from algorithmic recommendations and editorial playlists while still allowing it to be streamed on the app. This is a fair solution because it does not outlaw access to AI music nor does it promote its streams over human-made music.
It is inevitable that AI has touched the music industry, but listeners must be aware of who they support, even without AI labels. As with other industries where AI has gained influence, it should be ethically used to spark human creativity, not replace it.
This story was written by Bella Gruber. She can be reached at [email protected].