Spotify, one of the largest streaming companies in the world, says it will soon start labeling AI profiles posing as human artists. The "AI Persona" badges, which will start rolling out mid-September, will appear on the artist's profile page, in search results related to the profile and in playlist track listings.
"Although there's a broad spectrum in how artists use AI as a creative tool, the question of whether a profile represents an actual human is one where Spotify can help make a clear determination," reads the announcement on Spotify's website. "This badge is about the artist's public identity, not about how the music was made."
Starting this week, creators uploading music to Spotify will be able to self-disclose if they are using AI for their public persona, not for actual music creation. (Spotify recently launched a different tool called AI credits, where artists can share how generative AI was used in their creative process, if at all.)
Spotify will also independently review artist profiles and enforce the new policy, analyzing whether artists' names, identities or images appear to be the product of generative AI. Any user who Spotify believes to be an AI Persona will be notified and given the option to appeal the label. Once an AI badge appears on a profile, listeners will be able to learn if an artist opted in or if Spotify applied the label.
AI Personas — and any music they upload — will be excluded from all of Spotify's recommendation features, meaning they will not appear in algorithmic or editorial playlists. The only way for an AI Persona's content to appear on a listener's feed is if the listener chooses to follow or intentionally searches for it. In the future, listeners will also be able to report profiles that they suspect are AI-generated.
In the new feature announcement, Spotify wrote: "While we believe all artists have creative choice in determining how they present themselves, Spotify's programming is focused on elevating music from authentic artists building careers in music."
Last summer, controversy broke out after a generative AI project posing as a human band called The Velvet Sundown racked up millions of streams in a matter of weeks (their songs also popped up on users' Discover Weekly feeds and third-party playlists, which featured hundreds of thousands of followers). Since then, Spotify has started taking measures to accurately label and detect generative AI usage, including cracking down on AI impersonations of real artists and limiting AI spam uploads to the platform. In April, the service also introduced verification badges, which indicate that an artist's identity and authenticity have been confirmed by the platform.
Spotify's emphasis on transparency follows reports that audiences are increasingly uncomfortable with AI-generated music. Earlier this year, the entertainment and insights company Luminate published a study that found listeners' interest in AI music is decreasing, particularly among Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
As AI usage has ramped up, musicians have spoken up, too. In 2024, hundreds of artists — including Billie Eilish, J Balvin and Stevie Wonder — signed an open letter cautioning against AI usage that could infringe and devalue the work of human artists. Most recently, SZA and Lorde have been two of the most outspoken critics of artificial intelligence. In March, SZA told the digital magazine i-d that she feels "at war" with AI. Last month, Lorde took to social media to criticize a Spotify feature that creates AI summaries and descriptions of songs, asking for artists to be given the chance to opt out.
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