Grammys will allow AI-generated music to contend for awards — sort of

Grammys will now allow music with AI elements to be award-eligible, as long as "human creators" are involved

By Nardos Haile

Staff Writer

Published July 11, 2023 12:12PM (EDT)

Grammy Award, AI, concept (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)
Grammy Award, AI, concept (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

The Grammys will now allow music generated by AI to contend for the most important awards in the music industry, but only if a work was primarily created by humans, with some AI-generated components.

The Recording Academy announced several shifts in its eligibility guidelines regarding AI, stating that "only human creators" can win the award. Work with no human authorship isn't eligible, but work that includes elements generated by AI are possible contenders, as long as the human creator is responsible for this addition to the music, The Associated Press reported.

Grammys CEO and president Harvey Mason Jr. told AP that the industry was evolving because with new technology and so would its biggest awards show. If a lead vocal on a track is performed by AI, he explained, the work would be eligible for a songwriting award but ineligible in any performance category, since a human being is not singing. Mason said the Recording Academy does not want to see technology replace human creativity, but believes it can amplify and augment the creative endeavors of actual people. Humans most contribute the majority of a work that is partly AI-generated work for such a work to be award-eligible, Mason said. The Grammys could see AI-generated work hit the submissions list as early as next year, he suggested: "People are using the technology," Mason said "It's going to be involved in a lot of records, a lot of songs, this year. So we'll see if some of them get nominated or not."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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