Hold the (gramo)phone: Artificial intelligence-generated music is eligible for Grammy Awards — err, type of.
The Recording Academy announced sweeping changes Friday to music’s biggest night, including that it is going to allow entries that use AI, so long as there may be a “meaningful” and “relevant” human component.
“The GRAMMY Award recognizes creative excellence,” reads the rules for the 66th annual Grammy Awards, set for Feb. 4, 2024. “Only human creators are eligible to be submitted for consideration for, nominated for, or win a GRAMMY Award.”
The regulations strictly state that AI work without “human authorship” is barred from the competition. Nevertheless, “elements of AI material” are acceptable.
The updated regulations coincide with an increase in AI-generated music and deepfake tracks.
Two-time Grammy winner David Guetta shocked fans this 12 months with an Eminem track, except the Real Slim Shady never actually recorded it.
Then, a fake Drake and The Weeknd song, “Heart on My Sleeve,” went viral, prompting demands for removal from Universal Music Group as a result of copyright infringement.
On the time, a UMG rep told The Post that the tune, which samples the artists’ voices, “begs the query as to which side of history all stakeholders within the music ecosystem wish to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression, or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation.”
The music group reportedly asked streaming giants like Spotify and Apple Music to “block” AI software corporations from using the label’s songs to coach their tech as a result of the rise in deepfake vocals.
This week, Sir Paul McCartney revealed his plans for a “final Beatles record” with slightly help from his friends: AI and “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson.
“He [Jackson] was in a position to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little little bit of cassette that had John’s voice and a piano,” McCartney told BBC concerning the late John Lennon. “He could separate them with AI — he could tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice, that’s the guitar, lose the guitar.’ And he did that, so it has great uses.”
He added: “We were in a position to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI, so then we could mix the record as you’d normally do.”
And, while “American Pie” songwriter Don McLean believes computer-generated melodies won’t be “worse” than a few of today’s hits, a member of Daft Punk begs to disagree.
“We tried to make use of these machines to specific something extremely moving that a machine cannot feel, but a human can,” Thomas Bangalter, one in every of the robotic mugs of Daft Punk, recently told BBC.
“We were at all times on the side of humanity and never on the side of technology,” he added of the electronic duo, which split two years ago.