Last month, Paul McCartney revealed that the “last” Beatles record had been created using artificial intelligence. McCartney said that AI was used to extract the late John Lennon’s voice from an old demo. The Beatles’ member’s revelation started a conversation around AI being used in music. The Recording Academy, which is behind the Grammys, was asked whether artists would be given awards if they used AI. Now Harvey Mason jr, CEO and President, Recording Academy, has weighed in with further details on how the body would judge the use of AI.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Mason jr said that “AI, or music that contains AI-created elements is absolutely eligible for entry and for consideration for Grammy nomination. Period. What’s not going to happen is we are not going to give a Grammy or Grammy nomination to the AI portion.”
What is the official stand on AI in music?
As per the report, if an artists uses AI or a voice modelling program on the lead vocal of a song, then the track would be eligible for an award in the songwriting category. However, it won’t be eligible for the performance category. As “what is performing is not human creation.” The Recording Academy CEO further explained how it will decide. “Conversely, if a song was sung by an actual human in the studio, and they did all the performing, but AI wrote the lyric or the track, the song would not be eligible in a composition or a songwriting category,” he told the Associated Press.
The human element should be more than evident in a song. “As long as the human is contributing in a more than de minimis amount, which to us means a meaningful way, they are and will always be considered for a nomination or a win,” he explained. “
He also said that the idea is not to see tech replacing human creativity in any form. “We want to make sure technology is enhancing, embellishing, or additive to human creativity. So that’s why we took this particular stand in this award cycle.”
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