A new study shows that the majority of people can’t tell the difference between music generated entirely by AI and music created by humans.
A total of 9,000 people from eight countries were tested to see if they could identify footprints created entirely by artificial intelligence. In a blind test, listeners were presented with two AI songs and one real song, and 97% of participants were unable to choose the human-made music.
The majority of people who took part in the survey, conducted by Ipsos and streaming platform Deezer, said they felt uncomfortable not knowing the difference.
The study also showed strong support for AI-generated music to be clearly labeled on platforms like Apple Music, Deezer, and Spotify.
Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier said fully AI-generated music is “flooding” streaming services, despite pushback from both the platform and listeners.
“The results clearly show that people care about music and want to know whether they are listening to tracks created by AI or humans,” he said.
“There is also no doubt that there are concerns about how AI-generated music will impact artists’ lives and music production, and that AI companies should not be allowed to use copyrighted material to train their models.”
Deezer revealed that more than 50,000 AI-generated tracks are uploaded to its service every day, accounting for about a third of all new music.
Deezer said up to 70% of these AI tracks appear to be fraudulent, with the primary purpose being to collect revenue from views.
The streaming giant said its AI detection tool can detect music generated using only artificial intelligence. The track is then automatically removed from algorithmic recommendations.
“This is a first step toward ensuring these songs do not significantly dilute the royalty pool,” Deeser said in a statement. “Future actions, such as updating supplier policies or removing/demonetizing content, should be carefully considered.”
Earlier this week, a country music song created by artificial intelligence became the first to reach the top of the US Billboard chart.
Breaking Rust’s “Walk My Walk” has been listened to over 3 million times on Spotify.
