Are you listening to bots? Survey shows AI music is virtually undetectable

A staggering 97 per cent of listeners cannot distinguish between artificial intelligence-generated and human-composed songs, a Deezer–Ipsos survey showed on Wednesday, underscoring growing concerns that AI could upend how music is created, consumed and monetized.

The findings of the survey highlight the ethical and economic tension facing the global music industry as AI tools capable of generating songs in seconds raise copyright concerns and threaten the livelihoods of artists.

The issue gained prominence earlier this year when AI band "The Velvet Sundown" sparked enough buzz to gain around one million monthly listeners on Spotify before people found out about its synthetic origins.

The study, which polled 9,000 people across eight countries including the US, UK, France, Brazil and Canada, showed about 71 per cent of the respondents were surprised by their inability to distinguish between human and machine-produced tracks.

Streaming platform Deezer said more than 50,000 songs uploaded daily on its service are entirely AI-generated, accounting for about a third of all new music submissions.

The company began tagging AI music earlier this year to promote transparency.

"We believe strongly that creativity is generated by human beings, and they should be protected," CEO Alexis Lanternier told Reuters, urging transparency.

Lanternier also said implementing a differential payout structure for AI music is a complex issue with varying viewpoints, making a "massive change" to remuneration difficult.

Deezer is excluding fake streams from royalty payments.

Another way is for companies to make deals with rights holders, he added, citing Universal Music Group's settlement of a copyright infringement case with AI company Udio.

While financial terms were undisclosed, UMG will partner with Udio to launch a new AI music creation and streaming platform next year, with the AI tool getting trained on licensed music.