Spotify’s AI Persona and Likely AI Persona badges. Photo Credit: Spotify
Millions of machine-generated tracks – and more than a few listener complaints – later, Spotify is officially set to begin labeling AI artist profiles.
The DSP formally disclosed the incoming labels and the policy particulars thereof today. At present, one can self-disclose that an artist page “does not represent a real person.” And beginning on mobile devices in mid-September, Spotify will then identify the appropriate profiles with an “AI Persona” badge.
Interestingly, however, the system won’t begin and end with voluntary disclosures. In its own words, Spotify intends to “review artist profiles and identify those whose public identity—the identity an artist presents on their profile, including name and imagery—appears to represent photorealistic AI-generated identities.”
On the “appears” front, the standard badge – meaning that resulting from self-disclosure – will simply read “AI Persona.” But the profiles Spotify identifies as AI-powered will be slapped with a “Likely AI Persona” label, with both expected to be displayed “in the banner and About section,” Search results, “and on track rows across playlists.”
“Spotify reviews artists with a large audience. Based on that review, we believe this artist’s public identity may be AI-generated,” the Likely AI Persona description reads.
Though time will tell precisely what this process entails, a mention of “Spotify’s review team” suggests that real people will have a hand in the decisions. And that could prove positive for users and the platform alike.
Spotify’s affinity for streamlining isn’t a secret, but a bit more old-fashioned moderation probably could have prevented controversies stemming from drug-peddling “podcasts,” infringing uploads disguised as podcasts, adult videos, straight spam, and more.
Additionally, the Likely AI Persona label will bring with it a chance to self-disclose or appeal, presumably to members of a human team. Just as notably, in “the coming months,” Spotify will enable fans “to report artist profiles they believe represent AI Personas.”
Finally, taking a page out of Deezer’s book, Spotify “will not include AI Personas in any editorial or algorithmic recommendations.” In other words, between the “AI Persona” and “Verified by Spotify” labels, the platform is essentially making long-overdue progress towards separating machine-generated slop from proper music.
Speaking of slop, the streaming service in its announcement acknowledged listeners’ frequently indicating “that they don’t like seeing an artist profile that seems human, only to find out that the persona is AI-generated.”
And while this pushback is very real, it’s probably not a coincidence that Spotify’s announcement arrived weeks after Universal Music head Lucian Grainge took aim at AI slop generally and in terms of its being included in algorithmic recommendations.
“Fans don’t want AI slop, and there’s no justifiable reason that this content should be algorithmically served to audiences on streaming platforms or siphoning money from human artists,” Grainge said during his company’s Q2 earnings call.