The Grammy Awards allow the use of AI in music but there is a catch

The academy’s updated rulebook lists 3 instances in which a song containing artificial intelligence will be considered for a Grammy Award. The three criteria include that the human author’s part of the submitted work is meaningful and more than de minimis (meaningless), the work must be relevant to the relevant category and AI the part of the work that is not eligible for a Grammy Award.

The Academy also announced several other changes, including requiring artists to contribute at least 20 percent of an album to be eligible for consideration for Album of the Year. Under the old rules, any producer, singer, engineer or performer could earn a nomination for album of the year, even if they had only a small contribution.

The music industry has been dealing with various challenges with the rise of powerful AI-based technology. Earlier this week, Paul McCartney announced the ‘last Beatles record’ which will feature John Lennon’s AI-generated voice.

The popular AI chatGPTs and Bard for example can write songs, poems, code and complete complex mathematical equations with one quick stroke.

Other professions are also concerned about the rise of this AI-based technology. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike on May 2 over what it called an “imminent threat” to their jobs posed by artificial intelligence technology. Reuters said the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) is also planning a similar strike if a deal is not reached with the studios.

Updated: 19 June 2023, 11:31 AM IST