AI Country Artist Breaking Rust Hits #1 on Billboard Chart, Sparking Industry Concerns

AI country artist hits #1 on Billboard digital songs chart

AI slop has reached a new level of ascendancy, as a country song by an AI artist has hit number one on Billboard's Country Digital Song Sales chart. Breaking Rust, an AI "band" that appeared on the internet in the middle of October based on its presence on Instagram, topped the chart last week with a song called Walk My Walk. Look at Breaking Rust's social media pages and you'll find nothing to indicate there's an actual human involved in the music-making portion of the band's songs - just a chiseled-jawed, clearly AI-generated cowboy, and video clips featuring folksy people doing folksy things or slow-walking away from the camera. To say the various songs are similar would be an understatement: They're practically identical down to their bland, hollow lyrics. Hang on a second, you may be wondering: Doesn't Breaking Rust sound like every other so-called "bro country" band that's come to dominate the genre over the past decade by singing soulless, cookie-cutter songs about trucks, beer, American flags, and scantily-clad women? Absolutely. If so, why should we assume Breaking Rust is an AI band? Well, because Billboard said it is in a story about AI artists just last week. "Breaking Rust, an AI-powered country act, debuted at No. 9 on the Emerging Artists chart (dated Nov. 1)," the music publication said. "The project, credited to songwriter Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, has generated 1.6 million official U.S. streams." Taylor has almost no internet presence, appearing only in association with Breaking Rust and a decidedly dirtier act called Defbeatsai. It's not clear whether he's even a real person. Billboard mentioned a number of additional AI "artists" in the story, noting that their numbers keep growing, and "as it's become increasingly difficult to tell who or what is powered by AI -- and to what extent." Breaking Rust has been doing surprisingly well for itself, or for Taylor, since appearing on the scene. Walk My Walk has been streamed on Spotify more than three million times as of writing. An even more popular tune (on Spotify at least), Livin' On Borrowed Time, has logged more than 4.1 million streams. Spotify logs the "band" as having more than 2 million monthly listeners, and many appear to be completely fooled by who - or what - they're listening to. "Are you guys out touring anywhere right now," asked one commenter on the Instagram post for Livin' On Borrowed Time. "This sings to my soul," a comment on the song The One's [sic] You Trust. "Just discovered this guy," said another poster on the song Time Don't Stop. "I've already downloaded everything I could find." Multiple people commented on how amazing the singer's voice is, apparently unaware that everything to do with Breaking Rust is generated by a computer. It's a bit surprising given every Breaking Rust song sounds identical - same beat, same tempo, same instrumentation: They're the sort of hyper-generic songs one could only get by feeding a prompt into an AI trained on every bro country song ever recorded and asking it to spit out something that would appeal to the lowest common denominator of music fan, something it appears to have done with success. Whether or not you appreciate American country music, this is a prime exhibit as to why music labels and recording industry groups have sued AI startups for training their algorithms on actual music and spitting out songs that sound practically identical to those painstakingly written, rehearsed, and recorded by actual humans with talent. Major record labels, through the Recording Industry Association of America, sued two AI music startups last year over just that, arguing that their tools can generate songs eerily similar to copyrighted recordings and unfairly exploit musicians' work. A group of music publishers also sued Anthropic in 2023 for training its AI on copyrighted song lyrics. As part of the lawsuit, the publishers alleged that Claude reproduced the lyrics to Don McLean's "American Pie" when asked to write a song about the death of Buddy Holly, introducing them as if they were its own original work. There's good reason artists, be they working in visual, audio, or written mediums, are so concerned that AI is destroying art: When an AI band can make it to number one on a Billboard chart, even one as small as the CDSS chart (which one country music outlet noted takes only about 3,000 sales to reach the top), it's an insult to the human artists who rank lower. We reached out to the RIAA to get its take on this, the first instance of an AI musician reaching number one on a chart, but didn't hear back. ®

AI has delivered a chart hit -- but what do we miss?

For teachers and examiners, overuse of the word "delve" is a tell that ChatGPT has been used to draft an essay. Alarm bells ring as students repeatedly delve in to the impact of the American civil war. When I asked the AI bot about this favourite word, it responded, "I tend to say things like, 'Let's delve deeper into that'" to which it perkily appended a laughing emoji. Is there an equivalent way of telling when AI has been used to make a song? The latest candidate for this challenge is a country track entitled "Walk My Walk", currently topping Billboard's country digital song sales chart in the US. The singer seems to be a stubbled fellow called Breaking Rust. He stares moodily from his Spotify artist page in a Stetson, looking a bit like David Beckham in an aftershave ad. Mystery surrounds Rust's provenance, although you don't have to delve deep to find signs of AI. One is his clunky stage name. Popular music abounds in bizarre or bad nomenclature -- hello, Arctic Monkeys -- but AI music generators have a habit of devising names that just don't ring true. Breaking Rust is a head scratcher. It has vague associations of outlaw country, old-fashioned ways and Neil Young's album, Rust Never Sleeps. He, or "he", is being touted as the first AI-created artist to summit one of Billboard's many charts. But an AI soul singer called Xania Monet can also claim that honour, having topped the R&B digital song sales chart in September. Her surname echoes real-life R&B singer Victoria Monét. Xania was the name of Beyoncé's character in The Pink Panther's ropey 2006 reboot. It's not only names that are recycled by AI song generators, which are trained on recorded music mined from the internet. Using real artists' work is condemned by record labels and musicians as copyright infringement. It also makes AI songs essentially generic. "Walk My Walk" is bluesy country with a stomp-clap beat and all-American action-hero vocals. It's quite enjoyable, but the genre inputs are obvious. One is the modern country-pop that Nashville produces in industrial quantities. The other is the gospel-shaded sound of mainstream chart hits such as Hozier's "Take Me to Church". The AI generator has synthesised these styles effectively. But it's Breaking Rust's only mode -- other songs sound the same, to an even more trammelled degree than the most unimaginative human songwriter. Another weakness is the vocals. AI hasn't yet cracked this most complex aspect of music. Breaking Rust's voice is superficially impressive, a manly grizzled tone. But his timbre is thin and the vibrato wobbles like a WiFi signal on a windy day. Meanwhile, Xania Monet's extraordinary vocal acrobatics have the flavour of CGI scenes in a film. She has a flesh-and-blood handler, Telisha "Nikki" Jones from Mississippi, who writes the lyrics. Unlike Breaking Rust, whose songs are credited to an enigmatic figure with the splendid name Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, she provides Xania with a back story. The avatar is portrayed as the AI-generated singer who brings alive the emotive words that Jones cannot herself sing. As always in pop music, there is a lot of hype here. Xania Monet is said to have been signed to a record label after a bidding war involving millions of dollars, but the charts that she and Breaking Rust have topped are minor; weekly digital song sales are puny. Their millions of streams are also hard to parse. Publicity draws people to listen, which creates more publicity -- the conditions for a novelty hit. "I'll talk my truth, I'll live my way," Breaking Rust hollers, a pixelated glint in his eyes. Like ChatGPT's emoji, it's hard to avoid the suspicion that someone, or something, is laughing at us.

This AI country singer just became Billboard's number one - a worrying sign of things to come

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. WTF?! Another milestone in the story of AI's takeover has been reached. An entirely AI-created artist has secured the number one spot on Billboard's Country Digital Song Sales chart. It's the first time an AI-generated song has topped the charts, and will undoubtedly encourage an even larger wave of slop as people look to replicate the success. The AI in question, Breaking Rust, first appeared around October, It managed to top the Billboard chart last week with a song called Walk My Walk. Breaking Rust's Instagram page doesn't explicitly identify the band as being AI-generated. However, the profile image of a lantern-jawed cowboy is blatantly fake, as are the videos, most of which show the somber cowpoke walking around various locations. There's also an impressive clip (below) of him shoulder pressing - with poor form - what looks like about 450 pounds. What makes it especially obvious that Breaking Rust is AI-generated are the songs themselves. I clicked on several videos on the Instragram page and generally thought they all were all samples from the same song. But no; they just all sound really, really similar. But despite the very generic sound, Breaking Rust boasts over 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify and has a Verified Artist badge. Breaking Rust debuted at No. 9 on the Emerging Artists chart on November 1 after generating 1.6 million official US streams, writes Billboard. The publication adds that the project is credited to songwriter Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, who, again, may not even be a real person. AI artists are far from new - many have gained over 1 million streams on Spotify. The Velvet Sundown, for example, made headlines when, having already released two albums, admitted that their music, images, and backstory were created by AI. Real musicians have long protested against AI companies using their work to train AI models without permission - over 1,000 released a silent album protesting against a UK law change earlier this year. The success of Breaking Rust highlights a new concern for musicians: competing with AI systems trained on the very music they created. In June, Deezer said that AI-generated music accounted for just 0.5% of streams on the platform. However, seven out of every 10 streams of these tracks were fraudulent - "listened" to by another AI to generate revenue for their creators.

Fact check: Did an AI country song reach No. 1 on Billboard?

This week, I saw dozens of headlines and viral social posts about an AI country song that reached the top of the Billboard country charts. If a song created with generative AI had truly reached No. 1 in the country music world, that would indeed be huge, paradigm-shifting news. I'm talking about "Walk My Walk" by Breaking Rust, the name of an AI-generated "musician." Meanwhile, as social media users breathlessly shared news about the AI country song topping the chart, a human being by the name of Morgan Wallen has been the actual artist at the top of the Billboard country chart. (I reached out to Billboard for comment, and I'll update this post if I receive a response.) So, what's going on? Technically, "Walk My Walk" has nabbed the top spot on a chart. Specifically, the Billboard Country Digital Song Sales Chart. However, as any music listener can tell you, there aren't many people buying digital copies of singles anymore. Over on Spotify's Country Top 50 chart, Breaking Rust is nowhere to be found -- even after all the news coverage this past week. As is often the case, social media doesn't quite have the story right on this one. On YouTube, the song has a measly 38,944 views, as of this writing. As someone who grew up in the South and listened to a lot of country pop against his will, I can tell you that a lot of such ditties sound exactly the same. Pop country loves its tropes and has been parodied to death, and "Walk My Walk" hits a lot of the usual cliches. The lyrics include poetry like "Got mud on my jeans" and, ironically, "I was born this way." Even the title of the song and name of the "musician" are painfully generic. Indeed, it's hard to think of a more hackneyed country song title than "Walk My Walk," and what does Breaking Rust actually mean? It's exactly the kind of country-sounding but soulless name you'd expect from generative AI. On first listen, there's not much to distinguish this song from any other country or Bluegrass pop hit, at least to my ears. But that's not praise for generative AI so much as it's criticism of the genre. And, of course, if "Walk My Walk" sounds like a real country song, that's because it was surely made by an AI audio model trained on countless real country songs, without the permission or consent of the artists. A lot of artists consider generative AI to be outright theft and plagiarism, at an industrial scale. According to The Tennessean, Breaking Rust songs are credited to Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, an unknown creator with no online presence. Whether you like it or not, AI creators aren't going away. I've written about the bizarre phenomenon of AI "actors" before, and you can expect more AI-generated songs, movies, books, and slop to appear in your feeds from now on, and possibly forever. This article reflects the opinion of the writer.

America's most-downloaded country artist? AI

Why it matters: This is twilight-zone stuff, folks. For the No. 1 and No. 3 paid downloads, the artists, the music, the lyrics -- the songs -- aren't by real people. But real people love them. The big picture: Artists of all types should be rattled that early, deeply flawed, work-in-progress AI is already cranking out country hits ... and knocking humans down the music charts. * The success of "artists" Breaking Rust and Cain Walker pits AI technology against humans who earn their living as songwriters, artists and music business professionals Breaking Rust, a computer-generated outlaw blues-country singer, has the No. 1 song on Billboard's Country Digital Song Sales chart with the single "Walk My Walk." * Cain Walker, an AI R&B singer, is No. 3 on the same chart with "Don't Tread On Me." Threat level: The AI chart invasion is ringing alarm bells in Nashville -- Music City -- one of the songwriting capitals of the world. * Songwriting and music publishing are the cornerstones of the city's music industry. Countless singer-songwriters flocked to Nashville over the decades. By the numbers: Breaking Rust boasts 2.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Cain Walker has over 842,000. * By comparison, ascending singer-songwriter Jackson Dean, whose single "Heavens to Betsy" is climbing the country radio charts, has 1.6 million monthly listeners. Reality check: Billboard's country sales chart only tracks paid downloads -- a small piece of the music market today. It doesn't reflect streaming and radio airplay, which are factored into Billboard's more influential Hot Country Songs chart. Zoom out: "In just the past few months, at least six AI or AI-assisted artists have debuted on various Billboard rankings," Billboard reports. That figure could be higher, as it's become increasingly difficult to tell who or what is powered by AI -- and to what extent." * Many tracks, spanning every genre from gospel to rock to country, arrive with anonymous or mysterious origins, sometimes with AI elements mixed into rerecordings of old school hits, Billboard adds ($). Sign of the times: Billboard uses an AI tool to sniff for AI fingerprints. * And there's a London producer who "humanizes" AI tracks. Get Axios Nashville ... Get Axios Local: Newsletters in 34 cities.

Country star or AI slop - can you tell the difference?

An AI-generated song has topped a music chart for the first time in US history. Country artist Breaking Rust rose to the top of Billboard's country digital song sales chart for a second consecutive week with the single "Walk My Walk". The track has racked up more than three million streams on Spotify in less than a month, with the artist boasting over 2.3 million monthly listeners, including nearly 40,000 in London. While the song has reached to the top of the charts and amassed millions of listens on Spotify, it is unclear how many listeners are aware that the track was created by an AI programme. Spotify recently promised to crack down on AI-generated content that had begun to flood the service. Breaking Rust is currently labelled as a "verified artist" on the platform, with no signal to suggest the artist is AI-generated. Can you tell AI-generated music from the real deal?

Billboard's Top Country Song Is Currently AI Slop

The song, titled "Walk My Walk," by a fictional group called Breaking Rust, tells an incredibly generic story about a man who has "been beat down" and got "mud on my jeans," yet perseveres through it all. The song was accompanied by an AI slop video on Instagram, showing a man in a cowboy hat heroically walking into the sunset. Despite the song's generic and uninspired nature, Breaking Rust has accumulated over two million monthly listeners on Spotify, where it's listed as a "verified artist," despite having no bio. Several of its songs have been played over a million times. One single, which was released last month, has over 4.5 million listens. Spotify lists an individual named Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor as the group's "composer" and "lyricist." As Whiskey Riff pointed out last week, he has also been generating raunchy AI slop music under the pseudonym "Defbeatsai," which has released songs with titles including "Morning Wood," "Her Blessed Juice," and "Kreme Queen." The news comes after Billboard announced earlier this month that at least one AI or AI-assisted artist has charted over each of the preceding four weeks, a "streak suggesting this trend is quickly accelerating." The industry hasn't held back, signing multi-million-dollar deals with AI artists. Even Universal Music Group, a major label that has been caught up in fierce copyright infringement lawsuits over the use of AI, announced that it had struck a licensing deal with AI music generation app Udio for an upcoming AI creation platform. Spotify, in particular, has been in the spotlight over a tidal wave of AI slop hitting the platform. The company recently announced new policies to protect artists against "spam, impersonation, and deception," but stopped short of banning AI music outright. Breaking Rust is far from the first fictional AI group to gain widespread attention. Earlier this year, an "indie rock band" called The Velvet Sundown made headlines after it turned out to be a "synthetic music project," designed to be an "ongoing artistic provocation." It's a worrying trend, as real music artists continue to struggle to break out and make a living. "AI bands are going to make it even harder for real human artists to break through and get a following, at least using streaming apps like Apple Music, Spotify, etc." Indiana University assistant professor of music technology Jason Palamara told Newsweek.

An AI-generated song just topped a Billboard chart

An AI-generated country song has reached the top of a Billboard music chart. Called Walk My Walk, the track is currently number 1 in Billboard's Country Digital Song Sales chart. Recommended Videos It was released by Breaking Rust, who also isn't real but instead a creation of AI. According to Billboard, Breaking Rust is a relatively fresh creation, arriving on the scene around mid-October. His debut track, Livin' On Borrowed Time, reached number 5 in the same chart, while Walk My Walk, released a short while later, has gone all the way to the top. As of November 4, the Breaking Rust "project" -- credited to songwriter Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor -- had generated 1.6 million official U.S. streams. But little is known of Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor ... so perhaps they're AI-generated, too. Breaking Rust's Instagram account has already racked up 36,000 followers, with the feed showing AI-generated music videos featuring the country singer. But nowhere on the profile page does it say that the content is the work of AI. It's not clear if the comments accompanying the posts are genuine, misguided, or simply sarcastic, but some of them make for an entertaining read. "Love it!" says one, "Even his raspy voice." Another writes: "Just ... amazing." Someone else says: "I don't know if this is a real guy but his songs are seriously some of my favorite in life," while another comments: "Love your voice! Awesome song writing! I want more!" The song's success is a depressing turn of events for human musicians who are slaving away, trying to get their own work heard. It's even more alarming when you consider the possibility that their own work may have been used to train the AI tools that created Walk My Walk. It's also a worrying development for music fans who would prefer their content to be the work of living, breathing humans rather than generative-AI software. Music streaming services like Spotify and Amazon Music are still working out how to handle AI-generated content and stop it from taking over recommendation feeds, which could undermine trust in the service. But Breaking Rust isn't even the first AI-generated artist to top a Billboard chart. Xania Monet reached number 1 on the R&B Digital Song Sales chart earlier this month, making her the first AI-generated artist to hit the top spot on a Billboard chart. The success of Breaking Rust and Xania Monet follows another big story earlier this year involving AI-generated Velvet Sundown. While the band didn't reach number 1 on any mainstream charts, it did try to pass itself off as a "real" group by posting photos on Instagram, until it was finally rumbled. While some might argue that music-creation tools like Suno and Udio open up amazing opportunities for those without any musical training, others will lament the direction of travel, claiming that the vast majority of AI-generated music is vacuous and devoid of emotion. And that's aside from the controversy about professional musicians having their work taken by tech companies to train AI models without permission.

A mysterious stranger rode into town and topped a country music chart. He might not be real.

This much is known: "Walk My Walk," a song by an artist called Breaking Rust, entered its second week Wednesday as the top song on Billboard's country music digital sales chart. After that, everything about Breaking Rust -- the artist's identity, whether Breaking Rust's songs were created by artificial intelligence, and whether the songs' popularity has been artificially inflated -- quickly devolves into uncertainty. Is the song entirely AI? Partially AI? Maybe even a song meant to sound like AI? And who is behind Breaking Rust? There's few definitive answers. A request for comment sent by NBC News to the Instagram account of Breaking Rust went unanswered. The artist has virtually no other footprint outside of its Instagram, Spotify and YouTube pages. The mystery has caused a stir in a music industry already wrestling with its future, as some artists openly embrace AI and others vehemently oppose it. Last week, Billboard reported that at least one AI artist has debuted in each of its past six chart weeks -- and acknowledged the figure could be even higher since "it's become increasingly difficult to tell who or what is powered by AI -- and to what extent." Although Billboard has described Breaking Rust and a similar sounding artist, Cain Walker as AI, neither of their Instagram or Spotify pages indicate that is so. Walker did not respond to a request for comment made through the artist's Instagram account. Still, their emergence has drawn criticism from some in the country music community. "It feels like the ultimate shortcut to stardom: no late nights in smoky bars, no raw vulnerability poured into lyrics, just algorithms crunching data to mimic the twang of authenticity," Leslie Fram, founder of FEMco, a Nashville-based creative consulting group, said in an email. Breaking Rust adds to a growing list of artists either found to be or suspected to be fueled by generative AI, which has evolved rapidly in recent years including in its ability to create realistic if generic music. This year, Masters of Prophecy, an AI-backed power-pop-metal artist, became one of YouTube's fastest-growing accounts, and today tallies 35.9 million subscribers. Unlike Breaking Rust or Cain Walker, its creator, James Baker, an engineer and father living in Ohio, has openly discussed his project and how it has gained a following. "For every critic, there's 20 positive comments," Baker told NBC News. "There was definitely a wave of AI music hate that was tough psychologically to make it through. But for the most part people have started adapting to it." Breaking Rust's most popular song on YouTube, "Livin' On Borrowed Time," now has 4.6 million views. Commenters there seem unbothered -- or unaware -- of its AI nature. "This guy is SOOOOOOO underrated bro i love your music please release MOREEEE," the top comment reads. And in July, an indie band called The Velvet Sundown suddenly drew hundreds of thousands of listeners on Spotify amid similar speculation that the band was an AI creation. Along with speculation around the origin of Breaking Rust is some skepticism over whether his music's popularity is similarly inorganic. While no concrete evidence has yet emerged showing Breaking Rust's listening totals have been artificially inflated, on Wednesday, French-owned music streaming site Deezer reported the problem has become widespread among fully AI-generated tracks. This summer, Michael Lewan, the head of Music Fights Fraud Alliance, a pro-artist group, called artificial streaming -- that is, "fake" or bot-powered listens, which often tend to accompany AI-generated music -- a bigger threat to music's integrity than AI itself. "It's imperative for the industry to take a more serious approach to addressing some of the incentives that go behind music consumption, and shoring up vulnerabilities," Lewan told NBC News. He added: "A system that is not protecting organic engagement and authentic listenership will be more prone to attacks by people making a quick buck off of the royalty pool." The success of Breaking Rust and Cain Walker does have its limitations. According to Luminate, which compiles sales data for Billboard, it only took about 2,500 digital downloads for "Walk My Walk" to debut at the top country digital sales chart. The broader Billboard Hot Country chart remains dominated by human artists, namely superstar Morgan Wallen, who occupies the top four slots. On his blog SavingCountryMusic.com, Kyle Coroneos wrote that however they ended up on Billboard's sales charts, the ability of artists like Breaking Rust to land on a Billboard chart represents a harbinger not only for country music but an entire industry that seems to increasingly struggle to break new artists -- and may be leaning into AI to resolve the issue. "Why are no artists breaking out? One reason is likely because many record labels are heavily investing in AI themselves as opposed to spending that effort and capital to break actual, human artists," Coroneos said.

Breaking Rust: Can you tell the difference between real and AI music?

An AI-generated music persona has topped the US Billboard charts for the first time, at the same time as a "first-of-its-kind" study from French streaming service Deezer reveals that 97 per cent of people "can't tell the difference" between real music and AI-generated music. A song generated by artificial intelligence has topped the charts in the US for the first time, as a country "artist" named Breaking Rust has landed the Number 1 spot on Billboard's Country Digital Song Sales chart. The viral track, 'Walk My Walk', has over 3.5 million streams on Spotify - a platform on which "he" is a verified artist and which has prior form when it comes to giving AI-generated bands a platform. Other Breaking Rust songs like 'Livin' on Borrowed Time' and 'Whiskey Don't Talk Back' have amassed more than 4 million and 1 million streams respectively. And if you just cringed your way into a mild aneurysm when reading that last song title, you're only human. Not all that much is known about Breaking Rust, apart from "his" nearly 43,000 followers on Instagram and a Linktree bio that reads: "Music for the fighters and the dreamers." Any gluttons for clichéd dross who choose to head to the Instagram page will find several generic AI-generated videos of stubbly cowboys looking like factory-reject Ben Afflecks walking on snow-covered train tracks, lifting weights and holding their hats under the rain. In other words, stereotypical Outlaw Country fantasies that reek of fragile masculinity and necktie fetishes. Still, fans are clearly loving it, seemingly unbothered that the "Soul Music for Us" glaringly lacks, you know, a soul. "Love your voice! Awesome song writing! I want more" reads one comment on a video, while another writes: "I don't know if this is a real guy but his songs are seriously some of my favorite in life." "I LIKE THE SONG, NO MATTER WHO CREATED IT!" screams one comment on YouTube. Some listeners also appear not to realize that Breaking Rust isn't human, as fans are complimenting the lyricism (strewth!) and even asking the "artist" go on tour. This is not the first time that an AI-generated act has debuted on Billboard's charts. One notable example is Xania Monet, who made headlines in September when the tracks 'Let Go, Let Go' climbed to No.3 (Gospel) and 'How Was I Supposed To Kow' peaked at No. 20 (R&B). Created by Telisha "Nikki" Jones using the AI platform Suno, Monet has been a particularly visible AI "artist" - one which even triggered a bidding war to sign "her". Hallwood Media, led by former Interscope executive Neil Jacobson, ultimately won and signed Monet to a reported multimillion-dollar deal. Who knows whether the same will happen for Breaking Rust, but the chart-topping success does signal a continuing shift in the music industry. There have been concerns about the use of generative AI in all creative sectors - from Hollywood with the writer and actor guild strikes and the creation of the so-called AI actress Tilly Norwood to the recent internet meltdown over Coca-Cola making their Christmas adverts entirely AI-generated. And the more AI-created bands and musicians continue to proliferate, the more real human artists will struggle to break through - let alone generate revenues from their craft. As Josh Antonuccio, director of the School of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University, recently told Newsweek: "Whether it's lyrical assistance, AI-assisted ideation, or wholesale artist and song creation, AI-generated content is going to become a much more common reality and will continue to find its way into the charts." He added: "The real question starts to become 'will fans care about how it's made?'" Indeed, the success of Breaking Rust comes as a new, "first-of-its-kind" study has found that 97 per cent of people "can't tell the difference" between real music and AI-generated music. The survey, conducted by French streaming service Deezer and research firm Ipsos, asked around 9,000 people from eight different countries (Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK and the US) to listen to three tracks to determine which was fully AI-generated. According to the report, 97 per cent of those respondents "failed" - with 52 per cent saying they felt "uncomfortable" to not know the difference. The study also found that 55 per cent of respondents were "curious" about AI-generated music, and that 66 per cent said they would listen to it at least once, out of curiosity. However, only 19 per cent said they felt that they could trust AI, while another 51 per cent said they believe the use of AI in music production could lead to "generic" sounding music. "The survey results clearly show that people care about music and want to know if they're listening to AI or human made tracks or not," said Alexis Lanternier, CEO of Deezer. "There's also no doubt that there are concerns about how AI-generated music will affect the livelihood of artists, music creation and that AI companies shouldn't be allowed to train their models on copyrighted material." Earlier this year, artists including Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Dua Lipa and Elton John urged UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to protect the work of creatives, with Sir Elton posting a statement saying that "creative copyright is the lifeblood of the creative industries". He added that government proposals which let AI companies train their systems on copyright-protected work without permission left the door "wide open for an artist's life work to be stolen." Sir Elton previously claimed that AI would "dilute and threaten young artists' earnings", a statement backed by thousands of real-life artists who continue to petition the music industry to implement safeguards related to artificial intelligence and copyright. In February, more than 1,000 artists, including Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn and Radiohead, launched a silent album titled 'Is This What We Want?', in protest against UK government plans that could allow AI companies to use copyrighted content without consent. The album, featuring the sounds of empty studios and performance spaces, was designed to be a symbol of the negative impact controversial government proposals could have on musicians' livelihoods. Kate Bush, one of the leading voices in the protest, expressed her concerns by saying: "In the music of the future, will our voices go unheard?" The question still stands and feels more urgent than ever, considering the chart-topping sounds of Breaking Rust. Give us empty studio sounds over soulless cowboy platitudes any day of the week.

AI-generated country song tops Billboard chart, makes waves in music world

The song has been streamed over 3 million times in under a month. A song created through artificial intelligence has made history topping a Billboard country music chart, but it has also sent shockwaves through the music industry, with artists getting vocal about the AI-generated hit. The new country tune, "Walk my Walk" by Breaking Rust, recently hit No. 1 on Billboard's Country Digital Song Sales chart, reaching over 3 million streams on Spotify in less than a month. That success has garnered mixed reactions from music fans and artists alike, particularly on TikTok, where hundreds of users have posted videos addressing the tune and others discussing the music in the comments. Billboard has acknowledged Breaking Rust is an AI act and said it is one of at least six to chart in the past few months alone. "Ultimately, this feels like an experiment to see just how far something like this can go and what happens in the future and in other disciplines of art as well," senior entertainment reporter Kelley L. Carter told ABC News. "AI artists won't require things that a real human artist will require, and once companies start considering it and looking at bottom lines, I think that's when artists should rightly be concerned about it," she added. ABC News attempted to reach out to Breaking Rust's creator for comment but did not receive a response.

AI country artist Breaking Rust reaches the top of a Billboard chart

As the USA nears its 250th anniversary, discover how the Mississippi Delta blues shaped modern music. Another artificial intelligence artist has reached the top of the music charts. "Walk My Walk," a song from Breaking Rust, a computer-generated blues-country singer, landed at No. 1 on Billboard's Country Digital Song Sales Chart, according to The Nashville Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. The chart lists the most-downloaded tracks in the U.S. "Walk My Walk" has just over 3.5 million streams on Spotify as of Nov. 13. Other popular songs from Breaking Rust on the digital music platform include "Livin' on Borrowed Time" and "Kicking Back At The Ground." The songs are featured on a 5-track EP titled "Resilient," which was released in mid-October. The songs for Breaking Rust are credited to Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, who is also linked to another AI-powered project, Defbeatsai, the Tennessean reported. Breaking Rust has nearly 41,000 followers on Instagram, and the Linktree in the account's bio touts "music for the fighters and the dreamers." AI music has received criticism from artists, producers Breaking Rust is one of a few AI creations that have secured a spot on the music charts. R&B artist Xania Monet has built an online fanbase and had the song "How Was I Supposed to Know?" land on Billboard's Adult R&B Airplay radio chart. The creator behind Xania Monet, Telisha "Nikki" Jones, 31, of Mississippi, revealed her identity during a recent interview with CBS News. "I wanted to reveal myself because I wanted people to know there was a real person behind Xania. That there's real emotion and soul put into those lyrics," she said. AI-driven personas have faced intense criticism from the entertainment industry. This year, country singer Martina McBride testified in front of Congress asking for AI regulations. Garth Brooks, Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan, Lainey Wilson and Chris Janson have also been vocal about their concerns around the technology. In the hip hop and R&B space, multiple artists including legendary producer Jermaine Dupri, singer Kehlani, and rapper Baby Tate have raised questions and expressed concerns about the new wave. Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected].

That Breaking Rust song topping the Billboard country charts? It's...

Breaking Rust is breaking hearts -- but he's totally fake. "Walk My Walk," an AI-generated track from the AI artist Breaking Rust, has topped the Billboard Country Digital Song Sales chart since the week of Nov. 8. Featuring a raspy vocal performance akin to Chris Stapleton with generic lines about being "beat down" but not "staying low" with "mud on my jeans," the uninspiring tune is credited to the unknown songwriter Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor. "Every scar's a story that I survived / I've been through hell, but I'm still alive," the formulaic lyrics go as a stomp-clap rhythm plays in the background. "They say slow down, boy, don't go too fast / But I ain't never been one to live in the past." "You can hate my style, you can roll your eyes / But I ain't slowing down, I was born to rise," the unremarkable chorus continues. "So kick them rocks if you don't like how I talk / I'm gonna keep on talking and walk my walk." Breaking Rust is depicted in several AI images as an outlaw blues-country singer: a manly cowboy with a chiseled jawline and stubble wearing a 10-gallon hat and a bandana around his neck. A link in the artist's Instagram bio says that Breaking Rust makes "music for the fighters and the dreamers." Besides landing at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Digital Song Sales chart, which is measured by downloads and digital purchases, "Walk My Walk" has also garnered nearly 3.7 million listens on Spotify since being added to the streaming service on Oct. 17. "Livin' on Borrowed Time," another song from the AI artist's "Resilient" EP, has amassed more than 4.7 million listens since its release less than a month ago. Breaking Rust has gained more than 2.3 million monthly listeners since joining Spotify as a verified artist with the single "Whisky don't talk back" on Oct. 11. Taylor, who is listed on the platform as the composer and lyricist behind Breaking Rust's songs, has released additional tracks under another AI country act called Defbeatsai. Unlike Breaking Rust, Defbeatsai's output consists mostly of raunchy tracks with titles like "Morning Wood," "Her Blessed Juice," and "Kreme Queen." Despite declining to explain how an AI singer like Breaking Rust was able to become a verified artist on the platform, Spotify said that it is committed to "providing listeners with more transparency." "We support artists' freedom to use AI creatively while actively combating its misuse by content farms and bad actors," a Spotify spokesperson told The Post. "Spotify does not create or own music; this is a platform for licensed music where royalties are paid based on listener engagement, and all music is treated equally, regardless of the tools used to make it." The Post has also reached out to both Taylor and Billboard for comment. Billboard, however, has acknowledged that Breaking Rust is an AI act - and admitted that Breaking Rust isn't the only computer-generated artist chart in recent months. "AI music is no longer a fantasy or niche curiosity among internet sleuths. It's here, and it's already beginning to have an impact on Billboard's charts," Billboard announced on Nov. 4. "In just the past few months, at least six AI or AI-assisted artists have debuted on various Billboard rankings. That figure could be higher, as it's become increasingly difficult to tell who or what is powered by AI - and to what extent." "Walk My Walk" has received mixed reactions from fans and music industry experts. "This is absolutely a bad sign for the future of music," rapper Breland told The Post. "We are reaching a pivotal point in history where we can no longer discern the difference between what's real and what isn't." The multiplatinum rapper and record producer has collaborated with country stars like Keith Urban and Shania Twain. "This technology has only existed in this capacity for about a year, and we are already seeing multiple instances of this happening," the "My Truck" singer continued. "I'm inclined to believe it's the tip of the iceberg, and five years from now, the entire Billboard chart could be filled with well-funded AI slop." Breland warned that the success of AI-generated artists and songs like "Walk My Walk" could drastically change how the music industry operates. "This should be a concern for everyone in the music industry, as well as everyone outside of the music industry," the "Cowboy Don't" artist cautioned. "When you take the humanity out of music, it affects more than just the people making it. Music is one of those threads that holds society together, helps people find common ground, and processes complicated emotions." "If you're an artist out there, you have to be aware of these trends, because at some point soon, we will all be impacted," Breland added. "The more oversaturated the market becomes with passable AI music, the harder it is for real artists' music to be heard and discovered. This affects all creatives in the industry." Jason Palamara, an expert who specializes in the development of AI-related music software, agrees. "[It's] definitely going to influence the future of the music industry in a lot of ways," he told The Post. "At some point, when AI is good enough at making compelling music, these companies are going to start growing their own AI artists and promoting them over human artists." "Once one of them starts to have real success with this, the arms race will begin, and it will be hard for any human artist to gain traction," Palamara added. "This will have a corrosive effect on the whole industry." Breaking Rust isn't the first AI-generated artist to make waves. Xania Monet, an AI singer created by Telisha Nikki Jones, made history over the summer when the song "How Was I Supposed to Know?" debuted at No. 1 on the R&B Digital Song Sales chart. "Xania is an extension of me, so I look at her as a real person," Jones, who has landed a multimillion-dollar recording contract for Monet, explained during an interview with Gayle King earlier this month. Although it is currently unclear how Taylor went about creating the songs released as Breaking Rust, Jones revealed that she utilized an AI music generator app called Suno to construct Xania Monet. "I wouldn't call it a shortcut, because I still put in the work," Jones argued following pushback from the "CBS Mornings" host. "I just feel that AI is the new era that we're in."

Artificial Intelligence-Generated Song Tops Billboard Country Chart For the First Time

AI-generated images of the singer depict a non-existent rugged cowboy with a chiseled jawline and manly beard. Artificial intelligence has officially entered the music charts. "Walk My Walk," a song by the computer-generated artist Breaking Rust, has climbed to the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Country Digital Song Sales chart, marking a significant moment for AI in the creative industries. Breaking Rust is depicted in AI-generated images as a rugged cowboy with a chiseled jawline and manly beard. He has a soulful, husky voice similar to Chris Stapleton or Marcus King. The artist has amassed more than 2.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with the chart-topping single "Walk My Walk" now surpassing 3 million streams. The song's lyrics champion authenticity, with lines like, "You can kick rocks if you don't like how I talk / I'ma keep on talking and walk my walk." However, some experts note that the track's production gives away its artificial origins. An assistant professor of music technology at Indiana University, Jason Palamara, commented on the song's technical aspects. "After listening to 'Walk My Walk' one time, it was pretty obviously the product of AI," he told Newsweek, noting that while it's an advancement in creating a consistent AI "vocal character," the overall sound is a giveaway. "The audio on every track sounds really compressed and still has this weird digital shimmer, especially evident in the vocals. Once you notice it you can't not notice it," he said. The song is credited to Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, according to the Tennessean, which said he is connected to Breaking Rust and another AI music project, Defbeatsai. The success of Breaking Rust, as well as another AI artist, Cain Walker, who also placed on the country chart, has ignited a fierce debate within the music industry. Many artists, including Martina McBride, Garth Brooks, and Lainey Wilson, have voiced concerns about AI's role and potential to undermine human creators. In May, Ms. McBride appeared before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law at a hearing about AI-generated deepfakes. "I think it's important because as artists, we hopefully want to speak the truth," she told lawmakers. "We want to build a relationship with our fans in which they trust us -- they believe what we say." The controversy isn't limited to music. The emergence of AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood has also sparked backlash in Hollywood over the threat to real actors. SAG-AFTRA condemned the AI-generated "actor," saying in a September statement, "To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it's a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation. It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience." The core of the issue lies in how AI models are trained. These systems often use vast databases of existing music, raising questions about copyright infringement. Currently, there is no reliable way for artists to know if their work has been used to train an AI without their consent. In response, federal lawmakers are taking action. The Transparency and Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence Networks (TRAIN) Act, introduced by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, aims to create transparency by allowing creators to see if AI companies are training models with their copyrighted work. A similar national bill, the No Fakes Act, has also been introduced to protect artists' voices and likenesses. Mr. Palamara acknowledged the challenge this poses for human artists. "AI bands are going to make it even harder for real human artists to break through and get a following," he said. He suggests that genuine, long-term connections with fans are something AI can't replicate yet, and this will be key for human artists to distinguish themselves.