97% of Listeners Can't Distinguish AI Music from Human-Created Songs, Survey Reveals

AI Music Fools Most People, and They're Not Happy About It

A survey from Deezer and Ipsos reveals strong feelings about AI-generated tunes. Our playlists are becoming a playground for AI-generated music. And that's making us uneasy, especially because it's getting harder and harder to discern the genuine, human-made tunes from the musical deepfakes. According to a new survey of 9,000 people by the music service Deezer and the research firm Ipsos, participants listened to three songs and then had to choose which were fully AI-generated and which weren't. Nearly all respondents (97%) couldn't tell the difference. Of those who couldn't tell, 71% said they were surprised by the results and more than half, 52%, were uncomfortable they couldn't distinguish the AI music. Respondents expressed ambivalence about AI and music: About two-thirds expressed curiosity about AI-generated music, with a willingness to try listening at least once, but four out of five (80%) agreed that AI music should be clearly labeled for listeners. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source. Deezer, which commissioned the survey, has reason to underscore people's inability to tell if they're listening to AI-generated songs. In January, it rolled out a detection tool for AI in music. In the release for the survey, the company said it receives 50,000 AI-generated tracks every day. The unsettling feelings about AI and music have seen a crescendo in recent days as an AI-powered tune from source called Breaking Rust topped Billboard's country digital music charts. Last month, music streaming giant Spotify signed deals with Sony, Universal and Warner to develop AI music products. Some of the other findings from the Deezer/Ipsos survey showed curiosity and caution in listeners' attitudes toward AI music: The Deezer/Ipsos survey of 9,000 adults ages 18-65 was conducted in early October in eight countries: the United States, Canada, Brazil, UK, France, Netherlands, Germany and Japan.

People Can't Tell If a Song Is AI-Generated, and That's Why It's Going to Be Inescapable

If you thought AI-generated videos were getting scary realistic, you now have one more worry to add to that list. According to music streaming platform Deezer, an overwhelming majority of people cannot tell AI-generated music apart from the real deal written and performed by actual humans. In a joint survey with market research company Ipsos, Deezer asked 9,000 people across eight countries â€"the United States, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Japanâ€"to listen to songs and determine whether or not they were AI-generated. A whopping 97% of the respondents failed this task. The participants in Deezer's survey were split on how to view the findings, with 52% finding it uncomfortable that they were not able to tell the difference. 51% of the survey respondents also said they think AI will lead to more low-quality, generic-sounding (aka AI slop) music. Regardless of how they viewed AI's role in music, 80% agreed that AI-generated music should be clearly labeled. "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," Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier said in a press release. Labeling AI use in music is a hot topic. The conversation was sparked earlier this year, when a rock band called "The Velvet Sundown" amassed a million Spotify streams before it was revealed that the project was AI-generated. It led to increasing calls by artists for the clear labeling of AI use in music. Spotify said in September that it will start supporting a "new industry standard for AI disclosures in music credits." But a quick look at The Velvet Sundown's artist page shows that there is no clear, upfront labeling yet. Deezer clearly labels AI-generated content on its platform, but is still home to a growing number of AI-generated songs. The French streaming company announced in September that 28% of the music uploaded on its platform was fully AI-generated. There's a likely reason why AI-generated music was so hard to distinguish from the real thing in the Deezer survey, and it's the same reason why artists are worried about the rise of AI-generated music: it's because these AI song generators are trained on the hard work of actual human musicians. "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," Lanternier said in the press release. Seventy percent of the respondents said they believed AI-generated music threatened the livelihood of musicians. It's unclear where copyright law goes from here in relation to AI and music. Early signs say the European Union might be siding with the artists. In a key case in Germany, a court ruled earlier this week that OpenAI's ChatGPT had violated copyright law by training its models with song lyrics. The story is different elsewhere, though. Earlier this year, famous British musicians like Elton John and Dua Lipa called on the British government to pass an amendment that would ensure copyright transparency when it comes to how AI companies can use their work to train models. But that amendment ultimately failed. AI-generated music is winning stateside as well. In April of last year, leading artists from Billie Eilish to Aerosmith signed an open letter calling on AI developers and digital music services to pledge not to "develop or deploy AI-music generation technology, content or tools that undermine or replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists." A few months later, leading studios Universal Music Group, Sony, and Warner Records filed a copyright lawsuit against two popular AI music generation startups, Suno and Udio. But fast forward a year, Universal Music Group announced that it not only had an out-of-court settlement with Udio but was also partnering with the AI company to create a new product trained exclusively on their music catalogue. Spotify is also doubling down on AI. The streaming giant already uses AI to optimize its algorithm and provides services like an "AI DJ" to mimic a radio host interjecting with commentary in between a personalized music stream. The company also announced last month that it was planning to collaborate with Sony, UMG, Warner Music, and others to develop "responsible AI products," without yet divulging what exactly those products would be. “AI is the most consequential technology shift since the smartphone, and it’s already reshaping how music is created and experienced," Spotify's co-president Gustav Söderström said in the press release. "Our company brings deep research expertise to this opportunity, and we’re actively growing our AI team and capabilities to drive the continued growth of the entire music ecosystem.†AI isn't just coming for your Spotify playlists, though. The music industry is everywhere. The livelihoods of real, human musicians depend on not just hit albums but also catchy brand jingles, movie soundtracks, podcast outros, hold songs on phone calls, and a lot of other melodies that we take for granted as background music. In a world where AI takes over music, the jobs of these anonymous musicians who create the soundtrack of our everyday lives could be the first on the chopping block.

AI music is getting messy

A version of this article originally appeared in Quartz's AI & Tech newsletter. Sign up here to get the latest AI & tech news, analysis and insights straight to your inbox. Xania Monet just became the first "artificial" artist to chart on Billboard's airplay rankings and secure a multimillion-dollar record deal. But most listeners can't tell she's not actually human: She's a creation of generative AI. That disconnect is a problem the music industry is scrambling to solve. Monet's breakthrough arrives as the recording industry, already transformed by two decades of digital disruption, enters its next phase of reinvention. Major labels that once fought streaming are now racing to stake claims in AI territory, negotiating deals that will determine how music gets made, who gets paid, and what consumers actually know -- or care -- about what they're listening to. Behind Monet is Telisha Nikki Jones, a Mississippi poet who writes the lyrics that Monet performs using Suno's generative AI platform. Monet has released at least 31 songs since the summer, including a full-length album "Unfolded" in August with 24 tracks. Her songs "Let Go, Let God" and "How Was I Supposed to Know" have charted on Billboard's Hot Gospel Songs and Hot R&B Songs, respectively, a first for artificial artists. "AI doesn't replace the artist," Romel Murphy, Monet's manager, told CNN. "It doesn't diminish the creativity and doesn't take away from the human experience. It's a new frontier." But that frontier looks different depending on where you're standing. Working musicians see their already precarious livelihoods threatened by endless AI-generated alternatives. Industry executives see both opportunity and existential threat. And listeners? They mostly don't know what they're hearing. A recent study found that listeners could only correctly identify AI-generated music 53% of the time, barely better than random guessing. When presented with stylistically similar human and AI songs, accuracy improved to 66%, but that still means one in three listeners couldn't tell the difference. The settlement terms remain undisclosed, but the structure hints at the industry's strategy. Artists must opt in to have their music included, and all AI-generated content must stay within Udio's platform. Similar deals are reportedly weeks away. According to the Financial Times, Universal and Warner are in talks with Google, Spotify, and various AI startups including Klay Vision, ElevenLabs, and Stability AI. The labels are pushing for a streaming-like payment model where each use of their music in AI training or generation triggers a micropayment. The urgency is understandable. Besides Monet, Billboard said at least one new AI artist has showed up on the charts for the last five weeks, meaning there are more and more chances for chart-topping confusion. Spotify revealed that it removed 75 million tracks last year to maintain quality, though the company won't specify how many were AI-generated. Deezer, another streaming platform, reports that up to 70% of AI-generated music streams on its platform are fraudulent, suggesting the technology is already being weaponized for streaming fraud at scale. The lack of transparency about what music AI models are trained on means independent artists could be losing compensation without even knowing their work was used. Industry groups are calling for mandatory labeling of AI-generated content, warning that without safeguards, artificial intelligence risks repeating streaming's pattern of tech platforms profiting while creators struggle. Currently, streaming platforms have no legal obligation to identify AI-generated music. Deezer uses detection software to tag AI tracks, but Spotify doesn't label them at all, leaving consumers in the dark about what they're hearing. The industry's challenge goes beyond detection or regulation. Music has always been more than sound waves arranged in pleasing patterns. It's been about human connection, shared experience, and the stories we tell ourselves about the songs we love. As AI-generated artists climb the charts and secure record deals, the question isn't whether machines can make music that sounds real. They already can. The question is whether listeners will still care about the difference once they know the truth.

Humans can no longer tell AI music from the real thing: Survey

It has become nearly impossible for people to tell the difference between music generated by artificial intelligence and that created by humans, according to a survey released Wednesday. The polling firm Ipsos asked 9,000 people to listen to two clips of AI-generated music and one of human-made music in a survey conducted for France-based streaming platform Deezer. "Ninety-seven percent could not distinguish between music entirely generated by AI and human-created music," said Deezer. The survey came out as a country music song featuring a male singer's voice generated by AI reached the top of the US charts for the first time this week. "Walk My Walk" by Breaking Rust -- an artist widely reported by US media to be powered by generative AI technology -- made it to the top spot on Billboard magazine's chart ranking digital sales of country songs, according to data published Monday. Deezer said more than half of the respondents to its survey felt uncomfortable at not being able to tell the difference. Pollsters also asked broader questions about the impact of AI, with 51% saying the technology would lead to more low-quality music on streaming platforms and almost two-thirds believing it will lead to a loss of creativity. "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," Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier said. One in three streamed tracks AI Deezer said there has not only been a surge in AI-generated content being uploaded to its platform, but it is finding listeners. In January, one in 10 of the tracks streamed each day were completely AI-generated. Ten months later, that percentage has climbed to over one in three, or nearly 40,000 per day. Eighty percent of survey respondents wanted fully AI-generated music clearly labeled for listeners. Deezer is the only major music-streaming platform that systematically labels completely AI-generated content for users. The issue gained prominence in June when a band called The Velvet Sundown suddenly went viral on Spotify, and only confirmed the following month that it was in fact AI-generated content. The AI group's most popular song has been streamed more than three million times. In response, Spotify said it would encourage artists and publishers to sign up to a voluntary industry code to disclose AI use in music production. The Deezer survey was conducted between October 6 and 10 in eight countries: Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the United States.

People can't tell AI-generated music from real thing anymore, survey shows

It's become nearly impossible for people to tell the difference between music generated by artificial intelligence and that created by humans, according to a survey released Wednesday. The polling firm Ipsos asked 9,000 people to listen to two clips of AI-generated music and one of human-made music in a survey conducted for France-based streaming platform Deezer. "Ninety-seven percent could not distinguish between music entirely generated by AI and human-created music," said Deezer in a statement. The survey was conducted between October 6 and 10 in eight countries: Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the United States. Deezer said more than half of the respondents felt uncomfortable at not being able to tell the difference. Pollsters also asked broader questions about the impact of AI, with 51 percent saying the technology would lead to more low-quality music on streaming platforms and almost two-thirds believing it will lead to a loss of creativity. "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," Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier said in a statement. Deezer said there's not only been a surge in AI-generated content being uploaded to its platform, but it's attracting listeners as well. In January, one in 10 of the tracks streamed each day were completely AI-generated. Ten months later, that percentage has climbed to over one in three, or nearly 40,000 per day. Eighty percent of survey respondents wanted fully AI-generated music clearly labelled for listeners. Deezer is the only major music-streaming platform that systematically labels completely AI-generated content for users. The issue gained prominence in June when a band called The Velvet Sundown suddenly went viral on Spotify and only confirmed the following month that it was in fact AI-generated content. The AI group's most popular song has been streamed more than three million times. In response, Spotify said it would encourage artists and publishers to sign up to a voluntary industry code to disclose AI use in music production.

Humans can no longer tell AI music from the real thing: survey

Paris (AFP) - It has become nearly impossible for people to tell the difference between music generated by artificial intelligence and that created by humans, according to a survey released Wednesday. The polling firm Ipsos asked 9,000 people to listen to two clips of AI-generated music and one of human-made music in a survey conducted for France-based streaming platform Deezer. "Ninety-seven percent could not distinguish between music entirely generated by AI and human-created music," said Deezer in a statement. The survey was conducted between October 6 and 10 in eight countries: Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the United States. Deezer said more than half of the respondents felt uncomfortable at not being able to tell the difference. Pollsters also asked broader questions about the impact of AI, with 51 percent saying the technology would lead to more low-quality music on streaming platforms and almost two-thirds believing it will lead to a loss of creativity. "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," Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier said in a statement. Deezer said there has not only been a surge in AI-generated content being uploaded to its platform, but it is finding listeners as well. In January, one in 10 of the tracks streamed each day were completely AI-generated. Ten months later, that percentage has climbed to over one in three, or nearly 40,000 per day. Eighty percent of survey respondents wanted fully AI-generated music clearly labelled for listeners. Deezer is the only major music-streaming platform that systematically labels completely AI-generated content for users. The issue gained prominence in June when a band called The Velvet Sundown suddenly went viral on Spotify, and only confirmed the following month that it was in fact AI-generated content. The AI group's most popular song has been streamed more than three million times. In response, Spotify said it would encourage artists and publishers to sign up to a voluntary industry code to disclose AI use in music production.

Humans can no longer tell AI music from the real thing: survey - The Economic Times

A survey by Deezer shows that 97% of people cannot tell AI-generated music from human-made tracks. With AI content rising on streaming platforms, over half of listeners feel uneasy. 80% want clear labelling, while concerns grow over creativity loss and low-quality music flooding the industry.It has become nearly impossible for people to tell the difference between music generated by artificial intelligence and that created by humans, according to a survey released Wednesday. The polling firm Ipsos asked 9,000 people to listen to two clips of AI-generated music and one of human-made music in a survey conducted for France-based streaming platform Deezer. "97% could not distinguish between music entirely generated by AI and human-created music," said Deezer in a statement. The survey was conducted between October 6 and 10 in eight countries: Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the United States. Deezer said more than half of the respondents felt uncomfortable at not being able to tell the difference. Pollsters also asked broader questions about the impact of AI, with 51% saying the technology would lead to more low-quality music on streaming platforms and almost two-thirds believing it will lead to a loss of creativity. "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," Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier said in a statement. Deezer said there has not only been a surge in AI-generated content being uploaded to its platform, but it is finding listeners as well. In January, one in 10 of the tracks streamed each day were completely AI-generated. Ten months later, that percentage has climbed to over one in three, or nearly 40,000 per day. 80% of survey respondents wanted fully AI-generated music clearly labelled for listeners. Deezer is the only major music-streaming platform that systematically labels completely AI-generated content for users. The issue gained prominence in June when a band called The Velvet Sundown suddenly went viral on Spotify, and only confirmed the following month that it was in fact AI-generated content. The AI group's most popular song has been streamed more than three million times. In response, Spotify said it would encourage artists and publishers to sign up to a voluntary industry code to disclose AI use in music production.

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

(Reuters) -A staggering 97% 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 U.S., UK, France, Brazil and Canada, showed about 71% 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. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)