AI Artist Xania Monet Makes Billboard History with Multi-Million Dollar Record Deal

When your favorite singer is actually a string of algorithms

What Happened: This is pretty wild. There's an AI-generated singer named Xania Monet who just became the first-ever artificial artist to land on multiple Billboard radio charts. We're talking millions of listeners. But here's the real story: "Xania" isn't just a computer program. The person behind the AI is a 31-year-old woman from Mississippi named Telisha "Nikki" Jones. Get this - she's not a "singer" in the traditional sense. She's a poet who taught herself how to use AI just four months ago. She takes her original poetry, which is super personal and emotional (especially stuff inspired by losing her dad when she was a kid), and uses AI to turn it into these soulful songs. Her big hit track, "How Was I Supposed to Know?", blew up on the radio and just landed her a multi-million-dollar deal. Why Is This Important: So, this feels like a genuine turning point. It's one of the first big examples of AI being a tool or a partner, not just a replacement for a human. Jones herself says she sees the AI as her "tool and instrument." It's the thing that lets her get her emotions and her words out into the world as music. The company that signed her basically said this is the future. It's a way to break down all the old barriers in the music biz. With AI, it doesn't matter how old you are, what you look like, or if you have the right connections. Why Should I Care: It's official: AI isn't just for tech geeks in a lab anymore; it's hitting the mainstream charts. This whole story really messes with your idea of what "talent" and "authenticity" even mean. Is it real art if the person isn't physically singing it? It also shows that this tech doesn't just have to be about automating jobs. It can actually open doors for people who might never have had a shot. But at the same time, it's definitely fueling that big debate - a lot of artists, like Kehlani, are understandably worried that this stuff is a threat to real creative expression. Recommended Videos What's Next: Jones says she's just getting started. She plans to keep building Xania Monet as an avatar and a symbol of empowerment. You can absolutely guarantee that every major record label is watching this situation very closely. This could honestly redefine what it even means to make - and feel - music.

Producer Dallas Austin on AI artists: Music industry needs to embrace progress or be left behind

Dan Raby, the senior digital producer for CBS News Atlanta, has been covering everything happening around Georgia for more than a decade. In just a few years, artificial intelligence has grown from an experimental idea to a powerful tool creating music that listeners might not even know is generated from prompts. One artist, Xania Monet, has become the first known AI artist to debut on a Billboard radio chart, reaching No. 3 on the organization's Hot Gospel Songs and No. 20 on the Hot R&B Songs. Her music's success has led to a multi-million dollar recording deal with the label Hallwood Media. Monet's creator, 31-year-old Mississippi native Telisha "Nikki" Jones, told "CBS Mornings'" Gayle King that she didn't consider using AI as a shortcut. "Xania is an extension of me, so I look at her as a real person," Jones said. The rise of these AI or AI-assisted artists has led to many strong reactions in the music industry, with some calling for restrictions while others say the business has to adapt sooner rather than later. Dallas Austin is a Georgia Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer best known for working with musical groups like TLC and Boyz II Men, and other artists such as Gwen Stefani and Monica. Austin believes that the presence of AI in the music industry is here to stay and that those working in the music industry should do their best to embrace it or face getting left behind. "One of the things you gotta understand with AI artists, is that it's going to co-exist with real artists, it's not going to take them away," Austin said. "Just like everything else, this is just another Industrial Revolution. Not just AI artists, but AI music, AI film, AI actors, AI clothing, I mean, it's just a world we're going to have to understand, and it's seeped into a different environment now." Austin believes AI won't have the ability to eliminate real artists because people desire human connection. For example, fans often follow their favorite artists on social media, and a fan meet-and-greet or concert isn't quite the same when the artist is AI. Other artists, such as So So Def CEO Jermaine Dupri, have been outspoken about being against AI artists. "Years ago, the industry found out that Milli Vanilli weren't really the voices on their Grammy-winning record and they were stripped of their Grammy, but now we're getting ready to accept people who can't even sing, creating songs for a fake person?" Dupri wrote on X. "How is this any different than milli Vanilli?" How much generative AI has impacted the music industry is unclear. The most reliable figures come from music streaming service Deezer, which estimates that 18% of songs uploaded to its platform every day are purely AI-generated, though they only account for a tiny amount of total streams, hinting that few people are actually listening. Other, bigger streaming platforms like Spotify haven't released any figures on AI music. Experts say AI's potential to let anyone come up with a hit song is poised to shake up the music industry's production pipeline. The amount is likely to increase as young people grow up with AI tools. "Just think about what it used to cost to make a hit or make something that breaks," said Josh Antonuccio, director of Ohio University's School of Media Arts and Studies. "And that just keeps winnowing down from a major studio to a laptop to a bedroom. And now it's like a text prompt -- several text prompts." But he added that AI music is still in a "Wild West" phase because of the lack of legal clarity over copyright. He compared it to the legal battles more than two decades ago over file-sharing sites like Napster that heralded the transition from CDs to digital media and eventually paved the way for today's music streaming services. Three major record companies, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Records, have filed lawsuits against AI generation tool Suno and Udio for copyright infringement. In June, the two sides also reportedly entered negotiations that could go beyond settling the lawsuits and set rules for how artists are paid when AI is used to remix their songs.

Xania Monet, a music artist created with AI, is causing a stir on and offline.

In a statement, SAG-AFTRA criticized the creation of Tilly Norwood, an AI bot, calling it a "replacement of human performers by synthetics." Xania Monet's voice has reached millions, yet few know she is an artificial intelligence creation. While Monet was created by technology, the woman behind the mysterious singer is very much human, as she explained in 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," creator and poet, Telisha "Nikki" Jones, 31, told journalist Gayle King. She called the avatar "an extension" of herself. Who is Xania Monet? According to CBS News, Jones, of Mississippi, developed the virtual singer earlier this year while learning AI. Xania Monet has nearly 160,000 followers on Instagram and more than 460,000 on TikTok. One of her biggest hits, "How Was I Supposed to Know?" landed on Billboard's radio chart Adult R&B Airplay, according to an article published this week. The video for the song, which includes real people, has 349,000 views on YouTube. She also secured a spot on the R&B Digital Song Sales charts, among several others. Two projects titled "Unfolded" and "Pieces Left Behind" are available on music streaming platforms. In the wake of her success, Xania Monet has signed an unprecedented multi-million-dollar record deal with Hallwood Media following a high-price bidding war to sign her, CBS and Billboard reported. The discourse comes amid more AI personas making waves in creative spaces. Last month, an AI actress named Tilly Norwood was blasted by Hollywood, including the entertainment union SAG-AFTRA, which stated that it's a character "generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers -- without permission or compensation." According to Billboard, Xania Monet is not the only AI-driven talent to reach the music charts. How does Jones create music for Xania Monet? Internet reacts. During the CBS interview, Jones revealed that she uses a music app called Suno, inserts poems she has written herself with desired prompts into the program, and selects the song she likes. Social media was critical of the push of Xania Monet, with one user stating, "Plenty of HUMAN artists to stream out there. Idk why they're trying to make AI artist happen." Another person added, "Do not listen to Xania Monet. #NoAI." Multiple celebrities, including legendary producer Jermaine Dupri, singer Kehlani, and rapper Baby Tate, have raised questions and expressed concerns about AI artists in music. "I am TRULY baffled, bewildered, and befuddled at what this world has come to! AI is not the future. AI is RUINING our future on this planet. Every prompt you type in is slowly contributing towards the degeneration of our environment," Tate wrote in an Instagram post on Nov. 6. "This is not creativity. This is covetousness. Those who lack real talent everywhere will look at this example and think that they, too, deserve a space next to the incredible minds that make up the music industry," Tate continued. However, Jones defended her process against the naysayers. "Anytime something new comes about and it challenges the norm, and challenges what we're used to, you're going to get strong reactions behind it," Jones told CBS News. "I just feel like AI, it's the new era that we're in, and I look at it as a tool, as an instrument." Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected].