Lorde Slams Spotify's AI Feature for Spreading False Details About Her Music

Pop singer Lorde slammed Spotify's AI 'About the Song' feature, claiming it's full of nothing but false details -- and now subscribers are starting to catch on

* Singer Lorde called out Spotify's AI 'About the Song' feature * She says it featured incorrect details and limits free interpretation for listeners * Users are starting to catch onto its flaws Spotify is always dropping new tools to enhance your listening experience, but one of its newest features has been called out by one of the most influential pop artists of this generation. New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde slammed the best music streaming service's 'About the Song' feature which launched back in February. The tool is currently in beta, and pulls information from third-party sources to create AI-generated summaries of individual songs offering context and background. According to the pop star, one of the summaries for her song 'Current Affairs' mentioned incorrect details which were sourced from themusic.com.au, stating the following: "On her Ultrasound World Tour, Lorde turns Current Affairs into a full-on performance piece, stripping down to underwear while a dancer pours water over her stomach so the song plays out like the shower scene she talks about on stage". The singer didn't hold back, taking to Instagram Stories to call out the platform while highlighting the dangers features like this pose on listeners: "Hey @spotify I'm gonna go out on a limb and say we don't want this. Not only is this inaccurate (not the song I did that in) but reducing a song to an AI-generated meaning right at the source feels like it limits free interpretation IMO. At least make it possible for artists to opt out please," she wrote. It didn't take long for Lorde's comments to spark reactions from all corners of the internet, and Spotify has come forward to offer clarity from its side. We reached out to the platform for further comment, and a Spotify spokesperson replied with the following: "We built 'About the Song' because fans want to dig into the stories behind the music. It's still in beta. The info comes from articles across the internet, and when something's off, we move fast to fix it, like we did here. Getting it right matters to us". According to The Hollywood Reporter, the song summary has been removed. 'Half the fun is figuring out your own meaning' At the time of the feature's launch, many Spotify subscribers welcomed 'About the Song' with open arms -- I even went into detail about how much I couldn't get over it and how it taught me things I never knew before. But despite the positive reception from subscribers, Lorde's observation of the AI feature has sounded the alarm for music lovers. Aside from its inaccuracies, Lorde's comments highlight another big issue with AI features like 'About the Song'; they remove the listener's opportunity to interpret the music for themselves. This has been the topic of many online discussions since Lorde aired her comments, especially on Reddit -- 'half the fun is figuring out your own meaning instead of getting AI Cliff Notes right away,' one user says. But according to others in the same Reddit thread, it speaks volumes about how art consumption is evolving. Whether you're reading a book, watching a movie, or listening to an album, everyone looks at things differently which is what allows conversations and debates to flow. Another user went the extra mile, saying "If you need AI to tell you what it thinks the song means, you've stopped thinking". That said, Spotify isn't the only music platform that dives into the background of music -- Apple Music includes detailed summaries of albums located under the Play button -- but these pockets of context are all written and developed by Apple Music's editorial team, who don't rely on AI for third-party sourcing. But the album summaries is where Apple Music draws the line. As soon as you hit Play the platform leaves you to get lost in the music -- which subscribers would rather have over what Spotify is trying to sell them. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

Spotify Doubles Down on AI Slop As It's Being Flooded With It

Can't-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Spotify, like pretty much every other digital platform, has been grappling with a torrent of low-quality AI-generated content flooding its streaming service. The deluge has resulted in cheap-and-fast AI-generated music infiltrating algorithmic playlists and even charting. The slop has led to artists -- including dead musicians -- being impersonated by AI-powered squatters. "The low-effort content you see where it's mass-produced, it's mass uploaded, it's AI slop... we've removed over 75 million spammy tracks in the last year," Spotify executive Sam Duboff recently told the Australian Financial Review, adding that AI has "taken existing spam tactics and taken them to a new level." Yet, as Spotify fights to keep its platform from being strangled by AI slop, it's also moved to incorporate multiple AI features, like AI playlists and Spotify's AI "DJ," into its platform. And this week, one of Spotify's AI features made for a frustrating situation for a top artist. In February, Spotify launched a feature called "About the Song," an AI-powered summary feature designed to draw on "third-party sources to surface interesting details and behind-the-scenes moments" about a given song and the artists behind it. In its announcement, the company described the feature, which is still in beta, as a way to bring "stories and context directly into your listening experience." But it shouldn't come as a surprise that artists aren't happy with having their life's work woefully misrepresented by ill-informed AI. On Thursday, the singer Ella "Lorde" O'Connor took to Instagram to share a screenshot of the "About the Song" summary of one of her songs. In the screenshot, the AI feature can be seen declaring that "on her Ultrasound World Tour, Lorde turns Current Affairs," a song off of O'Connor's most recent album, "into a full-on performance piece, stripping down to underwear while a dancer pours water over her stomach so the song plays out like the shower scene she talks about on stage." According to a blurb at the bottom of the summary, it drew information from the Australian outlet The Music, which reviewed O'Connor's tour. But according to O'Connor's Instagram story, this isn't true -- that performance happens in her show, but in a different song. There was an inaccuracy in The Music's review, and that made its way into Spotify's AI summary. "Not only is this inaccurate (not the song I did that in)," O'Connor wrote in the caption of the Instagram story, "but reducing a song to an AI-generated meaning right at the source feels like it limits free interpretation [in my opinion]. At least make it possible for artists to opt out please." "I'm gonna go out on a limb," the musician added, "and say we don't want this." In a statement, Spotify told Rolling Stone that "we built 'About the Song' because fans want to dig into the stories behind the music. It's still in beta." "The info comes from articles across the internet, and when something's off, we move fast to fix it, like we did here," the streamer added. "Getting it right matters to us." It's the latest example of a digital platform attempting to walk the careful line between fighting off low-quality AI material and incorporating AI into its platform where it can. But judging by its latest stumbles, Spotify is seriously struggling to find that line. More on AI and music: Spotify Caught Doing Something Unbelievably Ghoulish With AI

Lorde Slams Spotify Over Sloppy AI-Generated Song Descriptions

Spotify has wielded artificial intelligence to curate your perfect playlist, personalize your music recommendations, and even rolled out an AI DJ that talks to you about your music tastes. Now, the streaming platform wants to tell you what your favorite song really means. Not everyone is pleased with the latest development, however. On Thursday, Grammy-winning artist Lorde took to social media to call out Spotify over its "About the Song" feature and accuse the streaming behemoth of sharing inaccurate information, while also overstepping artistic boundaries. According to Spotify, the new feature is in beta and produces summaries by pulling from "third-party sources to surface interesting details and behind-the-scenes moments." On Instagram Stories, Lorde shared a screenshot of a Spotify AI description for her song "Current Affairs," which read: "On her Ultrasound World Tour, Lorde turns Current Affairs into a full-on performance piece, stripping down to underwear while a dancer pours water over her stomach so the song plays out like the shower scene she talks about on stage." In the caption for the post, Lorde tagged the streaming service. "Hey @spotify i'm gonna go out on a limb n say we don't want this," wrote Lorde. "Not only is this inaccurate (not the song i did that in) but reducing a song to an ai generated meaning right at the source feels like it limits free interpretation imo. At least make it possible for artists to opt out please." AI-powered tools and music are causing seismic shifts in the music industry. Many of the top producers and songwriters in the world have been utilizing AI in studios, though is mostly done behind closed doors for now. In March, Rolling Stone published a report about how producers, songwriters, and artists have added AI into their processes, calling it the "don't ask, don't tell era of AI in music." As AI continues to impact every facet of the industry, both artists and listeners are grappling with how music is both created and consumed. For many who revel in the nuances of a song and its unlimited possibilities, having an AI bot take the mystery out of the experience is rather dull -- especially if it can't get its facts straight.

Lorde Calls Out Spotify's AI "About the Song" Feature: "We Don't Want This

Lorde called out Spotify over the streaming service's "About the Song" AI feature on Thursday, after the AI shared incorrect information regarding the context of one of her songs. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say we don't want this," Lorde wrote in an Instagram Story. "About the Song" is an AI tool from Spotify that is currently in beta, released to limited users back in February. The tool scrapes third-party sources to compile additional information and context about individual tracks. In the case with Lorde, according to her screenshot, the AI appears to have pulled from the website themusic.com.au, writing that on her recent Ultrasound tour, the singer "turns Current Affairs into a full-on performance piece, stripping down to underwear while a dancer pours water over her stomach so the song plays out like the shower scene she talks about on stage." "Not only is this inaccurate (not the song i did that in) but reducing a song to an ai generated meaning right at the source feels like it limits free interpretation imo," Lorde wrote. "At least make it possible for artists to opt out please." Lorde's comment reflects the sensitivity that still surrounds AI among artists and creatives in the entertainment industry. SZA, for example, told I-D earlier this year that she feels she's "at war because of AI." "I'm not up against the pop girls. I'm not up against the R&B girls," SZA said. "I'm up against anti-intellectualism and doing things easy. The type of blend of information my human experience provides, AI can't even be prompted to fuck with." The issue reflects the widespread information issues tech companies' AI data-scrapers have run into. Google's AI summaries, for example, have faced similar criticism, with an April New York Times report detailing that its AI answers take data from a wide range of sources, including news sites to Facebook posts, leaving at least room for error. In the end, these AI scrapers will only be as good as the data that feeds them. When asked for comment, a spokesperson confirmed that "the text has been removed." "About the Song" is a beta feature that presents cited information from third-party sources," the spokesperson said. "We're continuing to improve it based on feedback from artists and fans."