SZA condemns AI music after discovering 238 songs used in training without consent

SZA hits out at 'disgusting' AI music

"If you're a musician and you support this degenerate shit? You're disgusting." The award-winning R&B singer has hit out at AI and Suno, which has maintained that its models don't store or reproduce specific songs. Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter SZA has slammed AI and artists who "support this degenerate shit," having discovered that more than 200 of her songs have been used to train AI. Posting on Instagram Stories, the 36-year-old behind hits like 'Kill Bill' and 'Luther' with Kendrick Lamar shared the results of a search of her name on an AI music database. The search apparently revealed that 238 of her songs had been used in AI training datasets. "Checked and music AI has trained off 238 of my songs. I'm certain some unreleased. If you're a musician and you support this degenerate shit? You're disgusting and there's NOTHING YOU COULD EVER SAY TO ME TO MAKE THIS OKAY. I hope u have the life u deserve." SZA took specific aim at the AI music-making company Suno and producer Diplo in a subsequent post. "Ionno who needs to hear this but diplo has equity in suno and is actively attempting to train it on the best and brightest black minds of writers and producers," she wrote. "We make up 13% of the American population yet influence the world with our sound and perspective." "I AINT HEARD A WHITE AI SONG YET .. why so disproportionate? We have no protection in legislature medical or creative," she continued. "The easiest to steal from. DO NOT GIVE AWAY YOUR VIBRANIUM !!! DO NOT TRAIN AI WITH YOUR GENIUS. F-k these weird a- vultures." Last week, Suno's chief product officer wrote a defense of the AI music generator. "At Suno, preserving artistry and human creativity is just as important as product innovation itself," Jack Brody wrote on LinkedIn. "We know that's easy to be skeptical about - especially if you haven't actually immersed yourself in our product. But most of the people building Suno are musicians." He continued: "Empowering human creativity is why we show up, not just some corporate positioning. We believe companies building AI have a responsibility to invest in safeguards with the same level of ambition and rigor that they bring to building products." "From our earliest days, we worked to build protections directly into the foundation of our platform. That includes clear rules prohibiting users from uploading or distributing content they don't own or have the rights to use, meaningful enforcement when those rules are violated, and partnerships with industry-standard providers like Audible Magic, Musixmatch, and ACRCloud to help us identify and prevent misuse." He added: "One of the most common questions people ask about AI is whether models can reproduce material from their training data. Our answer is simple: no, that should not happen. Our philosophy has always been that AI should help people create new music, not replicate someone else's. That's why we built our models around what we call 'Original Creation, By Design,' training strategies intended to reduce the risk of generating unauthorized reproductions." "For example, we do not use artist names as a category of training metadata - meaning we made an intentional choice not to teach models artist names because our goal is to help people create brand new songs, not music that sounds like existing artists." It's not the first time SZA has criticised AI. In March, she told i-D Magazine: "I feel like I'm at war because of AI." "It's happening disproportionately with Black music," she explained. "Why am I hearing AI covers of Olivia Dean, when Olivia Dean just came the fuck out? She can't even collect the streams. I'm also really offended by the type of Black music that's coming out of AI. Weird, stereotypical struggle music." Last year, she also hit out at AI users for being "codependent on a machine", saying: "Please Google how much energy and pollution it takes to run AI... Please Google the beautiful Black cities like Memphis that are SUFFERING because of Twitter's new AI system. PLEASE JUST GOOGLE ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM." "AI doesn't give a fuck if you live or die I promise. THERE IS A PRICE FOR CONVENIENCE AND BLACK AND BROWN [COMMUNITIES] WILL PAY THE BRUNT OF IT EVERYTIME," she added. "We won't get it til it's too late."

SZA Urges Black Musicians to Reject AI After Learning Model Used Hundreds of Her Songs

Each time SZA speaks out against AI, she seems to hate it even more than before. While the singer-songwriter has been vocal about her disdain for generative AI models, her latest argument against it comes after learning hundreds of her own songs have been used for training purposes. In a recent Instagram Story, SZA shared that a search for her name in an AI music database revealed 238 songs were used for training, some of which are unreleased tracks. "If your a musician and you support this degenerate shit?" she wrote. "Your disgusting and there's NOTHING YOU COULD EVER SAY TO ME TO MAKE THIS OKAY. I hope u have the life u deserve." In a more pointed, though less public, post to her private Instagram account, SZA specifically called out the producer and Major Lazer member Diplo for his role in perpetuating exploitation via AI. "lonno who needs to hear this but Diplo has equity in Suno and is actively attempting to train it on the best and brightest Black minds of writers and producers," she wrote. While he has no clear public ties to Suno, the Wall Street Journal named Diplo as an investor in the billion-dollar AI startup Aaru in March. Suno is one of the most-used generative-AI services in the world. In 2024, three major record labels sued Suno and Udio, another music-based generative AI model, accusing them of "trampling the rights of copyright owners." In a legal response, Suno argued that its use of copyrighted music to train its model is legal under fair-use doctrine. The service initially allowed users to craft songs from ChatGPT-style text prompts. Future updates tested the ability to upload videos or photos to inspire songs, in addition to using partial compositions, a cappella vocals, loops, and other audio uploads to create songs. In April, Diplo went viral for his comments on the allegedly unavoidable future of AI in music. "If you are a creative you need to adapt or just like give up and become an uber driver until everyone has a waymo," he wrote on X. "I know it's not cool or classy to speak like this but I'm not gonna candy coat the future - it is what it is ... AI will never suffer from bipolar disorder and autism like me and other creative people." In her post, SZA highlighted a disproportionate reliance on the creative output of Black artists by those utilizing generative AI models. "We make up 13% of the American population yet influence the world w our sound and perspective. I AINT HEARD A WHITE AI SONG YET," she wrote. "We have no protection in legislature medical or creative. The easiest to steal from. DO NOT GIVE AWAY YOUR VIBRANIUM !!! DO NOT TRAIN AI W YOUR GENIUS. Fuck these weird ass vultures. I want smoke all summer." SZA's argument builds on her previous comments about the connection between AI and environmental racism. "Al doesn't give a fuck if you live or die I promise," she said last year, calling out the normalized use of programs like ChatGPT and Grok that have contributed to pollution and excessive water usage in underserved communities. "THERE IS A PRICE FOR CONVENIENCE AND BLACK AND BROWN WILL PAY THE BRUNT OF IT EVERY-TIME." Throughout his career, Diplo has faced frequent accusations of cultural appropriation. In 2018, he addressed the recurring criticism in an interview with the Guardian. "When it comes to making music, understand that my intentions are always great. I'm there for the music only," he said. "I have a lot of privilege by being a middle-class white American. So if I had to trade that by being considered exploitative, and people always saying negative things about me ... It's a small price to pay."