Mason's comments have reignited debates about the use of AI in music. The Recording Academy has attempted to address these issues in its annual update to Grammy eligibility rules, stating that recordings using AI technology will be eligible, but songs essentially written by AI are not. The Academy's rules also state that only the human portion of a composition or performance can be considered for a Grammy. The use of AI to model voices or create new voices would disqualify the performance, but not the writing of the track.
Key takeaways:
- The song 'Heart on My Sleeve', which uses AI-generated vocals by Drake and the Weeknd, is not eligible for a Grammy award according to Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason Jr., despite being written by a human.
- The song's ineligibility is due to it not being commercially available and the vocals not being legally obtained or cleared by the label or the artists.
- The Recording Academy's rules state that recordings using AI technology can be eligible for a Grammy, but only the human portion of the composition or performance can be considered for an award.
- The Academy's June ruling emphasizes that only human creators are eligible for a Grammy, and any work that contains AI material must have a meaningful and more than de minimis human authorship component to be considered.