Kehlani is in disbelief that an R&B singer recently landed a $3 million deal. Not because of any beef, but because the singer is AI.
Xania Monet appears to be a successful up-and-coming R&B artist, reaching No. 25 on the Emerging Talents chart and the No. 21 spot on the Hot Gospel Songs chart. The real voice behind Monet is Talisha Jones, a poet and designer who fed her ideas into AI music program Suno. Monet’s public-facing appearance is also made by AI.
Kehlani took to TikTok to express her frustration. “There is an AI R&B artist who just signed a multi-million-dollar deal, and has a Top 5 R&B album, and the person is doing none of the work,” the “Folded” singer said. “I think you guys think that AI can just be the cover for something. Which some people can use, they can make an AI cover.”
“AI can also make the entire fucking song,” she continued. “It can sing the entire song. It can make the entire beat…This is so beyond out of our control. Nothing and no one on Earth will ever be able to justify AI to me.“ Kehlani furthers goes on to say she doesn't "respect" AI or its usage, saying it diminishes the hard work of people who do everything themselves.
SZA also reacted to news of Monet’s deal, posting a screenshot of the news with the caption: “Ion fw this either why devalue our music ??? Something tells me they wouldn't do this w another genre.”
She also asked fans not to generate AI images due to its environmental implications, presumably in reaction to a trend of people generating Polaroids of them with their favorite artists. “Hey I hate Ai. If you fuck w me PLEASE don't make any Ai images of me or songs,” SZA wrote. “Ppl and children are dying from the harm n pollution Ai energy centers are creating. A stupid photo is not worth polluting and harming under served communities. Thank you.”
Kehlani is just one of many raising alarm bells over the growing trend of AI musicians. There are different types of AI music, and the most common types are artists who use AI for parts of the song ranging from generating lyrics to drum patterns, music that is entirely generated by AI — oftentimes being fed references from original music to capture a particular style — and artists who create original music and use an AI persona instead of their real identity. In some cases, musicians even sing and feed their voices through an AI generative software that can change how it sounds.
Freddie Gibbs also had something to say about artists using AI to write their lyrics. "Look at AI rap now man. I don't even believe nobody that write [...] I don't even believe if you even really make it anymore cause I done been in studios with motherfuckers and mutherfuckers is ChatGPT shit and I'm like, ‘What in the fuck?' Like damn, how long am I gonna be able to do this shit? Cause I'm actually making fresh shit."
He continued, "How long am I going to be able to do it when there's muthafuckers in the studio typing into a computer to get their music [...] We in a lazy day and age, man. Heart is dying and you got to ask a computer to write your lyrics, shit is wack."
And this is not the first case of AI music finding its way to the mainstream. Capitol Records came under fire in 2021 after signing an AI rapper named FN Meka. More recently, a popular band on Spotify, The Velvet Sundown, was revealed to be entirely AI-generated.