For centuries, music has been a symbol of culture. Artists from The Beatles to Bad Bunny unify listeners under the shared human conditions of bliss, heartbreak, and longing — but what becomes of music in the absence of humans?
The use of AI in music has outraged music junkees across the country. What once required years of mastering an instrument, the unique human capacity to create lyrics, and the emotional context of human existence can now be generated solely by a computer.
Research has shown that music is innate, an understanding that isn’t learned, but instead is instinct. It has been found that even at birth, babies are sensitive to melody and rhythm, priming them to enjoy music before they understand the context of the world around them.
The innate nature of music is also found in the animal kingdom. The perception of beats and relative pitch has been found in both chimpanzees and sea lions, pointing to the understanding of music from a biological basis. So, if understanding music is biological, an origin much more complex than an AI creation code, what will human users make of this new technological breakthrough?
Spotify’s DJ X: The mainstream use of AI in music
The first mainstream example of AI use in daily music is Spotify’s AI DJ. “DJ X”, has been available to users since 2023. This AI-generated companion doesn’t exactly generate music, but it uses personalization technology to resurface songs users haven’t recently played or recommends new songs based on users’ listening trends. This integrates AI into users’ daily commute, workouts, and hangouts with friends.
Consumer reactions to this integration of AI were nothing short of what one would expect — not great. Spotify users claimed that DJ X gets their music taste wrong and has trouble fitting the “vibe” for the time of day. After all, a human would understand why you wouldn’t want to listen to your “Girls Night Out” playlist on your way to work, while AI wouldn’t. With this, many people have found DJ X to be a force of intrusion to their daily lives, creating an unneeded, oftentimes irritating presence. However, the mainstream integration of an AI-generated DJ into an app with over 700 million users is a huge step towards the use of AI in the music industry. With this, people’s reactions to the Spotify AI DJ speaks to overall human attitudes towards the use of AI in music.
AI generative music: Hit song “I Run”
Controversy surrounding AI use in music reached a tipping point in 2025, when the hit song “I Run” was released. This song grossed over 17.7 million streams, taking over the TikTok algorithm. However, “I Run” was more than just a catchy beat made by a brilliant artist.
Users began to suspect that the song was made with generative AI. Claims of the song being AI took TikTok comment sections by storm, with many urging other users to stop streaming the song, instead encouraging them to stream human artists. However, in December of 2025, it was revealed that the song was stolen from human artist Jorgia Smith, through a complicated process of running human vocals through AI software, feminizing them, and mirroring them to sound like Jorgia.
The song has since been rerecorded with pure, human vocals, but the creator of the original version is facing serious legal repercussions. Haven (Harrison Walker) and Waypoint (Jacob Donaghue), have since admitted to the use of AI to achieve the vocals of the original song, and are offering Jorgia Smith a settlement for the appropriation of her voice.
This case offers two unique perspectives regarding the use of AI in music, ownership, and user reaction. With the current ability of generative AI to mirror the voice of any artist, the issue of true song ownership is justly prominent. On top of that, without the support of a community of fans, music loses its power and value. As a result, the immediate withdrawal of support for “I Run” after discovering it was generated with AI speaks to the remaining value of human emotion within music, making it what we know and love today.
Movement away from AI
While the world moves towards support of the use of AI in the spheres of business and technology, the same cannot be said for the music industry. Users play music to admire the talent of humans, the power of emotion, and the creativity that goes into creating songs. While AI can optimize, it cannot fulfill the qualities of human consciousness and creativity, rendering its presence in the music industry widely socially rejected.