Harvey Mason jr., CEO of The Recording Academy, has clarified that it’s still possible for music with AI-created elements to be nominated for, and even win, a Grammy Award following the adoption of new rules that stated “only human creators” could win. It seems that artists who want to walk the red carpet and make a big speech simply need to make sure that AI wasn’t involved in the actual category they’re gunning for—e.g., a song sung (but not written) by an AI could still win in a songwriting category.
“Here’s the super easy, headline statement: AI, or music that contains AI-created elements is absolutely eligible for entry and for consideration for Grammy nomination. Period,” Mason told The AP. “What’s not going to happen is we are not going to give a Grammy or Grammy nomination to the AI portion.”
“As long as the human is contributing in a more than de minimis amount, which to us means a meaningful way, they are and will always be considered for a nomination or a win,” he continued. “We don’t want to see technology replace human creativity. We want to make sure technology is enhancing, embellishing, or additive to human creativity. So that’s why we took this particular stand in this award cycle.”
If an AI or voice modeling program performs the lead vocal on a song, the track would be eligible in a songwriting category, for example, but not a performance category, because “what is performing is not human creation,” he explains. “Conversely, if a song was sung by an actual human in the studio, and they did all the performing, but AI wrote the lyric or the track, the song would not be eligible in a composition or a songwriting category.”