The Recording Academy are making several changes to the Grammy Awards, including a rule that stipulates “only human creators” can win the US music industry’s highest honor in a decision aimed at the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in popular music.
“A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any category,” they said, under new “Artificial Intelligence Protocols” released on Friday.
The rule was set following the semiannual academy’s board of trustees meeting last month, where it was determined that work that features elements of AI are eligible, as long as a human creator is responsible for a “meaningful” contribution to the music or lyrics.
Photo: Reuters
“The human authorship component of the work submitted must be meaningful,” the new requirements read in part.
The news arrives shortly after Paul McCartney on Tuesday announced that a forthcoming “last Beatles record” had been composed using AI by extracting John Lennon’s voice from an old demo.
At the time, McCartney described AI as “kind of scary, but exciting,” adding that “we will just have to see where that leads.”
In addition to the AI rule, the Recording Academy announced swift changes to other categories. To win a nomination for Album of the Year, a music creator has to account for at least 20 percent of the work. That includes all credited artists, featured artists, songwriters, producers, engineers, mixers and mastering engineers, and differs from a decision made in 2021, which allowed anyone who worked on the album to receive a nomination.
The number of those eligible in the “big four” categories — Best New Artist, as well as album, song and record of the year — has been decreased from 10 to eight nominees.
Previously, to be nominated for Best Music Film, 50 percent of the documentary footage had to be performance based. The Recording Academy has lifted that requirement.
The change better reflects the evolution of the music doc format, often a collection of verite and archival footage, such as Apple TV’s Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry. Biopics and dramatic feature films are still ineligible.
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