In June, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) announced changes to the rules for Grammy awards to reflect shifts in the music industry. Following this, reports emerged in the media suggesting that music created using artificial intelligence (AI) couldn't qualify for a Grammy award. However, that's not the case.

Harvey Mason Jr., the CEO and president of the Recording Academy, clarified in an interview with The Associated Press that music incorporating AI-generated elements "absolutely qualifies" for consideration as long as a person contributes "more than minimal input."

"It's a very simple basic statement. Artificial intelligence or music that has elements generated by artificial intelligence absolutely qualifies to be submitted and considered for Grammy nomination. Period," Mason stated in his conversation with Associated Press. "What will not happen is a Grammy nomination for artificial intelligence or a Grammy for it."

"The song must have been created with a human contribution," state the new rules. As Harvey Mason Jr. explains, "As the music industry adapts to this new technology, so will the Grammy awards."

Mason noted that if an AI or voice modeling program performs the main vocals in a song, the track might qualify, for instance, for a songwriting category nomination but not for a performance category because "what's performed isn't a human's work." Conversely, if a human artist sings a song in the studio, but the lyrics or composition were created by AI, the song cannot be considered in the composition or songwriting categories.

"We don't want technology to replace human creativity. We want to make sure technology enhances, beautifies, or complements human creativity," stated Mason Jr.

Commenting on the changes to the Grammy award rules, Dmitrij Konnow, CEO of Zwonko Digital, noted that even without AI on streaming platforms, more than 120,000 songs appear every day in the first quarter of 2023, of which about one-fifth go unheard.

"People on all streaming platforms listen primarily to professionally produced and created music. New music generated based on artificial intelligence, which analyzed, for instance, all of Whitney Houston's songs, doesn't seem like it will be interesting," he added.