Spotify is introducing AI Persona tags to differentiate real artists from fake ones, vowing to become ‘the most transparent and trustworthy place to listen to music’ — but the tool isn’t targeting the music itself

Spotify is set to introduce AI Persona tags in mid-September, aiming to enhance user transparency by distinguishing between real artists and those created using artificial intelligence. The platform will review an artist's profile and images, not the music itself, revealing the disparity in AI transparency compared to competitors like Deezer.

These new AI Persona tags will be rolled out to mobile devices, appearing in an artist's profile banner, 'About' section, search results, and song rows in playlists. Once available, users can rest assured that the artists they listen to are not AI-generated. Artists with AI Persona tags will be excluded from personalized recommendations by default, ensuring a more refined music discovery experience.

While Spotify encourages artists to disclose if their profile is AI-generated, it will also conduct reviews of profiles where it suspects AI-generated images. If detected, a 'Likely AI Persona' tag will be displayed, notifying the artist to self-disclose or appeal. Despite Spotify's efforts, AI Persona tags only target an artist's public image and not the music itself, potentially allowing AI-generated music to appear on the platform.