Inside the First AI Music Awards, a Chaotic Evening Attempting to Normalize Tech-Assisted Tunes

The inaugural AI Music Awards in Los Angeles aimed to give AI-assisted music a recognised place in the industry, as its organisers push back against mainstream resistance. The event also highlighted tensions around the technology, including unresolved copyright disputes and the challenge of making AI music relevant within established genres.

Artists registered their tracks as fully AI-generated, AI-assisted or featuring a cloned human voice, then nominated peers and voted across 25 categories. Xania Monet, the AI persona of Telisha “Nikki” Jones, won artist and song of the year among three of the four top awards; producer of the year went to DJ Shawn Q. The ceremony had practical glitches too: doors were locked shortly before the red carpet, and organisers said some media outlets could not attend because of an FAA flight ground-stop.