A coalition of music-industry bodies — including the RIAA, IFPI, the Grammys and the performers' union SAG-AFTRA — has launched a joint programme to label recordings made with artificial intelligence. Announced on Friday, the scheme introduces two suggested track-level tags, "AI-Generated" and "AI-Assisted", intended to work much like existing explicit-content labels. The move matters because streaming services have acknowledged a surge of AI-produced music across their libraries, and the groups say fans increasingly want to know whether and how AI was involved in the songs they hear.

The "AI-Generated" label would flag when lead vocals, key instruments or an entire song were produced by a prompt, while "AI-Assisted" would mark AI's help with "some expressive elements" of a human-made track; neither currently covers AI use in lyrics, compositions, music videos or cover art. Other backers include the American Association of Independent Music, the Worldwide Independent Network, the European Independents Association and the Human Artistry Campaign. The initiative responds to the rise of AI generators such as Suno and Udio, which have drawn legal and creative disputes over training data and alleged copyright infringement; Suno said transparency was important but argued that artists and platforms should decide how to handle such issues, noting it has added watermarking and audio-fingerprinting tools. Streaming platforms currently differ, with Spotify and Apple Music leaving labelling to artists while Tidal tags AI tracks itself and bars them from royalties.