Spotify has announced it will label AI-generated artist profiles and exclude their music from recommendations, as streaming platforms grapple with a growing wave of AI-produced content. From mid-September, profiles that do not represent a real person will carry an "AI Persona" badge, and such music will no longer appear by default in editorial suggestions or personalised recommendations, in response to listener complaints about being misled by seemingly human artists.

Artists can begin voluntarily disclosing an AI persona from today, though Spotify says it won't rely solely on self-identification, instead using human review and AI tools to spot photorealistic AI-generated identities, applying a "Likely AI Persona" badge where appropriate, starting with the most-listened-to profiles. The label covers artist identity rather than how the music itself was made, artists will be notified and can appeal a badge, and listeners will eventually be able to flag suspect profiles. The move follows Deezer's disclosure that AI-generated tracks now account for half of its daily uploads.