Country singer Joe Nichols has claimed that many Nashville artists secretly use artificial intelligence tools, despite publicly denying it. Speaking to Taste of Country, Nichols said he had heard fellow performers insist they avoid AI programmes such as Suno, but dismissed these denials as dishonest, saying such claims are commonly untrue within the industry. His comments add to an ongoing debate about the role of AI in country music production and songwriting.

Nichols revealed he used AI himself while developing his song "Say La V", where co-writers Jason Sellers, Lance Miller and Brett Warren ran a melody through Suno to test different prompts, producing a catchy but overly "pop" version. He later re-recorded the track in a more traditional country style to suit his own sound. Nichols said he now uses AI as a kind of creative "compass", feeding his own songwriting into such tools to gauge how an audience or algorithm might perceive a track's genre or feel, while insisting that the vocals on his recordings remain entirely his own.