First AI Music Awards held in Los Angeles; AI persona Xania Monet wins top prizes

Centre · 1The first AI Music Awards ceremony in the US was held on Friday in downtown Los Angeles, honouring people who made songs at least partly with artificial intelligence. 1 Left · 1Variety placed the event at the Mayan Theater and said it was powered by the Sonic Intelligence Academy (SIQA), with 25 categories ranging from "AI Song of the Year" to "Best AI Comedic Song". 2 Centre · 1Xania Monet, an AI-generated avatar known for "How Was I Supposed to Know?", won AI artist, song and album of the year; CNA said Billboard reported the R&B song was the first by an AI-based act to earn a spot on one of its radio charts. 1

Left · 1Variety said the fourth top category, producer of the year, went to "DJ Shawn Q.", and that Monet had also won AI Album of the Year at SIQA's summit a day earlier. 2 Centre · 1Monet was created by Telisha "Nikki" Jones, who said she wrote all of the lyrics and set them to music with AI's help; she said "AI music is a new thing that people just have to get used to". 1 Mixed · 2Winners were chosen by AI artists who are members of the Sonic Intelligence Academy, a company that created AI music charts and tools to identify AI-made songs; to qualify, artists registered tracks in its "Verified Registry", which labels songs as fully AI-generated, AI-assisted or featuring a cloned human voice. 1 2

Left · 1Variety said the academy was founded by software engineer Timirah "TJ" James and her sister Mia James, aims to be an AI counterpart to the Recording Academy that governs the Grammys, and launched its own AI-only charts in January after some in the industry rejected AI music on Billboard's charts. 2 Centre · 1Presenters and winners argued AI music should be seen as a new genre needing human artistry and hours of prompting; producer Drake Murphy said, "In a world where everybody calls AI fake, the human behind it is real." 1 Mixed · 2Nominees, including J. Frequency, described AI as a tool, and Fredro Starr of Onyx stressed the human vocals on his AI-beat album "It All Started in Brooklyn". 1 2

Left · 1Variety described a chaotic night: locked doors and no apparent security at the start, a show that began about 30 minutes late, only two microphones for the hosts, and a Deepgram-powered AI announcer voice that often failed or talked over presenters. 2 Left · 1The delay meant nominees were not introduced for the first half of the awards, and Variety said some attendees missed hearing their names called. 2 Centre · 1The awards come amid a divided industry: record labels have sued AI companies including Anthropic and OpenAI over training on copyrighted works, which the companies say is protected by fair use, and musicians worry AI music takes work from human artists. 1

Left · 1Variety added that labels and artists have also sued generators such as Suno and Udio, and that Jones's Billboard chart success last year drew controversy, including criticism from Kehlani of a $3 million record deal. 2