Just a few weeks after the Recording Academy announced new rules to guard AI from being fully included in the Grammys main categories, the CEO/President Harvey Mason Jr. opened up to The Associated Press about how they will actually be adapting.
“Here’s the super easy, headline statement: AI, or music that contains AI-created elements, is absolutely eligible for entry and for consideration for Grammy nomination. Period,” Mason said. “What’s not going to happen is we are not going to give a Grammy or Grammy nomination to the AI portion.”
Mason went on to clarify that if “what is performing is not human creation” as a lead vocal, it would be included for a songwriting nomination, but not a performance one. “Conversely, if a song was sung by an actual human in the studio, and they did all the performing, but AI wrote the lyric or the track, the song would not be eligible in a composition or a songwriting category,” he added.
Basically put, the Grammys won’t be shutting out AI completely — as long as a real-life artist or team plays a larger role on the nominated piece.
“As long as the human is contributing in a more than de minimis amount, which to us means a meaningful way, they are and will always be considered for a nomination or a win,” he noted. “We don’t want to see technology replace human creativity. We want to make sure technology is enhancing, embellishing, or additive to human creativity. So that’s why we took this particular stand in this award cycle.”
The Recording Academy will announce their nominations for the 2024 ceremony on November 10.