Grammys: Only ‘human creators’ eligible to win, recording academy says response to AI

Grammys: Recording Academy States Only “Human Creators” Eligible to Win, in Response to AI

The Grammy Awards are undergoing several revisions, including a new regulation that declares the music industry’s highest accolade can only be awarded to “human creators.” This decision is a response to the growing influence of artificial intelligence in popular music.

The recently released “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Protocols” state that “a work that lacks human authorship is not eligible in any category.”

During the board of trustees meeting held last month, it was decided that works incorporating AI elements can be considered if a human creator has made a “meaningful” contribution to the music and/or lyrics.

The updated requirements specify that the human authorship component of the submitted work must hold significance.

This announcement follows closely on the heels of Paul McCartney’s revelation on Tuesday about a forthcoming “last Beatles record” composed using artificial intelligence by extracting John Lennon’s voice from an old demo. McCartney expressed both excitement and concern about AI, describing it as “kind of scary but exciting” and stating that its potential remains to be seen.

In addition to the AI rule, the Recording Academy has introduced swift changes to other categories. For the album of the year category, a music creator now needs to account for at least 20% of the work to be eligible for a nomination. This includes all credited artists, featured artists, songwriters, producers, engineers, mixers, and mastering engineers. This requirement differs from the previous decision made in 2021, which allowed anyone who worked on the album to receive a nomination.

The number of nominees in the “Big Four” categories—best new artists, as well as album, song, and record of the year—has been reduced from 10 to eight.

Previously, the “best music film” category required 50% of the documentary footage to be performance-based. The Recording Academy has now eliminated this requirement to better reflect the evolution of the music documentary format. However, biopics and dramatic feature films are still ineligible.

The revised guidelines also allow for eligibility of “music-focused and individual music videos that together create a visual album” if the videos are submitted as a cohesive film. This recognizes a trend popularized by Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” film in 2016 and explored across genres, as demonstrated in Halsey’s “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power” in 2021.

Furthermore, the Recording Academy has renamed the award for best improvised jazz solo to best jazz performance and the award for best regional Mexican music album (including Tejano) to best música Mexicana album (including Tejano). To qualify for the latter category, 50% of the lyrics must be sung in Spanish, or the majority of the musical content must reflect a traditional Mexican music style such as banda, norteño, corridos, gruperos, mariachi, rancheros, sierreño, jarocho, huasteco, or huapango.

These changes accompany the announcement of three new categories: best pop dance recording, best African music performance, and best alternative jazz album.

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More about Grammys, AI, rule changes, categories, human creators

• Grammy Awards Official Website
• Recording Academy News
• Paul McCartney’s Announcement on AI-Generated Beatles Record
• Apple TV’s “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry”
• Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” Visual Album
• Halsey’s “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power” Visual Album
• Overview of Grammy Award Categories