Spotify to hide AI artists from recommendations starting mid-September

Spotify announced it will soon label artist profiles as "AI Personas" and remove their music from recommendations, responding to listener complaints about discovering fake artist profiles. The change will roll out starting in mid-September and applies specifically to profiles that "do not represent a real person." Artists can begin disclosing their AI status immediately, but Spotify will not rely solely on self-identification. Instead, the platform will deploy human reviewers and AI tools to examine artist profiles—including names and images—for signs of photorealistic AI-generated identities. When Spotify determines that an artist's identity is likely AI-generated, it will apply a "Likely AI Persona" badge to their profile. The company will prioritize reviewing artists who meet "defined audience thresholds" to focus on the profiles people listen to most. Once labeled, music from these AI personas will no longer appear in editorial suggestions or personal recommendations by default, though Spotify notes that its labels pertain only to an artist's identity, not the production methods they used to create music. Spotify acknowledged that "listeners have been clear in telling us that they don't like seeing an artist profile that seems human, only to find out that the persona is AI-generated." The platform said it tunes its algorithms "to highlight authentic human artists and, based on available signals, strive to not include spam, slop, or low-effort content in our recommendations." The move comes amid a broader surge in AI-generated music on streaming services; Deezer recently reported that AI-generated tracks now make up half of its daily song uploads. Spotify currently lacks a system to identify AI-generated music itself, but it has launched a "Verified by Spotify" badge to indicate when an artist is a real person. The platform will notify artists when it applies a "Likely AI Persona" badge and will allow them to appeal the decision. Looking ahead, Spotify plans to add a feature that lets listeners flag artists with potential AI-generated identities as well.