Lorde Calls Out Spotify’s AI ‘About the Song’ Feature

Photo Credit: Lorde by Costanza.CH / CC by 2.0

Lorde called out Spotify over the company’s new AI feature after it shared incorrect information about the context of one of her songs.

On Thursday, Lorde dragged Spotify over the streaming platform’s AI-based “About the Song” feature, after the AI incorrectly provided information about the context of one of the artist’s songs.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say we don’t want this,” Lorde wrote in an Instagram Story. “Not only is this inaccurate […] but reducing a song to an AI-generated meaning right at the source feels like it limits free interpretation,” she added. “At least make it possible for artists to opt out please.”

Spotify’s “About the Song” tool is currently in beta following a limited release in February. By scraping third-party sources online, the tool compiles additional context and information about a song. In Lorde’s case, the description of the song did not match the track in question.

A spokesperson for Spotify confirmed that the text Lorde was referring to had since “been removed.”

Regardless, Lorde’s remarks are at home among the broader industry concerns surrounding AI. Many AI-related tools are still in varying stages of development and draw criticism for cases of inaccuracy or inauthenticity.

SZA also recently took to Instagram to vent her frustrations over rampant AI data-scraping.

“If [you’re] a musician and you support this degenerate shit? [You’re] disgusting and there’s nothing you could ever say to make this okay,” SZA said, specifically calling out AI company Suno.

Among her complaints, SZA alleged that Suno was actively training its product on “the best and brights Black minds of writers and producers.”

“We make up 13% of the American population yet influence the world [with] our sound and perspective,” she wrote. “We have no protection in legislature, medical, or creative. The easiest to steal from. Do not give away your vibranium! Do not train AI [with] your genius.”

“I’m not up against the pop girls. I’m not up against the R&B girls,” she told I-D earlier this year. “I’m up against anti-intellectualism and doing things easy. The type of blend of information my human experience provides, AI can’t even be prompted to fuck with.”