YouTube Music on Wednesday announced the rollout of a new labeling system to improve transparency around songs created with the help of generative AI. Now listeners can easily identify tracks created with AI, including those involved in composition and vocals.
The label will appear on the player page. Clicking on this label provides additional information about the specific role of AI in the creation of the route.
Notably, these labels will also extend to the main YouTube app.
YouTube said it worked with several music partners and deployed its own detection tools to identify AI-generated music. According to its help page, partners using YouTube can declare their work’s use of generative AI through one of three designations: Full Gen AI, Partial Gen AI, or No Gen AI.
“Full Gen AI” applies to tracks that are entirely generated by AI, while “Partly Gen AI” refers to works where artists have incorporated AI-generated components but added their own live elements. Tracks edited with pitch-correction tools like Auto-Tune fall under the “No Gen AI” category.
The move comes as AI-generated music is rapidly expanding across streaming services, and many platforms are adopting their own approaches. For example, Apple Music plans to introduce “Made With AI” labels as part of its AI Transparency tags later this year. Spotify also has AI tags, as well as a music spam filter.
Deezer took one of the tougher stances, reporting in July that it received nearly 90,000 fully AI-generated tracks every day. The platform labels discovered AI-generated music and excluded it from algorithmic recommendations and editorial playlists, while also withholding royalties from fraudulent streams. The company is also working on an option for users to filter AI-generated music.
TIDAL also flags recordings it identifies as entirely AI-generated, allows listeners to tune them out, and excludes those recordings from royalty attribution.
YouTube, in contrast, focuses on publishing rather than blanket restrictions. His new labels are intended to inform listeners about the role of AI in the creation of music, but AI involvement alone does not make a track eligible for monetization. YouTube is even experimenting with AI-powered music creation, including its Dream Track tool, which allows select creators to generate soundtracks using AI-generated versions of participating artists’ voices.
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