It has become nearly impossible for listeners to distinguish AI-generated music from songs created by humans, according to a survey released Wednesday by streaming platform Deezer.
The survey, conducted by polling firm Ipsos with 9,000 participants across eight countries, asked respondents to listen to two clips of AI-generated music and one human-made track.
“Ninety-seven percent could not distinguish between music entirely generated by AI and human-created music,” Deezer reported.
The findings coincide with the rise of AI in mainstream music. A country song featuring a male AI-generated voice by the artist Breaking Rust reached the top of the US Billboard country digital sales chart this week. The song, “Walk My Walk”, marks the first time an AI-powered track has achieved such a feat.
Despite the technological breakthrough, more than half of survey respondents expressed discomfort at not being able to tell the difference between AI and human music. Furthermore, 51% believed AI would lead to more low-quality music on streaming platforms, while almost two-thirds feared it could diminish creativity.
Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier emphasized that listeners care about transparency in music:
“The survey results clearly show that people care about music and want to know if they’re listening to AI or human made tracks or not.”
Deezer reported a surge in AI-generated content on its platform. In January, 10% of tracks streamed daily were fully AI-generated. By October, that number had risen to nearly 40,000 tracks per day, or over one-third of daily streams. Eighty percent of respondents said AI-generated music should be clearly labeled for listeners. Deezer is currently the only major platform systematically labeling fully AI-generated tracks.
The issue gained public attention in June when the band The Velvet Sundown went viral on Spotify, later revealing its music was entirely AI-generated. The group’s most popular song has been streamed over three million times, prompting Spotify to encourage artists to voluntarily disclose AI usage in music production.
The Deezer survey was conducted between October 6 and 10 in Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States.
