Australia is drawing a line around AI-generated music.
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) has introduced new eligibility rules barring wholly or largely AI-generated recordings from appearing on the country's official music charts.
Under the updated rules, recordings must be "substantially human made" to qualify for the ARIA Charts. Music created with generative AI in a supporting capacity can still chart, provided that the primary creative work remains human-led and there are no concerns surrounding stream or chart manipulation.
"Wholly AI-generated tracks will not be eligible for the ARIA Charts," ARIA said, adding that recordings using AI "to generate the entirety or the primary portion of the creative elements" will be excluded.
The changes apply to the charts debuting on 28 August.
ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd said the move was intended to protect human creativity while recognising that AI tools are already becoming part of artists' workflows.
"Artists already use AI tools in their work, the Charts can and should evolve to keep room for that, but music generated wholesale by services built on artists' recordings is a different matter," Herd said.
"The ARIA Charts will always remain a transparent measurement of the music Australia consumes, but a chart that rewards unlicensed AI output would undercut the very basis of the recorded music we exist to represent."
Under the new framework, AI can still play a supporting role in a recording. But humans must remain responsible for songwriting, lead vocals, and primary instrumentation, while uses including mastering, drum machines, and Auto-Tune can remain permissible.
Artists will also be required to declare their use of AI when submitting music for chart consideration. If a release is later found to have been largely AI-generated, ARIA can retrospectively adjust its chart position and may request the return of awards issued for a Number One record. Artists and their representatives will also have a process to appeal exclusions.
The rules arrive amid growing debate over AI music
ARIA's decision comes as the music industry continues to grapple with the rapid growth of generative AI.
The issue recently drew attention in Australia following an AI-assisted cover of Madonna's 'Like a Prayer' by Australian DJ Josh Fawaz. The track reached No. 2 on Australia's overall chart and topped the ARIA dance singles chart, while accumulating more than 48 million Spotify streams, according to the BBC.
Fawaz later added generative AI credits to the release following criticism surrounding its use of AI-generated vocals and drums.
Meanwhile, Stereogum reported that streaming service Deezer estimated earlier this year that 44% of tracks being uploaded to its platform were AI-generated.
In the US, AI-generated music remains eligible for the Billboard charts for now. Billboard has instead announced new tools for identifying and labelling AI-generated content, with music data company Luminate set to introduce labels for AI-generated tracks.
Spotify has similarly announced plans for an "AI Persona" badge identifying content producers that are AI-generated rather than real people.
A wider push for "substantially human made" music
Australia's new rules follow principles introduced by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the recording industry internationally.
The IFPI's guidelines similarly state that recordings should be "substantially human made" to qualify for official music charts, with guidelines also set to be introduced across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Australia is not the first country to confront AI-generated releases on its charts. Earlier this year, a song was removed from Sweden's official music charts after it was determined to have been created using AI.
Australian electronic act Peking Duk has also backed ARIA's decision. The duo previously shared an AI-assisted version of their 2014 track 'High', with member Adam Hyde later saying that AI-generated music was "removing the human experience from life".
For ARIA, the new framework isn't designed to eliminate AI from music-making altogether. Instead, it draws a distinction between artists using AI as another tool in their creative process and recordings in which AI effectively becomes the creator.
As Sydney Conservatorium of Music composer and lecturer Alexis Weaver put it, artists can still make use of the technology while "steering the ship and making the main creative choices".
The rules also arrive amid a wider discussion about how artists' work is used to train generative AI systems. In July, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged "the strongest possible protection" for Australian creatives, arguing that writers and musicians should have control over whether their work is used to train AI — and should be compensated when it is.
With AI-generated tracks becoming increasingly common across streaming platforms, Australia's move could offer an early indication of how official charts elsewhere approach one increasingly complicated question: when does a song stop being human-made?
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