Spotify Announces New AI Safeguards, Says It's Removed 75 Million 'Spammy' Tracks

Spotify says it has has removed over 75 million fraudulent tracks in the past year as it works to combat 'AI slop,' deepfake impersonations, and spam uploads. Variety reports: Its new protections include a policy to police unauthorized vocal impersonation ('deepfakes') and fraudulent music uploaded to artists' official profiles; an enhanced spam filter to prevent mass uploads, duplicates, SEO hacks, artificially short tracks designed to fraudulently boost streaming numbers and payments. The company also says it's collaborating with industry partners to devise an industry standard in a song's credits to 'clearly indicate where and how AI played a role in the creation of a track.'

'The pace of recent advances in generative AI technology has felt quick and at times unsettling, especially for creatives,' the company writes in a just-published post on its official blog. 'At its best, AI is unlocking incredible new ways for artists to create music and for listeners to discover it. At its worst, AI can be used by bad actors and content farms to confuse or deceive listeners, push 'slop' into the ecosystem, and interfere with authentic artists working to build their careers. The future of the music industry is being written, and we believe that aggressively protecting against the worst parts of Gen AI is essential to enabling its potential for artists and producers.'

In a press briefing on Wednesday, Spotify VP and Global Head of Music Product Charlie Hellman said, 'I want to be clear about one thing: We're not here to punish artists for using AI authentically and responsibly. We hope that they will enable them to be more creative than ever. But we are here to stop the bad actors who are gaming the system. And we can only benefit from all that good side if we aggressively protect against the bad side.'

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