AI-Generated Song Mimicking Drake and The Weeknd Eligible for Grammy Consideration “Because a Human Wrote It”

An AI generated song, “Heart on My Sleeve,” which mimics Drake and The Weeknd’s vocals, has been submitted for Grammy consideration.

According to Variety, Ghostwriter, the creator of the AI song, is aiming for a major music award for a fake duet, and the Recording Academy’s CEO, Harvey Mason Jr., says, “It’s absolutely eligible because a human wrote it.”

A spokesperson for Ghostwriter says that “Heart on My Sleeve” was entered for best rap song and song of the year. These specific awards are given to a song’s writers as opposed to its performers. Ghostwriter is named the songwriter, even though the vocals were AI-generated.

Despite creative eligibility, Grammy rules demand “generation distribution,” meaning “the broad release of a recording, available nationwide via brick-and-mortar stores, third-party online retailers, and/or streaming services.”

The song disappeared from YouTube and streaming services after Universal Music sent takedown notices, but it’s since been re-uploaded by unofficial sources online. Given the copyright issues, making “Heart on My Sleeve” commercially viable has been a challenging endeavor.

Earlier this year, Mason explained the updated AI rules to Variety, saying, “We won’t nominate or award AI computers or those who merely use AI. We’re making a distinction; It’s an award recognizing human excellence driven by human creativity.”

This followed the Recording Academy’s comprehensive new rule regarding AI, which stated, among other things, that “a work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any Categories.”

According to Mason, Ghostwriter is “very forward-looking” and “creative.”

“From my perspective, this has been an exercise for him to try and establish a dialogue and create some awareness around the possibilities and what are going to be some of the potholes,” Mason told Variety. “I hate to put statements in his mouth, but my feeling is that he understood exactly what he was doing — he knew this was going to be controversial.”