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Topline Songwriter Telisha “Nikki” Jones defended her AI-generated “singer” creation Xania Monet, who has ranked on several Billboard charts in recent weeks, in an interview with CBS Mornings on Wednesday, telling Gayle King she views her AI vocal generation tool as an “instrument” while rebuffing criticisms from Kehlani and others who have slammed her use of AI. Key Facts How Did Telisha “nikki” Jones Defend Her Use Of Ai Vocals? Jones told Gayle King on CBS Mornings she writes all of the songs that are released under the name Xania Monet, only using AI to generate vocals. Jones said she believes “AI is the new era that we’re in, and I look at it as a tool, as an instrument,” adding she looks at Xania Monet as an “extension” of herself and a “real person.” Jones demonstrated to King how she generates vocals on the Suno platform, inserting a prompt with lyrics and a description of how she wants the song to sound—“slow tempo, R&B, deep female soulful vocals, light guitar, heavy drums”—generating the song instantly. She rebuffed criticism from singer Kehlani, who had slammed the use of AI in making music in a TikTok, stating the singer is entitled to her opinion and that “technology is evolving and everyone has different ways of putting in work to getting where they’re at.” In a statement to CBS, Hallwood Media said Xania Monet and AI-generated “artists” are the “future of music” and that AI breaks barriers for “creators who might not have had a traditional path into the industry.” How Have Ai Creations Found Success? Some of the AI acts that have made waves on the Billboard charts have curated social media profiles as if they are real people. Xania Monet’s Instagram page has more than 144,000 followers, and its account regularly posts purporting to show the artist recording songs in a studio. “I write music,” Xania Monet’s Instagram bio says, even though Xania Monet is not a real person and her songs are written by Jones. The Instagram pages for Breaking Rust and Enlly Blue, each of which have thousands of followers, similarly depict AI-generated personas performing their songs or recording music videos. The people curating these AI acts may also have a financial incentive, Billboard reported, estimating late last month Monet’s small music catalog has already generated more than $52,000 in revenue after racking up 17 million streams in the United States. It’s unclear how much of that revenue goes to Jones, the credited songwriter on Monet’s music, Billboard reported, though it noted platforms like Spotify don’t have specific policies for how AI-generated songs can collect royalties, meaning they can generate revenue like any other song. Chief Critics Singer Kehlani slammed Xania Monet’s record deal in a since-deleted post on TikTok in September. “Nothing and no one on Earth will ever be able to justify AI to me,” Kehlani said, according to Billboard, stating she doesn’t respect the AI creation. She lamented that these AI acts make their music based on the copyrighted material AI generators are trained on without having to credit anyone. Terry McBride, co-founder and CEO of record label Nettwerk Music Group, told Billboard he would not have signed Xania Monet or any other AI artist. “That’s not going to be a touring entity as we know it,” McBride said, adding, “Even if it did hundreds of millions of streams, we have no interest in that.” Tangent The film industry is also grappling with AI-generated personas, notably the AI-generated “actress” Tilly Norwood, which was unveiled by an AI studio in September and quickly drew condemnation from the SAG-AFTRA actor’s guild. The union said “creativity is, and should remain, human-centered,” stating it is “opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics” which have “no life experience to draw from.” Other actors, including Whoopi Goldberg, Emily Blunt and Melissa Barrera also criticized this use of AI. The AI personality was created by Eline Van der Velden, who launched the AI talent studio Xicoia and claimed multiple film studios were interested in employing her creation. Like the AI-generated musicians, Tilly Norwood has an Instagram page with more than 65,000 followers that posts as if the AI actress is a real person. Further Reading
