Spotify has been slammed for its use of artificial intelligence after the pop star Lorde publicly called out the music streaming service for sharing completely incorrect facts about her work.
The controversy centers on Spotify’s new “About the Song” AI feature, which drew the singer’s ire on Thursday after it generated an inaccurate summary regarding the live performance and meaning of one of her tracks.
The feature in question is an AI-powered tool currently in beta testing, which was rolled out to a limited number of users back in February.
It works by scraping third-party sources across the internet to compile extra background information and context for individual songs.
In Lorde’s case, the AI pulled data from an Australian music website to claim that during her recent Ultrasound tour, the singer turned a specific song into a performance piece by stripping down to her underwear while a dancer poured water over her stomach to mimic a shower scene.
Lorde shared a screenshot of the AI text on her Instagram Story to firmly correct the mistake and vent her frustration with the technology.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say we don’t want this,” the singer wrote.
She pointed out that not only was the description inaccurate because it named the wrong song entirely, but she argued that reducing a song to an AI-generated meaning directly on the streaming platform limits free interpretation for the listener.
Lorde concluded her post with a direct plea to the tech giant, asking them to at least make it possible for artists to opt out of the feature.
The backlash from the New Zealand star highlights the ongoing tension and sensitivity surrounding artificial intelligence among creatives in the entertainment industry.
She is far from the only high-profile artist to voice major concerns; earlier this year, R&B star SZA expressed similar frustrations, stating that she felt she was at war because of AI.
SZA explained that she does not feel she is competing against other pop or R&B artists, but rather against anti-intellectualism and the desire to do things the easy way, asserting that a machine could never be prompted to replicate the unique blend of information provided by her own human experience.
