SZA has hit out at those making music with AI after discovering that over 200 of her tracks had been used to train the software.
- READ MORE: SZA – ‘SOS’ review: a comeback album well worth the wait
Posting on Instagram Stories post, she shared the results of a search of her name on an AI music database, with the search allegedly revealing that 238 of her songs had been used in AI training datasets.
“[Just] checked and music AI has trained off 238 of my songs. I’m certain some unreleased. If you’re a musician and you support this degenerate shit? You’re disgusting and there’s NOTHING YOU COULD EVER SAY TO ME TO MAKE THIS OKAY. I hope u have the life u deserve.”
She has been a long-time critic of AI, and on 2022’s album ‘SOS‘, lamented the increasing use of the technology, singing: “Let’s talk about AI, robot got more heart than I/ Robot got future, I don’t/ Robot got sleep but I don’t power down,” on ‘Ghost in the Machine’.
Back in March, she also shared her thoughts on the crisis AI was continuing to foster in the industry, particularly for Black artists. “I feel like I’m at war because of AI,” she told i-D Magazine.
SZA denounces AI music after discovering 238 of her songs were used to train artificial intelligence:
“If you’re a musician and you support this degenerate sh*t? You’re disgusting and there’s NOTHING YOU COULD EVER SAY TO ME TO MAKE THIS OKAY” pic.twitter.com/FPltE2fsaC
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) June 21, 2026
“It’s happening disproportionately with Black music,” she went on. “Why am I hearing AI covers of Olivia Dean, when Olivia Dean just came the fuck out? She can’t even collect the streams. I’m also really offended by the type of Black music that’s coming out of AI. Weird, stereotypical struggle music.
“I’m not up against the pop girls. I’m not up against the R&B girls. I’m up against anti-intellectualism and doing things easy. The type of blend of information my human experience provides, AI can’t even be prompted to fuck with. I want to just let this angst drive me into bizarre directions.”
Those comments followed the emergence of AI-generated artist Xania Monet, who made headlines last year after signing a multimillion-dollar record deal and becoming the first AI artist to chart on the US Billboard rankings. The poet and designer behind the project said she saw Monet as “a real person” who was “challenging the norm”.
Kehlani has also hit out at the success of Monet, telling fans that the proliferation of AI in music was “so beyond out of our control.” She went on to highlight the power of AI to create fully formed songs without users having to “credit anyone” involved in making the copyrighted works on which such generative music systems are trained.
It’s not the first time SZA has criticised AI. Last summer, she hit once again hit out at users of the technology for being “codependent on a machine, telling fans to “please Google how much energy and pollution it takes to run AI”.
“Please Google the beautiful Black cities like Memphis that are SUFFERING because of Twitter’s new AI system. PLEASE JUST GOOGLE ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM,” she added. “AI doesn’t give a fuck if you live or die I promise. THERE IS A PRICE FOR CONVENIENCE AND BLACK AND BROWN [COMMUNITIES] WILL PAY THE BRUNT OF IT EVERYTIME. We won’t get it til it’s too late. Y’all don’t hear me tho.”
Pope Leo XIV on AI:
“Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed. The word [disarmed] is strong I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences, and indicating paths forward for humanity.” pic.twitter.com/h5zC2600Kl
— Pop Base (@PopBase) May 25, 2026
The tech continues to come under fire, with Pope Leo XIV recently calling for more stringent regulation of AI, imploring its developers to work for the common good, while Martin Scorsese has been criticised for becoming an advisor for an AI product that will assist in storyboarding in filmmaking.
Backrooms director Kane Parsons, meanwhile, has described AI as “cultural rot” that “defeats the purpose entirely” of creativity, and Jack Antonoff has called AI music creators “godless whores”.
Last month alone, Deezer revealed that 44 per cent of the music now uploaded to its platform is AI-generated, with roughly 75,000 such tracks being added per day. That represented a huge jump from 28 per cent last September, and 10 per cent in January last year.
At the same time, Spotify and Universal Music Group signed a new licensing deal that will allow fans to reimagine songs with AI. The tool for Premium users will let them generate AI covers and remixes of licensed tracks from participating artists.
