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Creator Telisha “Nikki” Jones says she wrote the lyrics and used AI to supply the music, as nominees defended the human work behind their recordings.
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At the inaugural US AI Music Awards, winners were chosen by AI artists affiliated with the Sonic Intelligence Academy, which runs AI-music charts and identification tools. The results give AI-created acts a formal awards platform, while the ceremony also exposed a live tension: proponents say AI can widen access to music-making, but musicians worry it could divert work and attention from human creators. For the market, the awards offer an early signal of how AI music is building its own recognition systems and public identity.
Xania Monet won AI artist, song and album of the year at the November 13, 2026 ceremony in Los Angeles.
Creator Telisha “Nikki” Jones said she wrote all of Monet’s lyrics and used AI to set them to music.
Billboard reported that Monet’s “How Was I Supposed to Know?” was the first song by an AI-based act to reach one of its radio charts.
An AI-generated avatar took the top honors, but the people behind the music made the case for recognition. Xania Monet won AI artist, song and album of the year at the first US AI Music Awards, held in downtown Los Angeles on November 13, 2026. The ceremony celebrated songs made at least partly with AI.
Monet’s creator, Telisha “Nikki” Jones, described a process that began with her own writing. Jones said she wrote all the lyrics, then used AI to set them to music.
Monet is known for the R&B song “How Was I Supposed to Know?” According to Billboard, it was the first song by an AI-based act to reach one of its radio charts.
Speaking on the red carpet before the ceremony, Jones framed AI music as something listeners would have to adjust to. “I just feel like AI music is a new thing that people just have to get used to,” she said. “I don’t see it going anywhere anytime soon.”
The winners were selected by AI artists who belong to the Sonic Intelligence Academy. The company has created AI music charts and tools for identifying songs made with AI.
Onstage, human presenters and winners argued that AI-created music should be treated as a new genre. Their defense emphasized both artistry and effort: getting the desired sound, they said, can take hours of prompting.
In a world where everybody calls AI fake, the human behind it is real
Drake Murphy, music producer, presenting the best AI hip-hop song award
Their argument for the technology rested on access to music-making: a person could supply the story without already possessing every skill required to produce the recording.
That account sits alongside a different concern among musicians. Reuters described worries that AI-generated music makes it harder for human artists to gain traction and takes work from producers, singers, engineers and songwriters.
Nominees hoped the awards would make the humans behind AI music more visible. J. Frequency put that effort in personal terms: “A lot of things we do behind the scenes is hard work, contrary to popular belief.” The nominee’s defense ended with a claim to artistic standing: “Art is art, and I think this is just another expression of that.”
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