SZA Declares 'War' on AI Music, Citing Disproportionate Impact on Black Artists
SZA voices concerns about the rise of AI in music, particularly its impact on Black artists, and calls for greater awareness of environmental racism linked to AI technology.
SZA has expressed strong feelings about the increasing presence of AI in music, stating that she feels like she’s “at war” with the technology.
On her 2022 album ‘SOS’, SZA touched on the subject, 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’.
In a recent interview with i-D Magazine, she elaborated on her concerns about the crisis AI is creating in the industry, especially for Black artists. “I feel like I’m at war because of AI,” she said.
“It’s happening disproportionately with Black music,” she added. “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.”
She continued: “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.”
Her comments follow 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 criticized the success of Monet, noting that the proliferation of AI in music was “so beyond out of our control.” She highlighted AI's ability to create songs without crediting those involved in creating the copyrighted works on which these systems are trained.
This isn't the first time SZA has spoken out against AI. Last summer, she criticized users of the technology for being “codependent on a machine,” urging them to consider the environmental impact of AI.
“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.”
SZA's concerns about environmental racism are supported by organizations like the National Resources Defence Council (NRDC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The NRDC defines environmental racism as the “intentional siting of polluting and waste facilities in communities primarily populated by African Americans, Latines, Indigenous People, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, migrant farmworkers, and low-income workers.”
In related news, Apple Music will now inform users if they are listening to AI-generated music, following a study revealing that 97 percent of people can't distinguish between real and AI music. Earlier in 2024, it was warned that music sector workers were likely to lose a quarter of their income to AI over the following four years.
Besides Apple, Deezer has also addressed the rise of AI-generated content, reporting that it comprised 28 percent of the platform's content. Deezer has demonetized 85 percent of AI-generated tracks using an AI-detection tool.
Bandcamp has banned all AI-created tracks, stating: “We reserve the right to remove any music on suspicion of being AI-generated.”
Last year, Spotify confirmed its crackdown on AI, removing 75 million “spammy tracks” and targeting impersonators. This followed reports of AI-generated songs being uploaded to dead musicians’ Spotify profiles without permission.
Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, and Elton John are among the major British artists who have urged Keir Starmer to protect creatives' work. The Prime Minister told NME in 2025 that the government was working to “get the balance right.”
As for SZA, she recently shared an uplifting new track called ‘Save The Day’, which is set to feature in Disney and Pixar’s Hoppers.
Elsewhere in her i-D interview, she looked back on the release of ‘SOS’, recalling her label’s warning that the album was unlikely to beat Taylor Swift in the charts – which it ultimately went on to do.
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