- YouTube Music says it will start labeling AI-generated music tracks
- On Deezer, you’ll be able to exclude AI music from your feed entirely
- Both platforms say there is a clear user demand for transparency
AI-generated music is a controversial topic in the world of streaming platforms, with the likes of Apple Music saying that over a third of its uploads are “100% AI.” Now, both YouTube Music and Deezer are taking steps to make it easier to spot artificially created tunes — and purge them from your listening feeds altogether.
The Google-owned YouTube Music has just announced that both the YouTube Music and YouTube apps will actively flag tracks that have been “created primarily using generative AI,” the company said in a press release. These labels will be attached to the app’s player page and will include a pop-up window with more information on how AI might have been used.
Music streaming service Deezer has gone a step further and has told users it will introduce a new toggle before the end of 2026 that will let them “avoid AI-generated music completely.” Deezer says that this will “improve the user experience” and put “full focus on discovering human creators.”
Speaking of the move, Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier argued that “The explosion of AI-generated content continues to impact the whole music ecosystem, and we believe in shaping a future based on transparency and choice, with respect for artists, song writers and music fans. We remain committed to minimizing any negative effects, while empowering our users to control their music experience to the greatest extent.”
Mass AI detection
Deezer’s Lanternier explained that the company had experienced “clear user demand for the ability to filter out AI-generated music,” while YouTube similarly stated that “our listeners have told us they want transparency when they’re hearing an AI-generated track.”
That’s unsurprising given the polarizing nature of AI. Whether the topic is AI chatbots, artificially-generated visual art or music that has been created by a bot, people have strong opinions, with a large contingent evidently wanting to exclude this material altogether.
Deezer claims to have detected and removed over 42 million AI-generated tracks from its recommendation system and to have tagged more than 14 million albums as being machine-made. It describes the issue as a “colossal, even critical, challenge” for the industry, with human artists revenues being impacted by AI music and up to 85% of AI streams being fraudulent.
Deezer’s AI detector tool has just been named one of Time’s Best Inventions of 2026, with it being used to help the platform spot the 90,000 fully AI-generated tracks that are submitted to it every day. Yet Deezer has also admitted that its detection tool has its flaws and could be weak to audio manipulation and as-yet-unknown creation models, something it also admitted to us during an in-depth interview earlier this year.
Anyone strongly against AI music will take more solace from Deezer’s announcement than from YouTube’s, with the latter merely labeling AI tracks rather than actively removing them from the user experience. Whether YouTube Music will eventually introduce a feature like Deezer’s in the future remains to be seen.