YouTube Music starts labelling AI songs as Deezer readies a switch to hide them

YouTube Music has begun labelling songs according to how much generative AI went into them, as streaming services try to deal with a flood of machine-made music.

Under the system announced on Wednesday, music partners declare one of three tags. “Fully Gen AI” covers tracks made entirely by AI. “Partly Gen AI” covers songs that mix AI-generated parts with an artist’s own live work, and “No Gen AI” covers the rest, including tracks touched up with pitch-correction tools such as Auto-Tune. The label sits on the player page, and tapping it explains what AI did in the track, whether in the composition or the vocals. The tags will also appear in the main YouTube app.

YouTube said it worked with music partners and used its own detection tools. The approach is about disclosure. Using AI does not, on its own, stop a song from earning money.

Deezer goes further

The same day, Deezer said it was building a switch that hides AI-generated tracks, albums and related artists from search. It expects the option to be ready before the end of the year.

“We’ve seen clear user demand for the ability to filter out AI-generated music,” chief executive Alexis Lanternier said. Listeners, he said, should be able to “focus only on human creators and creations, if they wish”.

The scale has changed quickly. When Deezer began detecting AI tracks in January 2025, they made up about 10% of daily uploads. By July this year the share was above 50%, about 90,000 tracks a day. A 2025 survey for the company found about 45% of its users wanted a way to remove AI music from their feeds.

Other services have taken different lines. Bandcamp has banned AI tracks, Tidal has stopped paying accounts that upload them, and Spotify labels them without a ban. Apple Music plans “Made With AI” labels later this year.