American R&B singer Mary J. Blige is facing criticism after appearing in a promotional video for Suno, one of the music industry’s most controversial artificial intelligence platforms.
In the video, Blige listens to an AI-generated R&B track and asks the software to add strings and a female vocal.
She then reacts positively to the result.
That’s crazy. That’s dope. This is amazing.
The appearance has sparked backlash from critics who question why an artist whose career grew through collaborations with musicians, songwriters and producers would promote technology that could potentially reduce the need for human creators.
The criticism comes as Suno continues to face major copyright battles over the way it trains its AI music models.
In July, a German court ruled that Suno had infringed copyrights represented by GEMA by using protected musical works to train its AI without a licence. Suno can appeal the decision.
The company also faces a separate lawsuit in the United States brought by musicians who accuse it of using copyrighted recordings to train its technology.
For Blige, however, the backlash is centred on her decision to lend her name and star power to the platform.
The singer has not publicly addressed the criticism surrounding the advertisement.