A singer generated through artificial intelligence (AI) is making waves on the global music circuit after landing a multi-million dollar record deal. Xania Monet, an AI artiste, was created by a Mississippi poet and has managed to build a growing audience on popular streaming platforms, including Spotify.

The AI-singer even charted on Billboard. The record deal, however, has sparked a slew of criticism from human artistes who believe there are certain skills AI should not touch.

The YouTube channel created for the AI-generated singer has songs barely a month old, but has amassed thousands, even millions of views. One of the tracks, How Was I Supposed to Know, has garnered over two million views since its release three weeks ago.

According to an article from Yahoo News, bidding for the AI artiste was reportedly in excess of US$3 million. The deal was reportedly eventually closed by Hallwood Media, led by former Interscope executive Neil Jacobson.

Yahoo News says Monet is the creation of Mississippi poet and designer, Talisha Jones, who used the generative platform Suno to transform her own poetry into songs. Jones also used the technology to develop the artiste’s image and likeness, drawing the eyes of record labels.

The AI singer’s tracks have also reached Billboard charts, climbing to the top spot on the R&B Digital Song Sales chart. The AI singer also has a digital audience of approximately 465,000 monthly listeners on Spotify alone.

US R&B singer Kehlani was among the people who expressed disappointment at an AI artiste gaining a multi-million dollar record deal.

Kehlani, in a post to TikTok, said, “There is an AI R&B artist who just signed a multi-million-dollar deal, and has a top five R&B album, and the person is doing none of the work,” the singer said. “AI can also make the entire song. It can sing the entire song. It can make the entire beat…This is so beyond out of our control. Nothing and no one on Earth will ever be able to justify AI to me.”

But her disgust is not shared by all. In fact, the comments section under the AI-generated artiste’s YouTube channel was flooded with positive comments, praising the poet behind the track for writing relatable songs. Lauding the lyrics of the song, some listeners shared that while the voice and melody may have been AI-generated, the words are the actual intellectual property of a human being’s creative work.

“I know this is AI, but this is a real person behind these lyrics, and whoever you are, no rush, one day you’ll reveal yourself and we’ll support no matter what,” one listener posted.

“I know this is AI, but dang, these lyrics are so real and deep,” another commented.