BBC Introducing criticised after championing ‘pitch perfect’ AI-generated music

The BBC has been criticised after championing a musician who admitted on air that their music was completely AI-generated.

The music of Midlands based artist Papi Lamour was hailed as “pitch perfect and amazing” on BBC Radio WM’s BBC Introducing Show last Saturday (November 8), which celebrates upcoming musicians across West Midlands and Warwickshire who have submitted their own compositions to the platform.

Host Theo Johnson praised Lamour’s music, before they appeared on the show and openly admitted that their song – which was created to celebrate Black History Month – had been made with AI software.

To little pushback or questioning from Johnson, Lamour explained how their background in computer science had helped them create a track where every bit of the vocals and instrumentation was AI-generated.

Lamour said on the show: “I listened to it and it was like something from a movie. That tells you that the future of music is going to change.”

Johnson then sold of the soul-flecked track: “I feel like we are seeing that change because it sounds pitch perfect. When I heard it it was sonically amazing, and then it’s like who is this? I’ve never interviewed anyone on radio who has said, ‘This was AI’.”

@coolerthanmangos The guy has 11 followers and one of them is Theo Johnson- the host of the show, bit convenient that?? I've complained formally to them and waiting to hear back #bbcintroducing #bbcradio #bbcintroducingwm #aimusic #independentartist ♬ original sound – mollyxo

Lamour even went on to admit that they would struggle to perform the track in a live setting.

The segment was first brought to Rolling Stone UK’s attention by Birmingham-based songwriter Mollyxo, who criticised the decision to showcase Lamour’s music in a viral TikTok video and voiced her fears about how it could impact future musicians.

“It made me wonder what I’ve put in all this work for,” Molly told Rolling Stone UK. “I’ve spent time uploading song after song to BBC Introducing, doing gigs, working with songwriters and producers and spending 20 years of my life learning how to be good at music. To hear someone get rewarded so quickly for something made by AI is just so disappointing.”

She added: “I’ve spoken to a lot of artists who have dealt with BBC Introducing West Midlands. We want to understand how a pre-recorded interview where AI music was the focus made it to air. They could have made a decision to say, actually no, we’re not going to add this.”

The decision to air Lamour’s music comes at a time when musicians have increasingly warned of the risks of AI and how government plans around the technology.

Lamour is yet to directly respond, but posted a cryptic TikTok video yesterday in which he said: “Jealousy shouts, kindness thinks, and courage keeps creating. Never let the noise of small minds drown the work of a big one.”

At the beginning of the year, Paul McCartney called on the British government to protect artists in the face of a new copyright law that could allow for AI to “rip off” creators.

“You get young guys and girls coming up, and they write a beautiful song, and they don’t own it. They don’t have anything to do with it, and anyone who wants can just rip it off,” McCartney told the BBC.

“The truth is, the money’s going somewhere. When it gets on the streaming platforms, somebody’s getting [the money], and it should be the person who created it. It shouldn’t just be some tech giant somewhere. Somebody’s getting paid. Why shouldn’t it be the guy who sat down and wrote ‘Yesterday’?”

Critics argue that it risks the employment of actual musicians, while also fearing that legislation could allow the work of human creators to be used by AI models and ripped off without consent or payment. 

A BBC spokesperson told Rolling Stone UK: “Each track is considered based on its musical merit and whether it is right for our target audience, with decisions made on a case-by-case basis.”

Sophie Jones, Chief Strategy Officer for the BPI, added: “While we don’t know the specific facts around this case, our overarching view is that while AI has existed as a tool in music creation for some time and is already being used productively by some artists in their work, it should be used to support human creativity and not supplant it.

“We continue to see a rise in AI-generated tracks entering the market, facilitated by tech companies training AI models using creative works – largely without authorisation or payment to creators and rights-holders – which competes directly with human artistry. That’s why we’re calling on the UK Government to protect copyright and introduce new transparency obligations for AI companies so that music rights can be licensed and enforced, and calling for content which has been solely generated by AI to be clearly labelled as such.”

Earlier this year, the likes of Kate Bush, Damon Albarn and Annie Lennox were also among 1,000 artists who contributed to a silent album protesting government plans around AI.

The album, titled Is This What We Want?, features recordings of empty music studios and performance spaces. Over 1,000 artists are credited as co-writers on the 12 silent songs.