"Xania is an extension of me, so I look at her as a real person."
Xania Monet made history by becoming the first AI-generated artist to appear on a Billboard airplay chart.
The success has triggered renewed debate about what this means for human musicians competing for the same opportunities.
‘How Was I Supposed to Know?’ entered the Adult R&B Airplay chart at No. 30 on November 1.
The song gained momentum online through TikTok and streaming platforms. It also appeared on the R&B Digital Song Sales chart and the Hot R&B Songs chart in September.
Xania Monet was created by Mississippi-based poet and songwriter Telisha “Nikki” Jones.
Monet sings Jones’ lyrics set to R&B music with the help of Suno, an AI music-generating platform.
Jones explained: “Xania is an extension of me, so I look at her as a real person.
“I’m just taking what I love doing and mixing it with tech.”
This has intensified fears that AI artists could threaten real artists’ careers. Critics say regulation is needed to ensure human musicians are not pushed out in a changing industry.
Tristan Douglas, a presenter at Toronto station Flow 98.7, praised Monet’s sound:
“It sounds like a great southern R&B artist. It gives me the sound of, like, Beyoncé or Fantasia.”
However, Douglas is not comfortable giving airtime to an artist who does not exist.
He added: “I think here at Flow, we know what our listeners want. And although that artist might have numbers elsewhere, it just doesn’t – it doesn’t feel right for us.
“Right now, I would say Flow’s airwaves are reserved for real artists.”
He warned that overreliance on AI could change the industry beyond recognition:
“I support the tool to get the product out. I just don’t support the entire tool being the product… What’s going to happen when it’s time to go on tour? Are we going to get holograms?”
Xania Monet launched online in mid-July and has around 769,000 followers across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.
In September, the AI artist signed a multi-million-dollar record deal, though it is unclear who benefits.
Romel Murphy, Monet’s manager, said the purpose of the project is to elevate Jones’ writing:
“We used AI as a tool, which is what it was created for. We used it to enhance our artistry.
“We created real R&B music, music that was rooted in the truth – real lyrics, and her real life experiences and life lessons.
“AI helped us bring the message to life and deliver it to the world. But the artistry and the message behind it is all human.”
Some artists say they fear being replaced by AI systems that can produce music faster and cheaper.
Joey La Neve DeFrancesco from United Musicians and Allied Workers said musicians already struggle to make a living in the streaming era:
“We’re hearing a lot from our members, and from people that I am around, that this is terrifying.
“It’s yet more very clear evidence of how desperately we need regulation around AI, and around digital music more broadly, because there’s just hardly anything.”
He said AI artists do not succeed overnight. Instead, he argued that major companies invest heavily in their promotion.
Legal experts say regulation will not be straightforward.
Entertainment lawyer Miro Oballa said copyright law often struggles to keep pace with technology:
“For the most part, I would say what the common consensus right now is, is that something made entirely by a machine is not capable of copyright protection.
“There needs to be human input.”
Oballa said building new legislation will not be simple:
“I mean, you can legislate anything, but I don’t think that’s the right way to do it.”
He said the business case for supporting AI artists is about reducing risk in a volatile industry:
“People get nervous. People have anxiety issues. People end up having children, people’s priorities change, right? Sometimes people develop addiction issues, right?
“There’s a whole bunch of things that can come into play, that can disrupt the predictability and reliability of consistent, replicable creative output.
“That’s where an AI artist starts to have some appeal, and that’s where possibly the interests of the industry and the artists start to diverge.”
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