Spotify has announced a new step to increase transparency around artificial intelligence on the platform: it will begin adding a specific label to profiles whose artist identity represents an AI-generated person.

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The new designation, called AI Persona, will start appearing on Spotify in mid-September 2026.

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But the change goes beyond adding a visible label. Spotify has also confirmed that, by default, these identities will not be included in editorial or algorithmic recommendations.

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What is an AI Persona?

Spotify defines an AI Persona as a project whose public identity represents an AI-generated person rather than a real human artist.

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This can include the name, image, visual appearance, and the way the project presents itself to the public.

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There is an important distinction: receiving this label does not necessarily mean the music itself was created using artificial intelligence.

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A project can use an AI-generated visual identity while still releasing music written, performed, or produced by people.

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To provide specific information about how artificial intelligence was used during the creative process, Spotify is developing a separate system: AI Credits.

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How will the label appear?

Artists can already voluntarily disclose through Spotify for Artists that their project uses an AI Persona.

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However, Spotify will not rely on self-disclosure alone.

The platform will also review profiles to identify those whose public identity appears to represent a photorealistic person generated with artificial intelligence.

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If Spotify applies the classification itself, the artist will be notified and will be able to accept the designation or appeal it.

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The company also plans to allow users to report profiles they believe should carry the label in the future.

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The badge may appear in several places across Spotify, including artist profiles, the About section, search results, and next to songs featured in playlists.

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The biggest change is in recommendations

The most significant part of the update is not just how Spotify will display these profiles, but how it will treat them within its discovery systems.

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Spotify has confirmed that AI Personas will be excluded by default from editorial and algorithmic recommendations.

That means these projects will not compete on the same terms within discovery spaces designed to introduce listeners to new music.

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Spotify says it wants to prioritize authentic artists who are building music careers while reducing the presence of low-quality content, spam, and music generated at scale with artificial intelligence.

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This does not mean AI Personas will disappear from Spotify.

Users will still be able to search for them, listen to them, and follow them voluntarily.

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What changes is that Spotify will no longer automatically surface them in the same way across its recommendation systems.

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Part of a broader strategy around identity and trust

The move is part of a wider effort by Spotify to strengthen artist identity and improve transparency around the use of artificial intelligence.

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Throughout 2026, the platform has introduced several tools aimed at addressing questions that are becoming increasingly important across the digital music ecosystem.

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Artist Profile Protection is designed to prevent incorrect or unauthorized releases from being linked to an artist profile.

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AI Credits aims to show how artificial intelligence was used in the creation of a song.

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SongDNA is intended to provide more information about the people involved in a recording.

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And now, AI Persona is designed to make it clear when the artist identity a listener sees represents an AI-generated person.

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These tools serve different purposes, but they all respond to the same broader challenge: in an environment where it is becoming easier to create content, replicate identities, and release music at scale, knowing who is behind a song is becoming almost as important as the song itself.

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Transparency before prohibition

Spotify is not banning virtual artists or projects built with artificial intelligence.

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Instead, it is creating a clearer distinction between human-led projects and those that use artificially generated identities, while also changing how the latter take part in the platform’s discovery systems.

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Artificial intelligence will continue to be part of the music ecosystem, but this direction points toward a model where AI can coexist with music as long as there is transparency about who (or what) is behind the project.