Kelly Clarkson calls for separate Billboard charts for AI artists
The singer embraces AI as a creative tool but says it is unfair for generated performers to compete directly with humans
Kelly Clarkson has called for AI-generated performers to be kept off the same music charts as human artists, while insisting that artificial intelligence has a legitimate creative role.
Speaking on the Sept. 30 episode of the Las Culturistas podcast, Clarkson said, “I love AI. Controversial, I don’t care.” But she objected to AI artists competing directly with people on charts, saying there should be a separate category, specifically referring to Billboard charts.
“When you see AI artists competing on a chart with humans, I have an issue,” she said. “It’s basically like having Olympics and then you’re having robots compete with humans.”
Clarkson did not argue for excluding AI from music-making. She described AI-assisted creation as “cool” and said it could allow people who cannot currently do certain things to make music. “AI is welcome to the table,” she said, adding that audiences may have an appetite for both AI-made and human-made work, provided “we can’t lose human.”
Her own use of the technology extends beyond music. Clarkson said she regularly uses ChatGPT to turn interior-design and landscaping ideas for her properties into images she can share with her team, rather than trying to draw detailed plans herself. She called the process “a designer’s dream.”
The comments came during Las Culturistas’ “I Don’t Think So Honey” segment, a one-minute opinion format hosted by Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers. Some listeners criticized Clarkson’s enthusiasm for AI in posts on Spotify, X and Reddit, although others pushed back at the intensity of the criticism.
As reported in July, Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group were among the labels backing rules that would allow substantially human-made recordings using authorized AI tools to qualify for charts, while excluding works linked to unauthorized use or streaming manipulation.
Billboard had not barred AI artists from its charts, according to Consequence. Xania Monet became the first AI act to enter the Billboard charts in September 2025 and subsequently signed a $3 million record deal.
Chart and platform policies remain uneven. Stereogum reported that Australia had made wholly AI-generated recordings ineligible for its charts, while the UK’s Official Charts had not announced a policy. Spotify began rolling out an “AI Persona” label for AI-generated artists in mid-September, and Apple Music said its “Made With AI” labels for materially AI-generated songs would roll out by the end of 2026.
Deezer said AI tracks exceeded half of its daily uploads at their June peak, while Apple Music said more than one-third of its monthly uploads in April were wholly AI-generated. Those measures may understate music incorporating AI only partly, which is harder to detect.
Clarkson said AI was not going away and called for rules that protect human creativity while leaving room for the technology and other forms of creative expression.