BBC News｜澳大利亚：禁止纯AI生成音乐进入官方排行榜

Australia bans chart music made mostly by artificial intelligence

Host: The Australian Recording Industry Association says it's banning music primarily made by artificial intelligence from Australia's official charts. The decision comes after a cover by Josh Fawaz of Madonna's Like a Prayer, which soared towards the top of the charts last month, was revealed to have used AI-generated vocals and drums. Our correspondent in Sydney, Simon Atkinson, told us more about the new rules.

Simon: It has been very, very, very, very popular indeed. I mean, it topped the dance singles chart here, it peaked at number two in the overall chart. It's been in the charts for over four months. So it is hugely popular here. The producer is an Australian DJ.

But it's probably the one song in this world of AI slop, as people call it, that's really got people talking about how valid it should be that we have this kind of music in the charts. It's a very fast-changing industry. And what this band is seeking to do, it's not saying you can't use any AI in music. I mean, AI has been used in various forms for a long time. 

We think of auto-tune, perhaps that lyric in the Cher song Believe, perhaps the most famous example in the recent, not even that recent years, is it? But it's talking specifically about when it changes the nature of music. And what it's saying is that all songs now, they must be substantially human-made to be eligible for the charts.

It can still be used for things like drum machines and that kind of thing, but the vocals, the songs must be written by a human, the vocals must be human, the lead instruments must be performed by humans. And if that's not the case, then they won't be eligible for the charts.

I think one of the interesting comments we've had already from one of the leading Australian electronic dance groups called Peking Duck, they actually remixed one of their songs quite recently on social media and gave it a kind of an over-the-top AI version and kind of captioned it, this is what happens when you re-record your own song with AI so the Australian radio will play it again. Because, you know, people have latched onto it. 

But one of the band members speaking to local media today, they talked about AI-generated music removing the human experience from life. And in Australia, you know, it's kind of trying to lead the way in a lot of these things. It, of course, brought in a social media ban, which has been copied in many parts of the world.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised a lot more protection from AI for Australian creatives. But, yeah, look, you can see why musicians might be leaning in on it. And, of course, there's nothing to stop them still doing that. It just means that they wouldn't be eligible to be in those charts. 

It's going to be up to the artists, by the way, to declare when they've used AI. So they submit it to be considered for the charts, and they're supposed to list what kind of artificial intelligence has gone into it. But the organization which runs the charts has said that if down the line they find that AI was used and it hadn't been declared, they would recalculate the charts. And if it happened to get to number one, well, they might well ask for the little trophy that you get to be given back.

词汇表

primarily [ˈpraɪmərəli] adv. 主要地，首要地

official chart [əˈfɪʃl tʃɑːt] 官方排行榜

soar towards [sɔː(r)] 迅速攀升至，飙升至

top vt. 登顶，位居…之首

AI slop [slɒp] （尤指大量生产的）低质AI内容，AI垃圾

valid [ˈvælɪd] adj. 有效的，合理的，正当的

auto-tune [ˈɔːtəʊ tjuːn] n. 自动调音（一种音频处理技术）

substantially [səbˈstænʃəli] adv. 大体上，基本上，实质上

human-made adj. 人类制作的，人工创作的

eligible [ˈelɪdʒəbl] adj. 有资格的，符合条件的

drum machine 鼓机（电子打击乐器）

vocal [ˈvəʊkl] n. 人声，歌声

remix [ˌriːˈmɪks] vt. 重新混音，混音改编

over-the-top adj. 过分的，夸张的

caption [ˈkæpʃn] vt. 给…加说明文字，配文，加标题

latch onto [lætʃ] 抓住，盯住，紧紧把握

lean in on [liːn] 支持，赞成，靠向

declare [dɪˈkleə(r)] vt. 申报，声明

submit [səbˈmɪt] vt. 提交，呈交

down the line 以后，将来

trophy [ˈtrəʊfi] n. 奖杯，奖品

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