Ghanaian rapper M.anifest has taken a firm stance against the growing use of artificial intelligence to create music, saying artistes who rely entirely on AI prompts to write songs should be “ashamed” of themselves.
Speaking in a recent interview, the award-winning lyricist made a clear distinction between using AI as a creative tool and allowing it to do all the artistic work.
According to him, technology has an important place in music production, but it should never replace human creativity.
“I’m pro-technology. Use AI for things like production, maybe to help with a bassline or other technical aspects. But making songs with prompts? That’s terrible. You should be ashamed of yourself,” he said.
M.anifest argued that music loses its artistic value when there is little or no human contribution, questioning whether AI-generated songs can truly be considered art.
The rapper disclosed that he has already come across musicians in Ghana using AI prompts to generate entire songs and did not hide his disappointment.
“Where is the human involvement? Without the human involvement, is it art? It’s just artificial. I want to call out some people I’ve seen even in Ghana doing this. It’s shameful”
While acknowledging that AI-generated songs are becoming increasingly convincing, M.anifest insisted listeners deserve to know when they are hearing music created by artificial intelligence.
He proposed that streaming platforms clearly label AI-generated music, similar to the parental advisory labels once used for explicit content, so audiences can make informed choices.
Taking his position even further, M.anifest said he would prefer digital streaming platforms to offer users the option to completely filter out AI-generated music.
“”If people like AI music, that’s fine. But it should be identified as such. People should have the freedom to choose. I would like to ban AI artists from my DSP. There should be a button so if you don’t want to hear AI music, you shouldn’t have to. Those who want it can listen to it.”
Despite his criticism, the rapper stressed that he is not opposed to AI itself. Instead, he believes it should serve as an assistant rather than a replacement for human imagination.
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