Award-winning Ghanaian rapper M.anifest has taken a strong stance against the growing use of artificial intelligence to create music, saying artistes who rely on AI prompts to write entire songs should be “ashamed” of themselves.
Speaking in a recent interview, the celebrated lyricist drew a clear line between using AI as a creative aid and allowing it to take over the songwriting process. While he supports technological advancements in music production, he insisted that AI 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,” M.anifest said.
The rapper 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.
“Where is the human involvement? Without the human involvement, is it art? It’s just artificial,” he stated.
M.anifest also disclosed that he has already encountered musicians in Ghana using AI prompts to generate complete songs, describing the trend as “shameful.”
“I want to call out some people I’ve seen even in Ghana doing this. It’s shameful,” he added.
Although he acknowledged that AI-generated music is becoming increasingly sophisticated and difficult to distinguish from human-created songs, M.anifest believes audiences deserve transparency.
According to him, digital streaming platforms should clearly identify AI-generated music, similar to the parental advisory labels previously used for explicit content, so listeners can make informed choices.
“If people like AI music, that’s fine. But it should be identified as such. People should have the freedom to choose,” he said.
Taking his proposal a step further, M.anifest suggested that streaming services should introduce a feature allowing users to filter out AI-generated music entirely.
“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,” he explained.
Despite his criticism of AI-generated songwriting, M.anifest emphasized that he is not against artificial intelligence itself. Instead, he believes the technology should serve as an assistant to creators rather than replace the imagination, emotion and originality that define human artistry.
His comments come as debates continue across the global music industry over the role of artificial intelligence in songwriting, music production and copyright, with many artistes and industry stakeholders calling for greater regulation and transparency.