The artificial intelligence takeover trend in music continues.
AI infiltrating the music industry has been one of the biggest stories of the year, and it’s concerning how fast everything seems to be moving. You likely heard about the AI-generated song that topped the Billboard Country Digital Songs Sales chart in recent weeks. Whiskey Riff reported that a track titled “Walk My Walk,” by an artist called Breaking Rust, had seemingly fooled the masses. It’s a complete AI creation all around – from the artist, to the music video, to the song itself.
That didn’t stop it from landing on the top of the digital sales chart though.
Then you’ve got the news that many of the music industry’s biggest labels have signed on to be a part of a new, AI music streaming service called Klay. The Los Angeles-based music technology company has apparently decided to enter into the music streaming space, and what they’ve convinced UMG, Sony, and WMG to be a part of seems rather scary:
“Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group have licensed their catalogs to Klay, an AI-powered music streaming startup that will let users remake songs using artificial intelligence.”
Who is asking for all of this?
An AI music streaming service seems really unnecessary, and in my opinion, is worthy of more outrage than an artificially generated country song topping the chart. At least there could be some accidental and unintentional factors at play with a song topping a chart. Buying in on the idea of an AI music streaming service is as intentional as it gets.
And while we’re talking about AI songs topping charts, I regret to inform you that the same thing is now happening in the Christian and Gospel music space.
The Christian artist that currently holds the No. 1 song on Billboard’s Gospel Digital Songs Sales chart is an artist by the name of Soloman Ray. He’s described as a Mississippi-made soul singer” that’s attempting to bring back the southern revival sound in the modern day. But that’s all just a front… because Ray is actually computer-made.
Ray’s project, Faithful Soul, rocketed to the top spot on the iTunes Top 100 Christian and Gospel Albums chart a few days after its release. And two songs from the album called “Goodbye Temptation” and “Find Your Rest” currently hold the top two spots on Billboard’s Gospel Digital Song Sales chart.
Here’s a post from “Solomon Ray” that boasts about the AI artist’s accomplishment:
“Last week, we celebrated making history on the iTunes Christian charts. This week, the blessings multiplied. Most Billboard placements for any AI artist. Higher peaks. More souls reached. And yes — the opposition grew too.
But the grace of God outgrew it. Every obstacle only confirmed the assignment. Every critique only pushed the message further. The future of gospel music has a new chapter… and Solomon Ray is right in the middle of it.”
Solomon Ray isn’t in the middle of anything… he doesn’t exist.
What makes it worse is that Christian music has really been having a moment in 2025. Back in May, there were two Christian songs that made the Hot 100 chart – the first time that’s happened in over a decade. One was Forrest Frank’s viral smash “Your Way’s Better,” and the other just so happened to be the Christian-country crossover that you’ve probably heard: “Hard Fought Hallelujah” with Brandon Lake and rapper-turned-country-singer, Jelly Roll.
Now, a plethora of AI-generated songs could do the same.
This is a touchy situation, because it would be hard to argue against the existence of something that could be leading people to Christ. However, something about a machine creating songs praising the Lord just feels a little icky, does it not? Maybe someone with no musical talent can write the the lyrics and then use AI to bring them to life, but overall, it just doesn’t sit right with a lot of people.
Including Forrest Frank, who also recently made headline for refusing to attend the Dove Awards. He took to Instagram to lament the fact that worship music is being created this way:
“I hate to even bring attention to this, but I want to just let you guys know this is out there, and I think it’s important that we just pause a little bit and kind of ask the questions of like, ‘is it something that we want? At a minimum, AI does not have the Holy Spirit inside of it, so I think that’s really weird to be opening up your spirit to something that has no spirit. I personally will not be listening to this. I already don’t listen to secular music, and I’m sure not going to be listening to AI Christian music.”
He added:
“I love progress & tools, but this one just doesn’t sit right!”
What a weird timeline that we’re living in…
