A Madonna Cover Exploded in Australia. Now, a Ban

Australia's music charts just drew a line in the sand on AI. The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) on Tuesday announced that songs must be "substantially human made" to qualify, effectively sidelining fully AI-generated tracks—even ones already climbing the charts. That could spell trouble for Brisbane DJ Josh Fawaz's viral cover of Madonna's "Like a Prayer," which is currently No. 1 on ARIA's Australian Dance Singles chart and was the most-played song on Australian radio last month, per Reuters.

Mitch Thomas was among the music producers who alleged Fawaz's music is generated entirely with AI, saying in a June Instagram video that Fawaz is "the biggest issue in music right now." Under the new rules, tracks using AI only in a supporting role are still eligible, but "wholly AI-generated tracks" or ones that use AI "to generate the entirety or the primary portion of the creative elements" won't be. "The clearest example of that is a lead vocal or instrument that came from a prompt rather than a person," an ARIA rep tells the CBC, confirming Fawaz's cover is not eligible under the new rules "based on information provided by the artist." ARIA says it can retroactively strip chart positions and No. 1 awards. It will publish its first charts under the new rules this Friday, reports the Independent.