Top 20 musicians advance in Ethiopia's inaugural AI music competition

The Artificial Intelligence Institute has announced the top 20 musicians from over 600 entries in Ethiopia's first AI music contest, following its launch last month. The event, organized with Fana Media Corporation and xAI, offers winners a 1 million birr prize.

Building on the competition launched on Megabit 14, 2018 EC (March 23, 2026) which drew over 33,500 registrations and hundreds of submissions, Fana Media Corporation, the Artificial Intelligence Institute (EAII), and xAI hosted the selection announcement on Miazia 19, 2018 EC in Addis Ababa.

From more than 600 participant works, the top 20 musicians were selected on the final day.

A 1 million birr prize awaits the ultimate winners.

This human-evaluated AI music contest leverages technology to assess human creativity, providing talented musicians opportunities to showcase skills to employers and audiences. The institute advances AI research to tackle societal challenges and aims to position Ethiopia as Africa's AI hub by 2030.

Makala yanayohusiana

Illustration depicting Deezer's dashboard revealing 44% AI-generated music uploads as a digital flood halted by detection tech.
Picha iliyoundwa na AI

Deezer reports 44 percent of new music uploads are AI-generated

Imeripotiwa na AI Picha iliyoundwa na AI

Deezer announced that 44 percent of all new tracks uploaded to its platform daily are AI-generated, totaling around 75,000 such songs each day. The company has developed detection technology that flags this content, limiting its streams to 1-3 percent of total usage, with most demonetized for fraud. Deezer's measures aim to curb payment dilution from artificial streams.

More than 33,502 Ethiopians have registered for a human-evaluated AI music competition organized by the Ethiopian Artificial Intelligence Institute and Fana Media Corporation. So far, 589 participants have submitted their works. The winner will receive a 1 million birr prize.

Imeripotiwa na AI

In Addis Ababa, Fana Media Corporation and the Artificial Intelligence Institute of Ethiopia have agreed to collaborate. This partnership involves a music competition powered by artificial intelligence with a one million birr prize. The contest aims to highlight Ethiopia's history using AI technology.

Engineer Fesseha Atlaw, with over 40 years in digitizing Ethiopic script, shares insights in a February 2026 Tadias Magazine interview from New York on language technology's evolution. From early font design to Unicode standardization, he traces the path that now supports AI tools for Amharic and other Ethiopian languages. The discussion covers opportunities, challenges, and ethical considerations in AI's integration with underrepresented scripts.

Imeripotiwa na AI

The Recording Academy hosted its 25th Grammys on the Hill event in Washington, D.C., from April 21 to 23, emphasizing protections for music creators amid AI advancements. Lawmakers and artists discussed legislation like the NO FAKES Act to safeguard voices and likenesses. The gathering included awards, advocacy meetings and panels on the future of music.

The UK government has scrapped plans to allow AI firms to use copyrighted works without permission, prompting a positive response from the music industry. Industry leaders hailed the move as avoiding the 'worst possible outcome' but stressed that more action is needed to protect artists. Campaigners including Paul McCartney and Kate Bush had urged the reversal.

Imeripotiwa na AI

Michael Smith, a 54-year-old from North Carolina, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for using AI-generated songs and bots to generate over $8 million in royalties from streaming services. The plea came before U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl, with sentencing set for July 29.

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