Statement from Co-Chairs, 2025 GC Music Awards judging panel
AI-generated music and the Gold Coast Music Awards
10 October, 2025
Human creativity is at the heart of the Gold Coast music scene. The use of AI challenges that, so we want to make sure our processes reflect our values going forward.
All Gold Coast Music Awards categories are judged against criteria published before nominations open. We’ve always been upfront and transparent about them and we can’t change the criteria mid-way through judging, without compromising fairness for everyone involved.
Until this year, we’d never had someone disclose their entry as AI-generated or AI-assisted, so there is no criteria in place for how we handle such content.
When judges submitted their shortlists for the 2025 Song of the Year, an AI-generated song ranked in the top third of submissions. For many judges, this was prior to knowing it was AI-generated. Once made aware, judges had no way of knowing how extensively AI was used.
As there were no criteria to exclude it, the song was allowed a spot in the shortlist playlist only.
When it was announced (clearly labelled AI-generated for full transparency), the finalists and winner were already decided – the song in question was never a finalist and did not take the place of another artist. Including the AI-generated song in the shortlist and playlist is not an endorsement of AI music — it is a matter of procedural fairness and transparency.
During judging it was made clear that we need to update the criteria for future awards to include provisions for new technologies such as AI, but as the criteria was already published at the time of nomination and to ensure fairness, we had to proceed with the current measures in place.
We acknowledge that our decision to include the AI-generated song in this shortlist and playlist has affected Gold Coast artists and we understand the threat that AI poses to the entire arts sector. So we wanted to let you know what we plan to do about it – so that this issue doesn’t resurface in future years. Namely, a) ask our Industry Advisory Group to help us identify mechanisms for handling AI-generated entries in the future; and b) hold an industry networking event where we can explore this issue together.
Our Industry Advisory Group meets annually soon after the awards to review the categories and criteria and ensure the industry is being fairly represented across our activities. We had already flagged that AI will be a key focus of this group when it comes together on 11 December. The Advisory Group will help us identify mechanisms for handling AI-generated entries in the future. If you’re interested in participating in the Advisory Group meeting, please email sam@gcmusicnetwork.com.au.
An industry networking event will take place on the same day and will focus on AI. We’ll aim to have open discussion about how AI is impacting artists and we’ll present back on what the Advisory Group discussed in relation to the Gold Coast Music Awards. Everyone is welcome to attend this event. We want this conversation to include as many local artists as possible — whether or not you’ve been part of our awards before. We especially welcome artists who have concerns about AI to join this discussion — your voices will help shape how we approach this issue in future Awards.
We care deeply about Gold Coast music and about local artists – it’s the only reason we started these Awards. We’ve always been proud that the Awards have brought people together, so the last thing we want is to have division across the sector.
We sincerely thank the passionate local artists who reached out with constructive feedback on this issue.
Samantha Morris and Brad Hosking, Co-Chairs, 2025 Gold Coast Music Awards