Ghanaian rapper M.anifest has waded into one of the music industry’s most contentious debates. In a recent appearance on Woezor TV, he lays out a firm position on artificial intelligence and its growing role in music creation.
For M.anifest, his argument isn’t a blanket rejection of the technology but a line drawn specifically at the point where AI stops assisting and starts authoring.
Speaking with the show’s host, M.anifest was careful to separate two very different uses of AI that often get lumped together in public conversation.
I said what I said https://t.co/2842Oafjs2 pic.twitter.com/S6GuRtMHsT
— M.anifest (@manifestive) July 31, 2026On one side, he sees genuine value, which includes tools that support production work, speed up technical processes, or handle tasks like colour grading in film. On the other side sits what he considers a step too far, generating entire songs from little more than a text prompt, with no human hand shaping the result.
“I’m not trying to downplay it. It’s good for a lot of things, maybe for your show and similar uses. But I’m against it when it comes to the creative side,” he said. “Use AI for things like production. But making songs with prompts? That’s terrible. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
He returned to that point later in the conversation, framing it less as a technical objection and more as a matter of artistic integrity. “You can use technology to help you make music. I’m all for it. I’m pro-technology. But if you’re making music solely with prompts, shame on you,” he said.
For M.anifest, the core issue isn’t the existence of AI-assisted tools but the absence of a human creative process behind fully AI-generated songs. Technology, in his view, should extend an artist’s ability to make something, not remove the artist from the equation entirely.
That distinction shaped the rest of his comments, which shifted from a critique of the practice to a case for how the industry and streaming platforms should respond to it. Rather than calling for AI music to be banned outright, he argued for transparency, giving listeners the information they need to decide for themselves what they want to hear.
“I think there should be freedom of choice. If you like AI music, that’s fine. But it should be identified as such,” he said, drawing a comparison to a labeling system many longtime music listeners will recognize. “When I was younger, music with explicit lyrics carried a ‘Parental Advisory’ label. In the same way, they should tell us if it’s an AI artiste. Then you have the option to decide if you like it or not.”
Beyond labeling, M.anifest went a step further, proposing that streaming platforms build in the option to filter AI-generated music out of a listener’s experience altogether. It’s a preference he was upfront about applying to his own listening habits.
“Me personally, I would like to ban AI artists from my DSP. There should be a button where, if you don’t want to hear AI-generated music, it doesn’t appear. Those who want to hear it can. I have no interest in listening to AI-generated music,” he said.
Even as he made that personal stance clear, M.anifest circled back to reiterate that his concern isn’t with technology in music broadly. But it’s specifically with using it as a replacement for the creative process rather than a support for it.
“I have no problem with music where people use AI tools to help create. Technology is technology, and you have to use it. If you’re making a film and you need AI to help with colour grading or other production tools, that’s fine. But the idea of using AI to create everything from start to finish, I’m against it,” he said.
His comments land at a moment when the question of AI’s place in music is being debated across the industry. From major labels to independent artists, with platforms and regulators still working out what disclosure and control should look like in practice.
