Days after Billboard reported that an AI-created act named Xania Monet had secured a reported multimillion-dollar contract, the broader music community has begun to push back — including singer-songwriter Kehlani.
In a TikTok post, Kehlani addressed industry chatter that Hallwood Media paid about $3 million to sign the virtual performer — a persona managed behind the scenes by writer Telisha “Nikki” Jones. The artist made clear they’re troubled by the arrangement and the implications it raises for creators.
“There is an AI R&B artist who just signed a multimillion-dollar deal … and the person is doing none of the work,” Kehlani said in the video, expressing frustration with how generative systems can produce finished songs without crediting or compensating the human authors whose work trained those models. “This is so beyond out of our control,” they added.
According to reporting, Jones used the AI tool Suno to produce Monet’s recordings, though Jones’s manager, Romel Murphy, told Billboard that Jones writes the original lyrics Monet performs. Murphy has argued the recordings reflect the songwriter’s own creative labor rather than simply generated output.
Still, the deal has reignited concerns from major labels that previously walked away from talks with Jones amid a collective copyright lawsuit against Suno. The plaintiffs contend Suno trained its technology on existing catalogues in ways that infringe copyright; Suno disputes that characterization and maintains its users create original works under principles of fair use.
Kehlani left no ambiguity about their stance: they said they cannot accept AI as a substitute for human artistry and stated plainly, “Nothing and no one on Earth will ever be able to justify AI to me.”
Billboard has contacted representatives for Jones for comment.
See Kehlani’s TikTok below.
@kehlaniall yall in the comments saying God annointed her.. baby that is a computer!!! 😭😭😭😭😭 #AI
