Unmasking AI Music: Quicksilver and the Ethical Movement Behind It

In 2024, a remarkable shift hit the music world: AI generated songs exploded onto streaming platforms, making up nearly half of all newly uploaded tracks. But as the lines blur between human artistry and algorithmic output, listeners face a new question: How much of the music we truly enjoy is made by people, and how much is the work of machines?

Emerging answers, grounded in both ethics and technology, come from the SAND Lab and a new nonprofit born out of its research. Quicksilver, a browser extension that scans songs for traces of AI, is one such answer. Its story is intertwined with ETCH (Ethical Technology and Computing for Humanity), launched this year by Neubauer Professors of Computer Science Ben Zhao and Heather Zheng with a mission to ensure technology serves the broader interests of society and creative communities. The tool follows Glaze and Nightshade, recent work by Zhao and Zheng that disrupt nonconsensual training on artistic work that have now been downloaded over 13 million times by creatives in more than 160 countries.

From Research to Tool

As the SAND Lab team measured the prevalence of AI music on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, they discovered that most platforms don’t disclose whether tracks are AI-generated or not. Their research revealed that close to 50% of weekly releases are now AI, most receiving little engagement–a wave of so-called “AI slop”. With listeners unable to easily identify such songs, Quicksilver emerged as a natural solution.

“Given that there is so much AI music out there, and that normal users can’t tell the difference, giving users a tool to identify these AI songs was a very natural solution,” said Stanley Wu, lead developer and PhD student.

Wu and his colleagues, including Zhao, Zheng, and two undergraduates (Naryna Azizpour and Viresh Mittal), found the problem only deepened the more they investigated: even professional musicians performed only slightly better than random chance at distinguishing AI music from human compositions.There are subtle artifacts in AI-generated audio that ears simply can’t detect, making tools like Quicksilver powerful aids.

A Tool Built for Transparency and Privacy

Unlike many detection services, Quicksilver operates locally on your device. Users play music from any streaming platform and Quicksilver listens in, analyzing the audio live. With a tap of the “Analyze” button, the extension scans for “artifacts” commonly found in AI-generated tracks, particularly those produced via Suno and Udio. No audio is uploaded to external servers, and detection is lightweight and fast.

Musicians’ responses to Quicksilver have been overwhelmingly positive, and the team received supportive feedback from the French streaming platform Deezer, whose research also inspired Quicksilver’s detector.

Ethics at the Core: The Emergence of ETCH

Quicksilver’s roots reach back to ETCH, a nonprofit spun out from years of SAND Lab research. ETCH, now a 501(c3) public charity, includes board members and advisors from across UChicago’s Computer Science, Law, Medical, and Booth School of Business, and is dedicated to investigating and guiding the ethical development of new technologies.

The organization’s philosophy is clear: technology must serve humanity. “Human creative work represents the very best of human expression and communication,” ETCH’s website notes. “Creative forms of human expression should be celebrated, preserved, and protected by technology.”

ETCH’s approach is both practical and far reaching. It funds and supports ethical research, partners with technologies and creators, translates complex findings into actionable guidance, and builds resources to help creative communities navigate technological change.

“With trillions of dollars committed to developing, deploying, and monetizing AI systems in nearly all aspects of our lives, it is more important than ever to elevate the human voice, to highlight the value of human creativity and ingenuity even as we explore ethical and principled approaches towards AI,” said Zhao. “The goal of ETCH is to ensure that AI efforts are transparent, accountable, and equitable while elevating human creativity and prioritizing social good over profit.“

Societal Stakes: Trust, Creativity, and Responsibility

With AI music so prolific, often created with no human input and little engagement, questions about artist integrity and impact on real musicians have become urgent. Wu warns, “At this scale, I think there needs to be more protections in place so that this wave of “spammy” AI music does not negatively impact human artists.” Quicksilver and ETCH aim to address these challenges, helping listeners make informed choices and encouraging industry-wide transparency.

Quicksilver is currently available as a browser extension for Chrome and Microsoft Edge and as a MacOS app. The team is actively working to keep pace with newer music generation models and evolving deepfake technologies. Their ongoing priority is to ensure that Quicksilver remains accurate and responsive, minimizing false positives as it adapts to new challenges. Looking forward, the researchers are hopeful that industry stakeholders will embrace tools like Quicksilver to promote greater transparency around AI-generated music and streaming content.

Zhao promises to become a trusted resource translating advances across science, industry, and law into practical guidance for the creative community.

“The continued development of AI is poised to change society in ways few of us can predict. We believe that technology should always serve humanity, and it is up to all of us to ensure that AI becomes a benefit for the many, not the few. At ETCH, we are working towards this goal in multiple creative domains while engaging with stakeholders across the ecosystem.“