The Sonic Intelligence Academy’s first AI Music Awards in Los Angeles ended 40 minutes late amid technical failures, while Xania Monet won three of the four top categories.
The first AI Music Awards, staged Friday at the Mayan Theater in downtown Los Angeles by the Sonic Intelligence Academy (SIQA), ended 40 minutes behind schedule with a thinning crowd. The inaugural ceremony tried to present AI-assisted music as a legitimate genre. Technical failures, skipped introductions and a confusing run of show got in the way.
SIQA is the project of software engineer Timirah “TJ” James and her sister Mia James. Launched in January 2026, it aims to build infrastructure for artists who use AI to make music, positioning itself as an AI counterpart to the Recording Academy, which governs the Grammy Awards. It runs its own charts for AI music and a “Verified Registry” that labels tracks as fully AI-generated, AI-assisted or “human + AI hybrid.” Registered artists nominate peers across 25 categories and vote on winners.
To qualify, artists register tracks to the Verified Registry. One nominee, Xania Monet, the AI persona of Telisha “Nikki” Jones, had won AI Album of the Year at SIQA’s inaugural summit a day earlier. She went on to win artist and song of the year at the awards, three of the four top categories. DJ Shawn Q won producer of the year.
Jones drew controversy last year when some Monet songs charted on Billboard genre charts, leading to a CBS interview with Gayle King and criticism from Kehlani over a $3 million record deal. “AI is just a tool,” Jones told me at the bar before the show. “It just emphasizes what we do. I just feel like we should all be one.”
The night’s kinks started before the doors opened. Arriving 30 minutes before the red carpet, I found the doors locked and no security at check-in. Twelve independent media outlets set up along a 7-foot red carpet, though a spokesperson said 29 outlets had signed up and some missed the event because of an FAA flight ground stop issued at 12:30 p.m. PT.
The red carpet featured human creators, not AI avatars. Fredro Starr of Onyx promoted “It All Started in Brooklyn,” which he said was the first AI album on vinyl, and debuted the moniker “Mad AI.” “You can’t replace [humans],” Starr said. “The feeling that you get was what we bring with the spirit of hip-hop.”
Sponsor Deepgram supplied an AI red carpet correspondent housed in a tall white faux-stone vessel. The device knew the artists and asked about the event but could not move. Deepgram also powered an AI voice meant to introduce presenters and nominees; it often failed and talked over speakers. A Deepgram commercial played at random moments.
Inside, the show began 30 minutes past its 6:15 p.m. start. The show cut a planned opening video montage for a dance break. The delay forced presenters to skip introducing nominees for the first half of the awards. Hosts Giovanni Wilson and Lana Hout of the “AI Chicks” podcast shared two microphones and a Claude-generated teleprompter that shifted rapidly. At one point they disagreed over whether to cut to commercial or present best AI country artist, then brought out presenters only for Hout to interrupt and announce a commercial break. A different presenter handed out the award 13 minutes later.
Wilson tried to introduce a trailer for his film “A Good Hand Wasted,” directed by Terrance Howard and finished with AI assistance. The trailer would not play, then showed a portion before Howard’s face appeared. “So, ugh,” Wilson said, raising his hand to summon applause. He later joked that the teleprompter had “Tourette’s.”
Commercials featured Deepgram and “Trinity Social,” a new social network. Its AI-generated ad showed a persona wearing a necklace bearing the Rockstar Games logo encouraging generated people to sign up. A Rockstar spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether it authorized the logo.
The performances drew the most energy. Ten acts made the cut despite the delay. Some lip-synced; a 14-year-old lookalike, John Victor, lip-synced for the AI project “Chaisen Hale.” Live vocals came from rapper GodFellow and Grammy winners Eric Bellinger and Candace Wakefield, who noted the “hiccups” and sang live for AI artist “Aria Blue.” Many AI producers said they used AI because they could not afford studio musicians; SIQA gave artists the band and dancers for free.
The crowd shrank through the night. James acknowledged the technical difficulties before presenting Jones’ awards and promised fixes next year. “Because there will be a next year because this is the new music industry,” she said at 9:45 p.m., near the hard end time.
Other winners included Sheena Taylor, best AI gospel song for “I Denounce You, Satan,” and Ramona Höffel, a 56-year-old from Switzerland who flew in to represent AI persona “Vireya” on her first red carpet. “I have a lot of ideas and wishes, and for a long time I paint, then I write, and that’s not enough,” she said, nervous. “The music gives me room to all this bring outside of my brain.”
As I left after 10 p.m. into downtown rain, a line formed for “Club 2010s” night, delayed by the awards. Whether AI music builds an enduring monoculture remains unclear, given the larger industry’s ostracism of it. But the night left some attendees, like Höffel, feeling stronger.
Source: Variety