South African DJ and producer Shimza has raised alarm bells about the growing impact of artificial intelligence in the music industry after accusing a so-called “fake artist” of recreating his song using AI.
The award-winning Afro-house star shared a video of a music executive playing two Afro-house tracks that sounded strikingly similar.
One of the songs belonged to Shimza, while the other had been uploaded to Spotify under the name of a relatively unknown new artist.
In the clip, the man challenges listeners to guess which track copied the other.
Shimza did not hold back in his response; posting the video on social media, he claimed the second track was generated using artificial intelligence and pieced together from snippets of his own work.
“AI music is going to be such a problem,” he wrote. “Grootmaan signed a fake artist that used AI to recreate my song from clips they got off my posts and rushed to put it out before us, the artist has no other songs, this is the only song on their profile, the artist does not even exist on Instagram or any socials. I don’t know how we going to protect the music from such, interesting times ahead for sure!”
According to Shimza, the Spotify profile in question features only that single track, with no digital footprint or social media presence to back the artist’s identity.
The incident has sparked debate online, with many in the music community expressing concern about how AI-generated content could blur the lines of originality and ownership.
Others questioned how streaming platforms and record labels vet new signings in an era where technology can replicate sounds, vocals and production styles with alarming accuracy.
See post below:
AI music is going to be such a problem, 🤣🤣🤣 Grootmaan signed a fake artist that used AI to recreate my song from clips they got off my posts and rushed to put it out before us, the artist has no other songs, this is the only song on their profile, the artist does not even… pic.twitter.com/gD5D0FsTWV
— SHIMZA (@Shimza01) February 23, 2026