D’Addario admits Suno AI used in promotional video after weeks of denials

Guitar manufacturer D’Addario has admitted that Suno AI was used to generate music in a promotional video for its strings, retracting previous denials and apologising for providing inaccurate information and moderating comments. The admission follows weeks of controversy where the company initially denied allegations despite evidence, offering explanations such as low-quality exports, Autotune plugins, and AI-assisted mastering tools from LANDR and Logic.

The original promotional video was a demo for a new set of strings designed for extended-range guitars and low tunings. People immediately flagged the recording as suspicious. Things only got worse when D’Addario posted a clip of what it said were the Logic recording sessions of the demo track in question. But there were some very noticeable melodic and rhythmic differences between what people heard in the finished track and the Logic session.

Guitarist and YouTuber Rhett Shull managed to get his hands on the original Logic files directly from D’Addario, and it actually only added more fuel to the fire. Even in his rather generous assessment, Shull concluded that Suno was probably used at some point in the process, most likely to regenerate an original recording. D’Addario has now admitted that Suno Studio was used to regenerate the track.

For nearly two weeks, the company has denied the allegations, even as evidence piled up against it. It offered various explanations, from low-quality exports, to combinations of plugins like Autotune introducing digital noise, and the use of AI-assisted mastering tools from LANDR and Logic. But now the company has edited its original Instagram post denying the use of generative AI to say it was wrong.

In a lengthy update to its post from July 29th, embedded at the bottom, it said: We got this wrong. We’ve completed a full review and confirmed that Suno Studio was used to regenerate the original track. We shared inaccurate information, and we’re truly sorry … We do not support AI-generated music, and our process will reflect that going forward. We’ll require our employees and creative partners to disclose any use of generative AI, and we’ll more closely review everything we put into the world.

The post also apologises for heavy-handed comment moderation, which saw posts from critics deleted and those users blocked. Rather than issue a new statement, it appears the company simply edited its original post five days ago, ten days after it was originally posted.

This is just the latest AI controversy to shake the guitar world following the Fender CEO’s comments comparing bandmates to analog AI.