Putin's new weapon: military songs created by artificial intelligence

The ongoing war against Ukraine is driving the militarization of Russian society. Russia is actively using patriotic military songs created by AI to boost morale. The compositions glorify the army and portray Ukrainians in a derogatory light. Tech giants cannot stop the spread of such content.

The ongoing war against Ukraine is driving increasing militarization of Russian society. Over the past two years, in the propaganda confrontation between the two countries, Russia has been actively using a new tool to boost morale domestically—patriotic military songs created by artificial intelligence. This innovation was reported by Ynet on October 13. Many of the AI-generated "works" resemble old military songs. One such composition, "Soldier's Daughter," is a mournful song about a soldier killed in war. Another popular composition is "The Power of Artillery," an energetic rock song dedicated to long-range artillery. According to The New York Times, hundreds of Russian-language songs in various genres have been created using AI tools over the past two years. Their main themes are glorifying the Russian army and the heroism of Russian soldiers, as well as derogatory portrayals of Ukrainians. The compositions are created using AI-based music generation apps, many of which were developed in the United States. According to a study by the Ukrainian organization Terrecon, these songs have garnered millions of streams on all major global streaming platforms. However, only a few services require labeling indicating the use of AI. Spotify only decided to label such songs in September. Other apps officially adhere to policies banning hateful content, but few actually restrict the spread of such songs. For example, the automated systems of YouTube and SoundCloud failed to recognize songs whose titles explicitly indicated they were about Russian military propaganda. According to Terrecon researchers, the extent of direct Russian government involvement in spreading these songs remains unclear. In total, Terrecon compiled a list of 981 propaganda songs created using AI. The vast majority of these compositions appeared after 2024.