이미지: The Verge AI 영상 갈무리
Summary
- String instrument maker D'Addario has admitted that its recent promotional video used the generative AI music tool Suno
- Starting with a July 29 post, the company spent roughly two weeks denying AI use, citing low-quality file exports, Autotune noise, and mastering tools like LANDR and Logic
- The company edited its original Instagram post to state that its earlier explanations had been wrong
- 회사
- D'Addario (현악기·기타 부품 제조사)
- 논란 시작 게시물
- 2026년 7월 29일 인스타그램 게시물
- 부인 지속 기간
- 약 2주
- 실제 사용 도구
- 생성형 음악 AI Suno
- 초기 해명
- 저품질 익스포트, Autotune 등 플러그인 노이즈, LANDR·Logic AI 마스터링 사용
- 최종 조치
- 원본 게시물을 수정해 AI 사용 부인이 잘못됐다고 정정
An explanation reversed after two weeks
D'Addario, known for guitar strings and instrument parts, has finally admitted that a recent promotional video it posted used the generative AI music tool Suno. The controversy began with an Instagram post on July 29. When viewers noted that the playing in the video sounded oddly smooth, the company immediately denied using AI. Over the roughly two weeks that followed, the company's explanation kept shifting.
At first, it said the sound had been distorted during a low-quality file export. Then it claimed digital noise had crept in from stacking multiple plugins, such as Autotune. After that, it insisted it had only used AI-assisted mastering tools from LANDR and Logic. But as listeners piled on audio analysis as evidence, each of these explanations collapsed in turn.
What the company ultimately admitted
The company eventually reversed its position by heavily editing the original July 29 post itself. The edit states that its earlier denials were wrong and that Suno had in fact been used in making the video. It's not clear from the correction exactly where in the video, or to what extent, Suno was involved. Still, since the company itself revised the original post to correct the record, at minimum it is now clear that AI-generated music was indeed included.
| Timing | Company response |
|---|---|
| July 29 | Original post published; denies allegations of AI use |
| Following ~2 weeks | Repeated explanations citing low-quality exports, plugin noise, AI mastering tools, etc. |
| Mid-August | Post edited; admits use of Suno |
Why an instrument company hid its use of AI music
D'Addario makes guitar strings, picks, cables, and other playing accessories. For a company like this, promotional videos aimed at the player community aren't just advertising — they function as a trust signal demonstrating "real playing skill." An allegation that such a video mixed in AI-generated playing rather than a human performance was bound to be taken far more seriously than a typical marketing controversy in another industry. That underlying stake is likely part of why the company kept denying the claim for nearly two weeks.
How to label and filter generative AI content is already a contested issue on other platforms in the music industry. On August 11, Spotify announced a policy of tagging AI-made artist profiles with an "AI Persona" badge and excluding them from recommendations by default unless a user follows them. On the same day, Together AI unveiled a tool that lets users search and match more than 600 AI voices, making voice synthesis even easier to use. As the line between AI-generated and human-made sound continues to blur, the D'Addario case is likely to be remembered as an example showing that the assumption "you can tell just by listening" doesn't actually hold up.
So what changes now
This episode showed that even when a brand denies something outright, listeners' own audio analysis can overturn that claim. Going forward, a similar pattern may recur: the public verifies whether AI-generated music or voice was used in a company's promotional material first, and the company admits it only afterward. For consumers, this gives one more reason to be skeptical when they encounter suspiciously smooth playing or voices. For brands, the lesson is that disclosing AI use upfront is likely to be less costly in the long run than denying it.
