AI Charter

Artificial intelligence is transforming the music industry at an unprecedented pace. Faced with the explosion of AI-generated content and the legitimate questions it raises, Qobuz has chosen transparency.

This charter establishes our framework: how we use AI, where we draw our lines, and what commitments we make to our users and teams.

Our conviction: AI can be a value amplifier, never a substitute for human judgment. The heart of Qobuz is and will remain human: editorial curation, music expertise, content creation.

  • Humans remain in control. AI assists.

    We use AI to enhance user experience and optimize how we work. We refuse to let it replace human judgment, artistic sensibility, or the relationship with our subscribers.

    Maximum transparency

    Our users must know when and how AI intervenes in their Qobuz experience.

    This requirement also applies internally: we train our teams on the safety and confidentiality implications of AI tools they use.

    Final responsibility always remains human

    Any AI-assisted production must be validated by a human. We don't do blind automation or delegation without critical analysis.

    Personal data protection

    In order to guarantee the highest protection of personal and professional data including Company's confidential information as well as the consumers', Qobuz is committed to use AI tools compatible with these high standards.

    Beyond regulation

    We comply with the European AI Act(1) and GDPR(2). We aim to go further by adopting ethical best practices beyond current regulations (3).

    AI serving the artist vs. 100% AI industrial production

    We support AI as a creative tool for human artists (mixing, mastering, composition aid) when it serves an authentic artistic process. What we oppose is industrial production of AI-generated content, without human creative intervention, designed to saturate catalogs or defraud royalty systems, without genuine artistic intent.

  • Editorial curation: 100% human

    Our editorial identity is entirely human. Human curation is our core differentiator and our commitment for the future.

    Our Editor's Picks and New releases bring you music discovery guided 100% by our team of experts: Qobuzissimes, Albums of the Week, playlists are manually selected by our editorial teams.

    Articles and reviews are written by humans. We use AI, such as translation tools, to make this content accessible to a wider audience. 

    Artistic direction 

    We create our own assets with professional designers and photographers. When we use stock resources, we select only AI-free assets.

    Personalized recommendations: a system that protects quality

    Our For You universe (Your Mixes, Release Watch, Spotlight, Essentials) relies on algorithmic recommendations based on curated similar artists and musical style consistency, via metadata provided by trusted partners.

    We prioritize the detection and exclusion of industrial production of AI music. Without reliable metadata and authentic artist profiles, fraudulent AI-generated content has no chance of being featured to our users.

    By filtering out fraudulent AI content, we ensure human artists get the visibility and compensation they deserve.

    AI as an operational tool

    We use AI to automate low-value tasks and improve service efficiency:

    • Limited technical support: transcription, content moderation, first-level customer support

    • Enhanced user experience: improved search

    • Internal operations optimization: security, automation of repetitive processes

    In all cases, systematic human validation is mandatory. Our teams analyze, control, and assume final responsibility for any AI-assisted production.

  • Certain uses of AI are incompatible with our values and identity. Here's what we don't do and never will.

    We never generate:

    • Musical content to feed our catalog or calculate royalties

    We never replace humans:

    • No replacement of editorial curation, artistic validation, or creative decisions

    • No manipulation of our recommendations for commercial gain

    • No promotion of fraudulent or 100% AI gen content

    We protect your personal data:

    • Your searches and listening behavior are never used to train external AI models, only to feed Qobuz’ own AI features to improve music recommendations.

    • No commercial exploitation of your data without explicit consent, only based on Qobuz “legitimate interests” such as providing or improving the Qobuz services for the customers. 

    We protect customers’ sensitive information:

    • Prohibition of using unsecured AI tools that expose Qobuz's customer information

    We protect artists’ rights on Qobuz: 

    • Prohibit “crawling” or “scraping” of the catalog content on Qobuz, or using any part of the services or content to train a machine learning or AI model.

  • We are strongly committed to fighting fraud and apply a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to AI-generated content and AI-driven streaming activities. Our measures include:

    • Detection and monitoring systems for AI-generated content (in development) and fraudulent streaming patterns (effective)

    • Right to remove fraudulent catalogs when issues are identified

    • Identification of fraudulent streams, which are excluded from reporting and royalty payments 

    • Contractual clauses prohibiting delivery of 100% AI-generated content

    • Publication of our AI charter on the website for the end-users

    • Regular workshops to increase employee awareness

  • We don't claim to have all the answers. Here are the limits we acknowledge and challenges we face.

    Detection technologies are imperfect

    No reliable solution exists today to identify all AI content with certainty, especially when partial human intervention occurred. We invest in the best available tools but remain humble about this technical reality.

    AI evolves faster than regulatory frameworks

    AI capabilities advance monthly. Laws, industry standards, and our own tools must constantly adapt. This charter is a living document that will evolve with context.

    Fighting fraud is a collective responsibility

    No platform, however rigorous, can solve AI fraud alone. We call on the music industry - labels, distributors, other platforms - to collaborate toward common standards for detection, labeling, and transparency.

    Qobuz takes its responsibilities. But this fight must be collective.

  • Version dated: January 2026.

    This charter will be regularly revised to incorporate technological and regulatory developments and feedback from our users and teams.

 1. European AI Act: European regulation that governs the development and use of artificial intelligence systems, classifying them by risk level, and being transparent with the end-users  about the AI assisted services when there is an interaction, such as the chatbot.

 2. GDPR: General Data Protection Regulation. European regulation that governs how companies collect, use and store personal data of European citizens.

3. For more details, refer to section 4.