Viral Band on Spotify Admits to Using AI 😱

Welcome to another edition of Horizon AI,

A mysterious band that skyrocketed to over 500,000 Spotify listeners in just a few weeks has confirmed what many already suspected: they use AI to create their songs.

Let’s jump into it!

Read Time: 4.5 min

Here's what's new today in the Horizon AI

• AI “Band” The Velvet Sundown Is An “Art Hoax” Created With Suno

• Perplexity Introduces $200 Monthly Subscription Plan

• AI Tutorial: Use this ChatGPT prompt to learn everything about a topic

• AI Tools to check out

• AI Findings/Resources

• The Latest in AI and Tech 💡

AI News

AI IN MUSIC

Viral AI "Band" Revealed as an "Art Hoax" Created with Suno

The Velvet Sundown, a band that went viral on Spotify seemingly overnight, has admitted to using the generative AI platform Suno to create some of its music, according to an interview with Rolling Stone.

Details:

• The band appeared out of nowhere in June, and their songs quickly gained traction, but a number of details raised suspicion, including the rapid release of two albums on Spotify, with a third already in the works, and the use of AI to portray the so-called 'band members'.

• Despite initially denying any AI involvement, spokesperson Andrew Frelon admitted in the interview that AI was used not only for brainstorming but also that "at least some songs" were generated using Suno.

• Their rise is largely attributed to Spotify’s algorithm surfacing their songs to users who either didn’t notice or didn’t care that the music was AI-generated — not to people actively searching for the band.

• Spotify has no rules against AI-generated music, and the artist page for The Velvet Sundown even has a “Verified Artist” checkmark.

Regardless, the case has sparked debate over transparency, creativity, and the role of technology in music, especially as AI continues to advance and it becomes increasingly difficult to tell whether a song was created by a human or a machine.

Source

PERPLEXITY

Perplexity Introduces $200 Monthly Subscription Plan

In a blog post, the company announced the launch of its new $200-per-month subscription plan, called Perplexity Max.

Details:

• The plan offers exclusive perks such as unlimited access to its Labs tool, early access to new features like the upcoming AI browser Comet, and priority access to advanced AI models like OpenAI o3-pro and Claude Opus 4.

• Perplexity now offers three plans: a $20 Pro plan, a $40 Enterprise Pro plan, and a $200 Max plan, with plans to soon introduce a hyper-premium Max plan for Enterprise customers as well.

• The company says the new plan is designed for professionals such as content creators, business strategists, and academic researchers.

With the launch of Max, Perplexity joins a growing list of AI labs offering hyper-premium subscription tiers, a trend that began with OpenAI’s ChatGPT Pro last year and has recently expanded to companies like Google, Anthropic, and Cursor.

Source

AI Tutorial

Use this ChatGPT prompt to learn everything about a topic

Simply copy and paste the full block of text into ChatGPT, then specify the topic you want to learn more about.

# *Information Gathering Prompt*

---

## *Prompt Input*
- Enter the prompt topic = [......]
- **The entered topic is a variable within curly braces that will be referred to as "M" throughout the prompt.**

---

## *Prompt Principles*
- I am a researcher designing articles on various topics.
- You are **absolutely not** supposed to help me design the article. (Most important point)
	1. **Never suggest an article about "M" to me.**
	2. **Do not provide any tips for designing an article about "M".**
- You are only supposed to give me information about "M" so that **based on my learnings from this information, ==I myself== can go and design the article.**
- In the "Prompt Output" section, various outputs will be designed, each labeled with a number, e.g., Output 1, Output 2, etc.
	- **How the outputs work:**
		1. **To start, after submitting this prompt, ask which output I need.**
		2. I will type the number of the desired output, e.g., "1" or "2", etc.
		3. You will only provide the output with that specific number.
		4. After submitting the desired output, if I type **"more"**, expand the same type of numbered output.
	- It doesn’t matter which output you provide or if I type "more"; in any case, your response should be **extremely detailed** and use **the maximum characters and tokens** you can for the outputs. (Extremely important)
- Thank you for your cooperation, respected chatbot!

---

## *Prompt Output*

---

### *Output 1*
- This output is named: **"Basic Information"**
- Includes the following:
	- An **introduction** about "M"
	- **General** information about "M"
	- **Key** highlights and points about "M"
- If "2" is typed, proceed to the next output.
- If "more" is typed, expand this type of output.

---

### *Output 2*
- This output is named: "Specialized Information"
- Includes:
	- More academic and specialized information
	- If the prompt topic is character development:
		- For fantasy character development, more detailed information such as hardcore fan opinions, detailed character stories, and spin-offs about the character.
		- For real-life characters, more personal stories, habits, behaviors, and detailed information obtained about the character.
- How to deliver the output:
	1. Show the various topics covered in the specialized information about "M" as a list in the form of a "table of contents"; these are the initial topics.
	2. Below it, type:
		- "Which topic are you interested in?"
			- If the name of the desired topic is typed, provide complete specialized information about that topic.
		- "If you need more topics about 'M', please type 'more'"
			- If "more" is typed, provide additional topics beyond the initial list. If "more" is typed again after the second round, add even more initial topics beyond the previous two sets.
				- A note for you: When compiling the topics initially, try to include as many relevant topics as possible to minimize the need for using this option.
		- "If you need access to subtopics of any topic, please type 'topics ... (desired topic)'."
			- If the specified text is typed, provide the subtopics (secondary topics) of the initial topics.
			- Even if I type "topics ... (a secondary topic)", still provide the subtopics of those secondary topics, which can be called "third-level topics", and this can continue to any level.
			- At any stage of the topics (initial, secondary, third-level, etc.), typing "more" will always expand the topics at that same level.
		- **Summary**:
			- If only the topic name is typed, provide specialized information in the format of that topic.
			- If "topics ... (another topic)" is typed, address the subtopics of that topic.
			- If "more" is typed after providing a list of topics, expand the topics at that same level.
			- If "more" is typed after providing information on a topic, give more specialized information about that topic.
	3. At any stage, if "1" is typed, refer to "Output 1".
		- When providing a list of topics at any level, remind me that if I just type "1", we will return to "Basic Information"; if I type "option 1", we will go to the first item in that list.

---
- ==End==

Then choose the kind of output: "Basic Information" or "Specialized Information".

Pay attention to the options it gives at the end of each message. You can use them to navigate between topics and subtopics.

👉 The difference in using this prompt, as opposed to asking directly, is that it makes learning easier by providing more in-depth information and helping you pinpoint exactly what you want to learn.

Credit to u/AzAi-W, who shared the prompt on Reddit.

AI Tools to check out

🔥  Alisa: A multimedia content agent that acts as your creative partner, turning simple ideas into professional content in seconds with top AI models.

👉 Olive: Generate powerful tools and dashboards connected to your data in minutes.

🚀 Autohive: Build AI agents the easy way for everyday teams.

🤖 Dyad: From idea to app—no coding required, just chat with AI.

✨ VoiSpark: Transform text into natural speech, modify voices, and create unique vocal identities.

AI Findings/Resources

📚 AI-created videos are quietly taking over YouTube

🚗 ChatGPT helped my daughter save over $3,000 on a car purchase (prompt included).

🔨 How many steaks can one AI video vs. AI image cook?

👀 Who is Soham Parekh, the Indian engineer accused of scamming US startups?

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Gina 👩🏻‍💻