Sony Music has revealed that it has now asked digital platforms to remove more than 260,000 AI-generated tracks impersonating artists on its roster, including Michael Jackson.
The latest figure, reported by the Financial Times on October 5, 2026, represents a dramatic increase from the more than 135,000 AI deepfake tracks Sony said it had targeted for removal by March.
Michael Jackson is among the artists whose voice and likeness have been imitated in unauthorized AI-generated recordings.
Sony described the material as “generative AI deepfake tracks that imitate our artists’ voices and likenesses without permission,” warning that the practice is happening at scale, can mislead fans and undermines the ethical use of artificial intelligence.
“We will keep enforcing our artists’ rights and expect platforms to act quickly and to prevent the same content from reappearing,” Sony told the Financial Times. “But it’s becoming an uphill struggle.”
The number continues to grow
Sony’s figures show just how rapidly the problem has expanded.
The company reported almost 10,000 takedown requests in 2023. By March 2025, that figure had passed 75,000. By March 2026, Sony had asked platforms to remove more than 135,000 tracks.
Now, only six months later, that number has climbed beyond 260,000.
That means Sony has issued requests concerning more than 125,000 additional tracks in just six months.
Sony has not disclosed how many of those tracks were successfully removed, which platforms received the requests, or how quickly the platforms responded.
The company also does not separate its figures between unauthorized AI voice cloning and music that has been fraudulently uploaded to another artist’s profile.
For Michael Jackson fans, however, the issue is particularly significant.
Michael’s distinctive voice remains one of the most recognizable in music, making it an obvious target for people using generative AI to create recordings that can appear authentic to listeners.
What does this mean for Michael Jackson fans?
The growing crackdown also raises an important question for the Michael Jackson fan community, where AI has increasingly become part of fan creativity.
Some fans use AI-generated Michael Jackson vocals simply for fun, creating parody or humorous songs that are never intended to deceive anyone. Others may use AI-generated vocals, images or videos featuring Michael to promote fan events, create social media content, make posters or produce tribute projects.
There is currently an important distinction between Sony targeting unauthorized commercial or misleading material and every piece of fan-made AI content suddenly becoming a legal target. Sony has not said that it intends to pursue every fan who creates a Michael Jackson meme or an AI fan video.
However, the wording used by Sony is worth paying attention to.
The company is not only concerned with unauthorized AI-generated music, but has specifically referred to AI deepfakes that imitate its artists’ voices and likenesses.
That potentially puts a much wider range of AI-generated Michael Jackson content into the conversation.
A fan creating a silly AI song for friends is very different from someone using an AI-generated Michael Jackson voice to make a recording that appears to be an authentic unreleased song. Likewise, there is a difference between a clearly fictional fan meme and using an AI-generated likeness of Michael to make promotional material that could suggest an official connection or endorsement.
For fans, the safest approach may therefore be to consider how the content could be perceived, rather than simply whether it was created with good intentions.
And this is a conversation that is unlikely to disappear.
As AI becomes increasingly capable of reproducing not only an artist’s voice but also their face, appearance and mannerisms, the music industry’s concerns are expanding beyond recordings.
What happens when a fan-made AI video looks and sounds so convincing that someone watching it could reasonably believe Michael Jackson actually appeared in it?
For a community that has always created artwork, videos, memes, posters and other tributes to Michael, the boundaries are becoming increasingly complicated.
The latest Sony figures do not mean that every Michael Jackson fan using AI should expect a letter from the company. But they do demonstrate that AI-generated recreations of artists are firmly on Sony’s radar, and the company’s stated concern with both voice and likeness suggests that the debate could eventually extend well beyond AI music.
A problem for artists and fans
The issue goes beyond simply creating an AI song that sounds like Michael Jackson.
Unauthorized recordings can be presented online as genuine Michael Jackson material, potentially confusing fans who are searching for previously unreleased recordings, demos or new material.
There is also a financial element.
AI-generated recordings can be uploaded to streaming platforms and, in some cases, generate royalties through streams that would otherwise go to legitimate artists and rights holders.
Sony has therefore been increasingly vocal about the need for platforms to take responsibility for identifying and removing unauthorized material.
Spotify, for example, has introduced policies specifically addressing artist impersonation and has been testing additional measures designed to prevent music from being incorrectly associated with an artist’s profile.
Sony’s legal fight over Michael Jackson recordings
The latest figures also come as Sony continues its wider legal battle surrounding the unauthorized use of its artists’ identities and recordings.
As MJVibe previously reported in July, Sony expanded its legal action concerning AI-generated material involving Michael Jackson recordings, highlighting the growing importance of the issue for the company and its artists.
The latest disclosure demonstrates that this is not an isolated legal dispute.
With more than 260,000 AI-generated tracks now targeted for removal across Sony’s roster, the company is dealing with an enormous and rapidly expanding volume of material.
And Michael Jackson remains part of that fight.
For fans, the message is increasingly clear: not everything labelled or promoted as a new Michael Jackson recording online is genuine.
As AI technology becomes more sophisticated, distinguishing authentic archival material from AI-generated imitations is likely to become an increasingly important challenge for the Michael Jackson community.
Sony says it will continue enforcing its artists’ rights and pressing platforms to act against unauthorized material.
For now, however, the sheer increase in takedown requests shows just how difficult that task has become.
