AI music is taking over in a way that many thought would never be possible. But Riley Green still believes that AI can’t evoke the emotion while songwriting that a human can. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen AI-generated music take off like a rocket on TikTok and other platforms. With advances in technology, many of these songs are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing, which obviously poses a risk to actual artists, songwriters, and fans who value real art over AI-generated slop. Of course, there is also the concern that AI is stealing from artists, the same way that AI platforms like ChatGTP and Google’s AI Overviews essentially steal from articles written on the internet. While many folks have spoken out, like Martina McBride and lawmakers, trying to protect artists from “deepfakes,” which protects artists from AI content being generated under their name and likeness, completely AI-generated music is a different ball game. And now the unimaginable has happened, an AI artist is actually topping one of Billboard’s country music charts. Last week, the #1 song on the Billboard Country Digital Song Sales chart was “Walk My Walk” by Breaking Rust. Now, if you’ve never heard of Breaking Rust, it’s because they’re not a real artist. The song is credited to someone named Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, who is also behind an “artist” called Defbeatsai, which posts some…well, pretty raunchy AI-generated songs. While the Instagram page for Defbeatsai discloses that the songs are AI-generated, the IG for Breaking Rust describes it as only “Outlaw Country” and “Soul Music for Us,” with no mention that the music is created entirely by a machine. Anyone pissed reading that? Good, you should be. To be fair, the Digital Sales chart only accounts for digital purchases, AKA songs that are paid for and downloaded on a platform like iTunes. It’s a relatively small portion of the overall music consumption, and can be easily manipulated with a good marketing budget, but still… Breaking Rust has nearly 3 million monthly Spotify listeners. That’s a lot. For your comparison, Colby Acuff, an actual artist who puts his heart and soul into his life’s work and just released an incredible album last month, has just over a million monthly listeners. Charley Crockett, who releases new music at such a rapid pace that even a computer couldn’t keep up, has only 1.4 million monthly listeners. Somehow, this AI-generated slop is getting more listeners than either of these guys. And that’s infuriating. Charley Crockett has since spoken out on the matter, sharing that he believes AI-generated artists and its music could actually be an inside job, and that businessmen in the music industry are working to cut out artists: “AI ain’t nothin but a business man. They’ve been playing money guitar out here for years which ain’t done nothin but speed up the revolution. I never claimed to be more authentic than anybody else, only defended myself against those who felt threatened by my existence in this game. That’s a fact, Jack. You can’t stop what’s coming. And the more you try, the faster it comes.” While it’s a heartbreaking reality that we will see more of this in the future, some artists have yet to realize how serious this matter is. During the CMA Awards this week Billboard Country brought this up to artists on the red carpet, While Riley Green was on the red carpet, he was asked about his thoughts on an AI-generated artist topping the country charts. “I don’t really know a lot about that. I hope that’s not happening.” Well, Riley… hate to burst your bubble. While Riley Green was not fully aware of the matter at hand, he did share that half the reason listeners connect with the genre is the storytelling and the ability to connect with others’ similar experiences. “But I’ll say I don’t think there is any AI situation where you can really put true emotion into something. You can say this or that, but the storytelling is what I think makes country music. So I think only a human who’s been through those emotions and felt them can really do that.” One of the red carpet interviewers then noted that his 2019 hit “I Wished Grandpas Never Died” has so much emotion, to which Green responded that it would be very hard for AI (in his opinion) to recreate a song that evokes that much emotion. “Yeah, let your calculator write that song!” "Storytelling is what makes country music" Riley Green shares his thoughts on AI in country music on the #CMAawards red carpet. pic.twitter.com/TCOjhBipP6 — billboard country (@bbcountry) November 20, 2025 Green’s thoughts are very similar to ours here at Whiskey Riff after watching Stephen Wilson Jr.’s stellar performance of “Stand By Me” last night. Let's see AI put emotion like that in a damn song.#CMAAwards — Whiskey Riff (@WhiskeyRiff) November 20, 2025 While I agree to a certain degree with Green that personal experiences are intertwined in lyrics like “I Wish Grandpas Never Died,” just look at all the dumb, emotionless, garbage songs that top the country charts. Time has proven you don’t need any real emotion to have a hit. Fire up “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” while you’re here: The post “Let Your Calculator Write That Song” – Riley Green Says AI Could Never Write A Song With True Emotion Like In “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.