The Recording Academy announced sweeping changes to the Grammy Awards format for next year ceremony, including new rules governing AI-generated content and significant category restructuring that merges several existing awards.

The most controversial change requires that all submitted recordings must have meaningful human creative input. Purely AI-generated music is not eligible for any Grammy category, though AI tools used in the creative process are permitted.

The Academy also announced it will consolidate several genre-specific categories and add two new awards for immersive audio and visual album. The changes are designed to reflect the evolving music industry.

Industry reactions were mixed, with some artists praising the AI protections while others questioned the category mergers. The changes take effect for next year eligibility period.