Melodifestivalen got a record 4,077 songs and won't ban AI. Sweden draws the line at the stage

Sweden's Eurovision selection has never been more popular with songwriters, and its organiser suspects a growing slice of that popularity is synthetic. SVT announced that Melodifestivalen 2027 had drawn a record 4,077 entries. It expects many were made with AI, it can't count them, and it won't ban them.

What did SVT say?

Project manager Anders Wistbacka told the TT news agency that SVT runs no tool built to detect AI, so it has no figure for how many entries used it. The warning sign screeners rely on is behaviour: an unknown name sending in a large number of songs across many genres. SVT has not banned AI, and Wistbacka said the broadcaster would rather follow rules the music industry agrees on than write its own.

He doubted a fully AI-generated song could reach the final 30, because every entry needs a performing artist and the vocals have to be sung live. He also raised money. SVT listens to every submission, and at around 10,000 entries the budget would have to rise substantially. (We rely here on the Swedish-language TT report on TV4, which we translated, and on the English edition in the Sweden Herald.)

The growth is real but steady. SVT reported 3,888 entries for 2026, itself a record at the time. The 2027 total is 189 higher, a rise of about 5%.

This is not a new position. In January, the same Wistbacka told TT that AI-made songs were not ruled out but an AI voice was, and that 50 entries in every genre from one person did not look credible. That came the same month a song by the invented artist Jacub was removed from the official Swedish chart.

What the rules actually say

We read the 2027 competition rules (Swedish). They never mention AI. The limits that matter are elsewhere:

• Live vocals (B6). Backing tracks may include pre-recorded backing vocals, but not those of the lead artist or artists, who must sing live.
• New work only (A12). Nothing published or performed before, in whole or in part.
• Selection (A2). An industry jury assesses the entries and recommends, and SVT then picks 30 songs. Entries were open from 21 Aug to 11 Sep 2026.
• Who writes (A9). SVT intends that at least 50% of the selected songs have women-only or mixed writing teams.
• Ownership (form). Selected writers sign a form stating that together they hold 100% of the copyright in the song.

So the stage is regulated in detail and the writing room is not. Greece made the opposite choice. ERT's call for Sing for Greece 2027, published on 22 Sep 2026, says the lyrics and music may not be the product of AI in whole or in part, on pain of exclusion. It also requires every writer to file a formal declaration, through the gov.gr portal or an official authority in their home country, that no AI was used in any part of the composition or lyrics (our translation of the Greek). Submissions close on 1 Nov 2026, and up to 20 songs go through to two semi-finals. Zinstrel first pointed out the contrast: two selections that feed the same contest now run on opposite AI policies.

What songwriters and fans are saying

The writers most exposed here are the professionals and hopefuls who spend weeks on one entry and then compete with whoever can upload the most songs. Fans are uneasy. A thread on r/Melodifestivalen titled, roughly, "please tell me you're as upset as I am" is one place Swedish fans are discussing the AI entries, going by its title; SVT says it doesn't count them at all. On X, a fan noted that some regular Mello writers already work AI into their process and worried the contest will reward quantity over quality.

Both points matter. AI in the writing room is not only something outsiders do. Established writers may use it for demos, toplines or lyric drafts, and a ban like Greece's would put them in the same position as a batch uploader. What separates the two is volume and honesty, not the tool.

What we think

SVT's live-vocal rule is the smartest part of this. It is enforceable because anyone can see it happen on a Saturday night broadcast, and it protects the thing audiences actually vote for: a person singing. Greece's ban covers more, but it is checked on paper. With no reliable detector, it really works as a liability clause for writers who get caught later, not as a filter at the door.

But "we'll follow the industry" is a choice, not a limitation. The same rulebook sets a gender target for writing teams and makes writers sign for 100% of the copyright. SVT is clearly comfortable deciding who writes and what they own. Leaving AI out is a policy, and the people who pay for it are the human writers.

The cost shows up in jury time. Thirty slots and a jury with fixed hours means every high-volume submission thins the attention each human-written song gets. Wistbacka's 10,000-entry warning is the tell: the bottleneck is listening, and it comes out of a broadcaster's budget.

Two cheap fixes would protect writers without pretending to detect anything:

1. A disclosure field on the entry form, saying where AI was used (melody, lyrics, production, demo vocal). Lying on it becomes a breach of rules SVT can already enforce by disqualification, which is the same lever Greece uses, but aimed at honesty rather than abstinence.
2. A cap on entries per writer, which goes straight at the one pattern SVT says it can spot, with no need to judge how a song was made.

Whoever wins Melodifestivalen 2027, we expect other national selections to copy one of these two models. Sweden's version is easier to run. Unless it adds disclosure, it is also the one that asks human songwriters to absorb the cost of everyone else's output.