Sol Phenduka Reacts as South African Artists’ Music Is Reportedly Used to Train AI Models

• Podcast and Chill co-host Sol Phenduka shared a list of South African musicians found in AI training datasets
• Kabza De Small, DJ Maphorisa, Spirit Praise, and Nasty C appear among the top-mentioned SA artists in the dataset
• The list raised renewed debate about copyright, consent, and the use of creative work to train AI

Renowned broadcaster Sol Phenduka has reacted following revelations that South African music was used to train AI models. This comes after The Atlantic published an open database that anyone can search to see which artists and songs have been used to train Suno and Udio AI models.

The development has impacted almost every musician regardless of their star status. Naturally, the news has seen several artists outraged at the use of their music to train AI models, especially without their knowledge and/or consent. Sol Phenduka, who produced a song that was crowned the 2024 Song of the Year on Lesedi FM, reacted to his music being used to train AI.

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Sol Phenduka reacts as SA artists appear in AI training datasets

Taking to his official X (Twitter) account on Monday, 22 June 2026, Sol Phenduka shared a chart showing South African musicians whose music has been used to train and develop AI models. In the caption, the former Kaya FM presenter expressed disappointment that not only his own work, but that of several South African artists, had been included in the datasets. The post was captioned:

“Some South African artists found in AI training datasets💔”

According to the Cybersec audit of AI training data, Kabza De Small tops the list of affected South African artists, followed by DJ Maphorisa. Spirit Praise appears in third place, while Nasty C ranks as the highest-placed South African hip-hop artist. The music was used to train AI models to generate similar songs at the click of a button and a user prompt.

See the full infographic below:

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SA reacts to list of musicians used to train AI models

Sol Phenduka’s post reignited the ongoing debate around copyright, consent and ownership in the AI era.

Here are some of the comments:

@itsLord_za said:

“South African artists built culture. If AI is learning from their work, the conversation about consent, credit and compensation cannot be ignored.”

@NkunziWe explained:

“In simpler terms, AI systems learn by analysing huge amounts of information called training data. If an artist’s work is in that data, the AI may have “studied” it during training. This does not necessarily mean the AI copies the artist’s work, but it means the AI learned patterns, styles, or information from it.”

@MunchoB argued:

“Why is it heartbreaking? When Fruity Loops dropped, people who were in instrumental bands downplayed it, but look where we are with Fruity Loops.”

@advmofokeng1 suggested:

“It is very simple, they just sue. I don't see what is difficult there. I am sure there is already an ongoing case in the US. The authors have already had theirs settled. Bo bra @ZakesMda got some payment for similar violations.”

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Cassper Nyovest and Sol Phenduka’s awkward meeting goes viral

Meanwhile, Briefly News previously reported that a video showing the first time Cassper Nyovest and Sol Phenduka met was resurfaced on social media.

The video was reshared on social media after Cassper claimed he had never met any of his haters in real life.

Source: Briefly News