D'Addario Admits It Used AI Music Tool Suno in Guitar String Demo, After Weeks of Denial
The guitar string maker spent nearly two weeks insisting the track was real. It wasn't. Here's what happened and what the company says it will do differently.
Key points
- D'Addario confirmed on or around 3 August 2025 that Suno Studio, an AI music-generation tool, was used to recreate audio in a promotional video for its new guitar strings.
- The company denied the AI use for nearly two weeks, deleting critical comments and blocking users who raised concerns.
- Rather than publishing a new statement, D'Addario quietly edited its original 29 July Instagram denial post to include the admission.
- D'Addario says it will now require employees and creative partners to disclose any use of generative AI going forward.
- Guitarist and YouTuber Rhett Shull obtained the original Logic recording files from the company, and those files helped confirm the AI involvement.
The string is up, and D'Addario has finally admitted it was played.
The guitar accessories company, best known for selling strings to everyone from bedroom strummers to touring professionals, has confirmed that Suno Studio was used in a promotional video for a new set of strings built for low-tuned, extended-range guitars. Suno Studio is an AI tool that generates music from a text prompt or an existing recording; in simple terms, you describe what you want, and the software produces a finished-sounding song.
The company used Suno to regenerate an original track, meaning the final audio in the ad was not a genuine guitar performance recorded the way viewers would have assumed.
Why did it take two weeks to admit this?
D'Addario spent roughly twelve days pushing back against mounting suspicion before changing its story. The company offered several alternative explanations: low-quality audio exports, digital noise introduced by plugins such as Autotune, and AI-assisted mastering tools from LANDR and Apple Logic. None of those explanations held up.
Things got worse when D'Addario posted what it claimed were the Logic session files behind the demo. Logic is a professional music-recording application made by Apple. Listeners noticed clear differences between the melodies and rhythms in those session files and what actually appeared in the finished video.
Guitar YouTuber Rhett Shull then obtained the original Logic project files directly from D'Addario. Even in a review he described as generous, Shull concluded Suno was most likely used at some point to recreate the recording.
The company also deleted comments from critics and blocked those users during the dispute, something it has since apologised for.
What does the company say now?
D'Addario's admission is direct: "We got this wrong." The full quote from its updated post reads: "We've completed a full review and confirmed that Suno Studio was used to regenerate the original track. We shared inaccurate information, and we're truly sorry."
The company says it does not support AI-generated music and will require disclosure of any generative AI use from employees and creative partners going forward. It also promises closer review of content before publication.
One detail worth noting: D'Addario did not post a fresh statement. It edited the original 29 July denial post, five days after the reversal, ten days after the first denial. Readers who saw the original will not receive a notification unless they follow the post closely.
What should ordinary fans and musicians make of this?
This story is a reminder that AI audio tools are now good enough to fool a casual listener, and sometimes even an experienced one. The technology is real and it is cheap. That puts pressure on brands to be upfront about what their promotional content actually contains.
The honest takeaway: if a piece of music in an ad sounds slightly off to you, trust that instinct. And if you create music professionally, documenting your real recording process matters more than ever when authenticity is part of your pitch.
First reported by The Verge AI, this story sits alongside a broader run of AI controversies in the guitar world, including recent comments from the Fender chief executive comparing bandmates to "analog AI".
