Neither “Dai-Dai” nor “Lighter”: fans create their own songs with AI for the 2026 World Cup

As fan-created football anthems rack up millions of views on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, experts say these viral tunes raise questions about song ownership, artist compensation and the valuing of human creativity.

But many users don’t seem to care. Some even show a preference for AI-generated tunes over an official anthem that FIFA commissioned from musicians Jelly Roll and Carin Leon.

A long-awaited World Cup song by Shakira was also released last week, but the trend for songs created with AI continued to generate enthusiasm on social networks ahead of the tournament, which will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.

The trend seems to have started with a melody dedicated to the French team, “Imbattables”, published in February by the artist Crystalo, who is listed on Spotify as the “first AI music creator” in France.

The melody begins with a call and response dynamic in which the names of Kylian Mbappé and other stars of the French team are listed.

Tendency to “recreate” sensations

A Brazilian anthem followed, with a similar name-chanting format and a trendy phonk melody. Producer Guilherme Maia, who uses the stage name M4IA, said he created it by superimposing different elements that he had put together with the help of AI.

Tracks for powerhouses such as Portugal, Argentina and Germany, among many others, soon emerged on platforms and garnered praise from fans.

But while the Brazilian version closely resembled the French prototype, later tunes copied Maia’s format exactly.

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Each one recycled the phonk rhythm and listed the names of the players before asking respect for the “king” of the team, a resource reserved for figures like Cristiano Ronaldo in the Portugal theme or Lionel Messi in the Argentina version.

“What I see happening now has more to do with people following a trend or trying to recreate a feeling,” Maia told AFP, noting that artistic emulation has always existed in music.

While he was excited about the possibilities that AI opens up for production, he acknowledged that the technology raises new questions about copyright.

“In music there are clear rules. You can’t simply copy someone else’s work or use samples without permission, even if there is AI involved,” he said.

Credit debate

Maia stressed that he invented the track on his own and that he used AI as an assistant to craft certain elements, rather than asking a music generation tool to create a song with a single cue.

But Jason Palamara, an associate professor of music technology at Indiana University, said that as the models are designed, it’s not clear how artists are recognized when their copyrighted works are used to train them.

“It had to come from somewhere,” he said.

Inconsistencies that can appear in AI-generated images can also arise in music created with this technology.

For example, a fan-made song for the Portugal national team was sung with a Brazilian accent, while, in a Colombian version, James Rodríguez’s given name was pronounced in English instead of Spanish.

Music created with AI can also lack complexity, Palamara noted. “It is a compact product, instead of a product in which there are multiple tracks that have been incorporated and that give it more texture.”

Still, Morgan Hayduk, co-CEO of music rights software company Beatdapp, said listeners who enjoy football fan songs may not be looking for artistic complexity.

“They like the music and they like the story of it coming from a big language model and not from a composer or a band,” Hayduk noted.

He said that despite concerns about how the industry will adapt to artificial intelligence, quick-hit songs that fans can sing along to or appear in advertisements are a clear example of how AI-generated music can be used today.

“Knowing what is behind a generative result, like a fan song for the World Cup, is the thorny Rubicon that the music industry now has to cross.”