Editorial Team
4 min read
Honolulu Airport’s AI Songs Draw a 17-Track Human Reply
Honolulu’s state-run airport has added 17 AI-generated songs to its hourly sound system. The available reporting does not show that they replaced the licensed music already played there, but it has prompted local curator Roger Bong to argue that a public gateway should be more transparent about who decides what Hawaiʻi sounds like.
- Seventeen AI-generated songs play at the top of the hour in two Honolulu airport terminals.
- The state says its licensed playlist of music by Hawaiian artists remains in use; the reports do not establish that an artist lost a particular slot or payment.
- Record-label owner Roger Bong answered with a 17-track compilation, shifting the dispute toward curation and accountability in a public setting.
Honolulu’s airport has put generative AI into an unusually public role: a recurring soundtrack for travelers. The available reporting leaves a central question unanswered—why the songs were created and who approved them—but it does not support the broader claim that human-made Hawaiian music was removed from the airport.
The airport’s reported AI playlist and Aloha Got Soul’s compilation each contain 17 songs. Source: Hawaiʻi Public Radio.
An addition to the playlist, not a proven replacement
Daniel K. Inouye International Airport is Hawaiʻi’s largest airport, and the account puts its annual passenger traffic at about 21 million. The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation is the government body responding to questions about its music program. That makes the playlist more than a private choice: it is part of the experience of a public gateway.
Visitors hear themed music at the top of every hour. The same account, describing an earlier Civil Beat investigation, says 17 songs generated with Suno have played in terminals one and two since November 2025. Hawaiʻi Public Radio separately reported that listeners had been surprised to learn the songs were made with AI.
The Department of Transportation told the report that state funds were not used to produce the tracks. It also said the state spends about $10,000 a year in subscription fees to play music by Hawaiian artists at the main airports. The other account puts that continuing annual payment at $10,500 and quotes the department as saying the AI music does not replace the licensed Hawaiian music it plays.
Those qualifications matter. The sources show an AI set was added to a sound system that still carries licensed music; they do not identify a musician whose song, royalty payment or scheduled slot was displaced. They also do not show how much of any hour the 17 songs occupy beyond their top-of-the-hour placement.
