No AI Was Used arrives with a title that is both declaration and challenge. Released October 1 through Monk’s Temple Records, the six-track collaboration between Boston artists Terry Borderline and Gasoline Monk places human authorship at the center of a record conceived during a period of rapid change in music technology.
The title also carries a specific backstory. Monk’s Temple says an automated moderation system flagged the album track “Superhuman” for an alleged sample that neither artist could identify. Rather than abandon the release, the label moved it to another distributor and turned the dispute into part of the project’s wider conversation about who—or what—gets to judge creative work.
A human-made record with a machine-age premise
According to the release materials, the album takes on AI-driven job displacement, mass surveillance and the uneasy question of what remains distinctly human as automation moves deeper into everyday life. That premise gives the title more weight than a simple anti-technology slogan: it is a statement about the people responsible for the writing, production and decisions behind the music.
Terry Borderline and Gasoline Monk previously worked together on the 2024 concept album Mystic Messenger. Here they return to the same collaborative chemistry with a sharper contemporary frame. Terry Borderline and Gasoline Monk are joined on the project by JoiBeatz, who handled mastering and co-mixing, while Sassy D’estany appears on the title track.
When automated enforcement becomes part of the story
The label’s account of the “Superhuman” flag lands during a broader fight over automated distribution and copyright enforcement. In a separate September 2026 case, Universal Music Group accused DistroKid of failing to prevent allegedly infringing and AI-generated tracks from reaching streaming services. That litigation is ongoing, but the common pressure point is already clear: automated systems now influence both what enters the marketplace and what gets stopped on the way in.
Two artists, one expanding world
The release is designed to extend beyond the album itself. Monk’s Temple says a browser game and short film are in development, building a larger narrative world around the project. That cross-media approach fits the label’s stated goal of treating releases as communities and stories rather than isolated uploads.
The label behind the release
Monk’s Temple Records describes itself as an artist-first label and community, with an emphasis on long-term development and creative control. No AI Was Used is a pointed introduction to that model: the music, its distribution story and the planned visual extensions all reinforce a single idea about protecting human intent while new systems reshape the industry around it.
For Terry Borderline and Gasoline Monk, the title is ultimately less about rejecting every tool than about making authorship visible. In an environment where creative identity can be blurred by platforms, algorithms and synthetic media, that clarity is its own statement.
Credits: Release information, cover artwork and press photography supplied by Monk’s Temple Records with explicit publication permission. Gasoline Monk photo by Boe Larsen; Terry Borderline photo by Colgan Johnson.