Soulja Boy is bewildered at just how quickly AI is developing.
He recently took to his Instagram Story, writing, “This AI shit is sick. What type of world are we living in for real, these videos is looking realer and realer by the day wtf.”
It’s unclear exactly what Soulja is referencing, but he isn’t wrong. Social media is rife with AI-generated videos and photos.
Artificial intelligence has also crossed over into the music industry in major ways. Over the summer, Timbaland launched his new AI entertainment company, Stage Zero, and its first AI-generated artist, TaTa.
He defended his company and AI artist, writing on IG in June: "I love my independent artists. This doesn’t mean I’m not working with real artists anymore." He added, "And nah I don’t train ai off y’all music... This just means more creativity for creators."
More recently, Kehlani and SZA slammed the arrival of an AI-generated R&B singer that landed a $3 million deal. The AI artist, Xania Monet, hit No. 25 on the Emerging Talents chart and the No. 21 spot on the Hot Gospel Songs chart. She’s voiced by a real person named Talisha Jones, who fed her ideas into the AI music program Suno. Monet’s avatar is also made by AI.
“There is an AI R&B artist who just signed a multi-million-dollar deal, and has a Top 5 R&B album, and the person is doing none of the work,” Kehlani said on TikTok. “AI can also make the entire fucking song,” she continued. “It can sing the entire song. It can make the entire beat…This is so beyond out of our control. Nothing and no one on Earth will ever be able to justify AI to me.“