Selena Gomez celebrates the launch of Rare Beauty’s Kind Words Matte Lipstick and Liner Collection at Santa Monica Proper Hotel on June 29, 2022 in Santa Monica, California.
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Artificial intelligence has become a growing conversation among people in entertainment and beyond, as it becomes increasingly prominent in mainstream media, music and everyday life.
In music, AI has been taking over social media with soundalike tracks like “Fake Drake,” and companies are actively trying to figure out how to best protect their artists, copyrights and revenue streams as artificial intelligence in the entertainment sphere continues to grow.
However, there has also been a growing fear around artificial intelligence, and how it will impact safety and job security, as there is potential for AI-generated voice soundalikes to be used for sinister reasons or the efficiency of AI to take over jobs held by human beings.
Read Billboard‘s breakdown of how AI is affecting the music business here, and see our list of all the music stars who have spoken out about the technology below.
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Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez posted a simple but telling comment about how she feels about someone who cobbled together an AI version of The Weeknd‘s “Starboy” featuring her computer-generated vocals layered next to those of her ex.
“Scary,” Gomez commented on a post featuring the reworked 2016 song, in which her face was also added to new artwork.
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Ed Sheeran
The “Shape of You” singer shared his thoughts on the technology while chatting with Audacy Live before his private show at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York recently. “What I don’t understand about AI is, for the last 60 years, Hollywood movies have been telling you, ‘Don’t do it.’ And now everyone’s doing it,” Sheeran said. “Have you not seen the movies where they kill us all?”
He continued, “I just don’t know why you need it – if you’re taking a job away from a human being, I think that’s probably a bad thing. The whole point of society is we all do jobs. If everything is done by robots, everybody’s gonna be out of work. I just find AI a bit weird.”
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Drake
Drake is frequently a target of AI from fans, who use his computer-generated voice to cover a number of songs, from Lana Del Rey hits to tracks from fellow rappers. However, his AI cover of Ice Spice’s “Munch” was the “last straw,” according to an Instagram Story post he shared.
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Lil Wayne
The rapper shared his thoughts on AI and its effect on creativity for his recent Billboard cover story, sharing, “Someone asked me about that recently. And they were trying to tell me that AI could make a voice that sounds just like me. But it’s not me, because I’m amazing. I’m like, is this AI thing going to be amazing too? Because I am naturally, organically amazing. I’m one of a kind. So actually, I would love to see that thing try to duplicate this motherf–ker.”
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Liam Gallagher
One person who doesn’t seem to mind AI is Liam Gallagher, who said that the AI-created Oasis album AISIS was “better than all the other snizzle out there.”
In response to another tweet about his thoughts on the computer-generated Liam, the singer proclaimed “Mad as f–k I sound mega.”
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Grimes
Another supporter of AI is Grimes, who tweeted in April: “I think it’s cool to be fused w a machine and I like the idea of open sourcing all art and killing copyright.”
In a follow-up tweet, Grimes linked to a recent story about how a fake song featuring A.I.-generated vocals from Drake and The Weeknd, “Heart on My Sleeve,” had been pulled from streaming services after going viral. Rather than demanding takedowns, Grimes said she’s willing to go split with her fans if they create something worthy with her vocals. “I’ll split 50% royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice,” she promised. “Same deal as I would with any artist i collab with. Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings.”