Sheryl Crow criticizes Drake’s use of AI to replicate 2Pac’s voice, calling it “hateful”

Sheryl Crow was deeply outraged by Drake’s use of artificial intelligence to “revive” 2Pac’s vocals.

The singer, who will soon release her new album, evolutionwhich focuses on the dystopian implications of AI, spoke with BBC in a recent piece on the ethical costs of technology, which also brought up “Taylor Made Freestyle,” although the song was deleted from the internet after Drizzy received a cease-and-desist threat from 2Pac’s estate.

“You can’t bring people back from the dead and expect them to tolerate it,” Crow told the BBC.

For background, the song was a mockery of Kendrick Lamar, with Drake rapping with the AI-generated voices of Pac and Snoop Dogg. Kendrick most recently responded to Drake’s “disrespect” toward the West Coast legends during his “Pop Out” concert on Juneteenth last week.

“I’m sure Drake thought, ‘Yeah, I shouldn’t do it, but I’ll apologize later.’ But it’s already happened and people are going to find it even if he removes it,” Crow continued. “It’s disgusting. It’s antithetical to the life force that’s in all of us.”

The “My Favorite Mistake” singer also spoke about the concerns she has about AI affecting her adopted sons Wyatt, 17, and Levi, 14, as the technology could be devastating for them.

“I talk to my children about it,” Crow told the BBC. “I tell them, ‘You grow up with this thing and it doesn’t seem dangerous to you because you’re like a frog in a pot of water. But the water is just starting to boil and you won’t notice it’s getting hotter until we’re all floating on top.'”

Ironically, the AI ​​apps Suno and Udio that produced the viral song “BBL Drizzy” have been the subject of two copyright infringement lawsuits filed on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Both lawsuits accuse the labels of independently creating tracks that bear similarities to copyrighted songs from their catalogs.