“It is disgusting” and “contrary” to life

June 27, 2024

Sheryl Crow recently spoke to the BBC and criticised the use of artificial intelligence in the music industry to revive the voices of deceased artists. She specifically criticised Drake for using AI to recreate the voice of late rapper Tupac on his Kendrick Lamar diss track “Taylor Made Freestyle” in April. The song was ultimately pulled after Tupac’s estate threatened to sue Drake.

“You can’t bring people back from the dead and think they’ll tolerate it,” Crow told the BBC. “I’m sure Drake thought, ‘Yeah, I shouldn’t do it, but I’ll apologise later.’ But it’s already happened and people will find it even if he takes it down.”

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Crow added more bluntly: “It’s disgusting. It goes against the life force that lies within all of us.”

Drake used artificial intelligence to recreate the voices of Tupac and Snoop Dogg in “Taylor Made Freestyle.” Following the song’s release, Tupac’s estate sent a cease-and-desist letter to Drake, and estate attorney Howard King said the estate was “deeply dismayed and disappointed by (Drake’s) unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality” in the song.

“The record is not only a blatant violation of Tupac’s publicity and the estate’s legal rights, but also a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time,” he added in his statement. “The estate would never have consented to this use.”

Crow has long been outspoken against the use of AI in music. Earlier this year, during a visit to “The Tonight Show,” she said that it was “so disturbing to me” what AI technology can do.

“I had a session the other day and this young songwriter had this incredible song, but she needed someone to sing it so she could pitch it to male singers in Nashville,” Crow explained at the time. “I paid $5, gave John Mayer’s name and she played it for me. You couldn’t tell the difference at all and it just blew me away. And it didn’t just sound like him, I mean, like his intonation.”

Crow said the experience left her “really scared,” adding: “To me, art is like the soul; it’s connected to the soul,” she said. “So when you engage with something that’s so much more advanced than our brains at this point, it takes the soul out, you know, and that’s scary.”

In a recent conversation with the BBC, Crow gloated over AI’s inability to learn about the music world: “AI can do a lot of things, but it can’t go out and play live. So as long as we have live music, as long as we have hands holding a paintbrush, all is not lost.”

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