“Sheryl Crow: ‘Resurrecting Tupac with AI is hateful'”, BBC News

By Mark Savage, Music Correspondent, 22 June 2024

Sheryl Crow has something to get off her chest.

Over the years, the nine-time Grammy winner has never been scared to voice her opinion. 

Known for the classic roots rock of songs like My Favourite Mistake and All I Wanna Do, she has also used her voice to campaign on issues like gun control and climate change. 

Now, she has her sights set on Artificial Intelligence.

The title track of her new album, Evolution, grapples with the impact of AI on people and the planet.

Speaking to the BBC, she characterises the technology as a “slippery slope” and “a betrayal” that “goes against everything humanity is based on”.

Her attention was focused on the software last year, after meeting a young songwriter who’d been employing it in her work.

Frustrated that male artists wouldn’t listen to her demos, Crow’s acquaintance paid to have an AI clone of singer-songwriter John Mayer replace her vocals.

When Crow heard the song, she was so “terrified” that she was “literally hyperventilating”.

“I know John and I know the nuances of his voice,” she says. “And there would be no way you’d have been able to tell that he was not singing that song.”

Her horror deepened when Drake used AI to resurrect the voice of late rapper Tupac Shakur on his song Taylor Made Freestyle earlier this year.

The track was subsequently removed after lawyers from Tupac’s estate threatened to sue, but Crow says it should never have been released in the first place.

“You cannot bring people back from the dead and believe that they would stand for that,” she protests.

“I’m sure Drake thought, ‘Yeah, I shouldn’t do it, but I’ll say sorry later’. But it’s already done, and people will find it even if he takes it down.

“It’s hateful. It is antithetical to the life force that exists in all of us.”

As the mother of two teenagers, she’s worried about the implications of AI not just in music, but in politics and society. 

If voices and likenesses can be faked, how do we stop the spread of misinformation? And what happens to the workforce when AI takes over everyday tasks?

“I talk to my kids about it,” she says. 

“I’m like, ‘You’re growing up with this thing and it doesn’t seem dangerous to you because you’re a frog in a pot of water. But the water is only just starting to boil, and you won’t realise it’s getting hotter until we’re all floating on the top’.”

The star has already called on politicians to enact tighter controls on AI – but although she’s concerned about the rapidity of its progress, she also sees a sliver of hope.

“AI can do lots of things, but it can’t go out and play live,” she says.

“So as long as we have live music, as long as we have hands holding a paintbrush, all is not lost.”