{"id":15464,"date":"2024-06-22T05:28:58","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T12:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=15464"},"modified":"2024-06-23T05:31:26","modified_gmt":"2024-06-23T12:31:26","slug":"sheryl-crow-resurrecting-tupac-with-ai-is-hateful-bbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=15464","title":{"rendered":"“Sheryl Crow: ‘Resurrecting Tupac with AI is hateful'”, BBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Mark Savage,\u00a0Music Correspondent, 22 June 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheryl Crow has something to get off her chest.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, the nine-time Grammy winner has never been scared to voice her opinion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Getty
Sheryl Crow: “AI can do lots of things, but it can’t go out and play live”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, she has her sights set on Artificial Intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The title track of her new album, Evolution, grapples with the impact of AI on people and the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to the BBC, she characterises the technology as a \u201cslippery slope\u201d and \u201ca betrayal\u201d that \u201cgoes against everything humanity is based on\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her attention was focused on the software last year, after meeting a young songwriter who\u2019d been employing it in her work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frustrated that male artists wouldn\u2019t listen to her demos, Crow’s acquaintance paid to have an AI clone of singer-songwriter John Mayer replace her vocals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Crow heard the song, she was so \u201cterrified\u201d that she was \u201cliterally hyperventilating\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know John and I know the nuances of his voice,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd there would be no way you\u2019d have been able to tell that he was not singing that song.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u201cYou cannot bring people back from the dead and believe that they would stand for that,\u201d she protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure Drake thought, \u2018Yeah, I shouldn’t do it, but I’ll say sorry later\u2019. But it\u2019s already done, and people will find it even if he takes it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s hateful. It is antithetical to the life force that exists in all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Will
The star is touring her new Evolution album around Europe this summer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the mother of two teenagers, she\u2019s worried about the implications of AI not just in music, but in politics and society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI talk to my kids about it,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m like, \u2018You’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\u2019t realise it’s getting hotter until we’re all floating on the top\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The star has already called on politicians to enact tighter controls on AI – but although she\u2019s concerned about the rapidity of its progress, she also sees a sliver of hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAI can do lots of things, but it can’t go out and play live,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo as long as we have live music, as long as we have hands holding a paintbrush, all is not lost.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Mark Savage,\u00a0Music 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15465,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15464\/revisions\/15465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}