An AI Singer-Songwriter Just Debuted Her Original Song—And The Responses Are Just Brutal

An AI singer-songwriter just debuted an original song, and, well ... it does not, as the kids say, slap.

Anna Indiana took to X, formerly Twitter, to perform her song "Betrayed by this Town," revealing that everything “from the key, tempo, chord progression, melody notes, rhythm, lyrics, and my image and singing, is auto-generated using AI.”

The masses were underwhelmed.

You can watch below.

Viewers were quick to point out everything wrong with the arrangement, the least of which was that it was barely "meh."

Many felt that the song in general is subpar, to put it nicely.

While the song wasn't met with stellar reviews, many acknowledged the progress in recent years and noted this is just the beginning of full AI production in the music industry.

Of course, Anna Indiana's debut only added fuel to the discussion surrounding AI integration in the arts, specifically legalities concerning copyright and payment for creatives, which is already a sensitive issue for artists facing meager streaming payouts.

Artist Hozier recently told BBC he would consider striking to protest the use of AI in the music industry.

“It can’t create something based on a human experience. So I don’t know if it meets the definition of art.”

Many have argued that AI generates content from what already exists, meaning the music created is basically plagiarized, either from an individual song or a collection of music already published.

In response to rising concern, The Council of Music Makers (CMM) published five fundamental rules that they want companies to embrace when it comes to developing music AI technologies in order to protect songwriters, composers, artists, musicians, producers and music managers across the UK.

In the United States, AI-created artwork cannot be copyrighted; however, neither voice nor musical style of an artist can by copyrighted, either.

In September, Protect Working Musicians Act of 2023 was introduced in an effort to ensure fair pay and to protect the industry. It has since been revised to allow independent artists to band together and collectively negotiate with large streaming platforms and AI developers.

Stayed tuned.