Young Guru Shares Concern Over AI-Generated Jay-Z Verse

After expressing concern over a clip of Kendrick Lamar voice filter, Young Guru has once again highlighted the worrying power of AI with a fake Jay-Z verse.

Young Guru speaking at the DJ Khaled "We the Best" Press Conference at W South Beach
Getty

Image via Getty/Ivan Apfel

Young Guru speaking at the DJ Khaled "We the Best" Press Conference at W South Beach

After expressing concern over a clip of an AI-generated Kendrick Lamar voice filter, Young Guru has once again highlighted the worrying power of AI with a fake Jay-Z verse.

"I’ve been trying to tell everyone that this is where we are now with AI. For some reason this one got everyone’s attention,” wrote the prolific audio engineer and producer alongside a clip that showcases an AI-generated Jay-Z verse. “So what do we do. On one hand I’m well aware that you can’t stop technology. Once the genie is out of the box you can put him back in. On the other hand we have to protect the rights of the artist. Not only artist but everyone in society.”

Similar to the previous time he shared the use of AI, Guru suggested the AI-generated verse should ring alarm bells over the un-permitted use of someone’s audio likeness. “People should not be able to take your Name, Image and Likeness without permission,” he continued. “We have to add the voice to this law. We have to learn from past mistakes. You would be a fool to chase every person that is going to do this. We learned that lesson with Napster. The only way I see to deal with it is to change the law. There are so many different opinions. We could change the United States law tomorrow but the internet is world wide. What a time we live in!!"

In his previous post about the exponential advancement of AI, Guru admitted the technology is impressive but raises many questions about ethics and legality. He argued that the dangers come not from the tech, but “the evil that men do with the tech.” As he noted last month, there’s still states in the country that don’t have laws against revenge porn, for instance. “Imagine the repercussion on our kids when 5 years from now some high school kid gets mad at his ex girlfriend and creates a whole ‘deep fake’ that sounds and looks real,”

Over 1,000 tech leaders around the world, including Elon Musk, recently signed an open letter calling for a pause on AI technology development due to the “profound risks to society and humanity” it presents. AI has begun to pose a  threat to various job sectors in the country, and there’s even concern about how it might impact art and music.

Latest in Music