When Jim Cameron made Terminator 2: Judgement Day, he envisioned a technopocalypse that mostly consisted of silver robots blowing shit up. He wasn’t entirely clear on their motivation, the robots simply revolted. Maybe it’s because we made them write ad copy. The 2024 Grammys red carpet used generative AI to create copy for the Grammy social channels. “AI Stories with IBM Wantsonx†(which doesn’t rhyme with “stonks,†no matter how bad you want it to) made text, images, and animations riffing on music’s biggest night. It gave li’l factoids like “Gorillaz is a virtual band created by Blur frontman Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett.†Could a human do that? AI also did research for the red-carpet presenters, who gave computer-programmed compliments to artists.
On social media, fans weren’t loving it. “the way EVERYBODY knows how negatively AI has impacted one of the biggest names in the music business over this last week or so…and yet the #GRAMMYs are promoting it?†one user wrote, referring to the recent deep-fake nudes of Taylor Swift. “Gross as hell guys.†IBM says its tech gets “music fans closer to the artists they love.†Nothing makes fans feel closer to the artists they love than scintillating copy like “Billie Eilish is a talented and influential artist, whose music is a reflection of her generation, addressing topics such as mental health and social issues.†That’s true about Billie Eilish and the way she addresses topics. It’s not like there aren’t dozens of writers recently laid off from media jobs who could use a copy gig this week.