Tim Burton’s 1996 film Mars attack! There’s a lot to be gained from this gag depicting an incredibly simple conquest strategy employed by a group of bug-eyed green Martians. Many times they pretended to come peacefully, gathering government officials before them and preparing for significant interspecies contact. The Martian then brings out his ray gun and instantly collapses the holy hell out of everyone in sight. Even after their all-out attack continues for days and wreaks havoc on Earth, the alien’s English translation device continues to insincerely shout, “Don’t run away! We’re your friends!” as the aliens hunt down screaming humans in the streets. The fact that they keep telling this lie may be the biggest laugh in the movie.
I was reminded of Mars while watching fake AI actress Tilly Norwood’s new music video “Take the Lead.” There, she sings, directly referring to her AI origins. Thankfully, no one seems to have fed it the bait, “Won’t it bleed if I stab it?” From a little merchant of venice into the learning model. (Perhaps it wasn’t as appealing because it’s not copyrighted.) But the point is clear even without Bard. Don’t run away from Tilly!
It seems unfair to call Tilly Norwood the same as the real person. Because “she” is actually just a computer program. But if I didn’t call her by the name her author chose, I’m afraid she’d produce another equally bad empowerment anthem about how unfair that would be. (For now, that’s about the only thing she has in common with a bona fide pop star like Taylor Swift.) Norwood was being touted as an AI actor, so naturally she and the next-level futurist geniuses behind her creation decided that the best way to introduce her to the general public was to go back to Shakespeare’s time and do what everyone loves to see from actors: high-pitched pop songs and accompanying music videos. Classic acting stuff!
Of course, the real reason this AI actress is rushing to make her singing debut before acting is because music videos can only be about four minutes long. In fact, some people can and should be much shorter. – and requires (even) less effort (and somewhat less water) to produce than a feature film or TV episode. AI-generated music can easily clog up Spotify, and there aren’t any notable generative AI movies yet, so this is Tilly’s chosen path.
But don’t get me wrong. “Take the Lead” is more than just an AI-generated sonic wallpaper designed to simulate the hard work of musicians, without the listener having to think about what they want to hear. That’s real propaganda. Indeed, this analysis does not require close reading. Tilly Norwood isn’t subtly programmed to say, “This is the next evolution, you know?” she begs. “AI is not the enemy, it’s the key!” But she is furious: “When they talk about me, they don’t see the brilliance and creativity of humans.”
These lyrics, which hope that ordinary, everyday people will eventually align themselves energetically in solidarity with their robotic oppressors, are said to be “inspired” by an essay by actress and comedian Eline van der Velden, who founded Particle 6 Group (now promoting itself as an AI film studio) and through which she “created” Tilly Norwood last year. Presumably, this essay is built into the AI songwriting tool Suno. hollywood reporter It is listed in the article as the actual source of this song. Van der Velden also uses some form of motion capture in the video to “perform” Tilly, which explains why the video sometimes comes just barely closer to the desired aesthetic than many AI-generated film clips. Film clips always look slightly lacquered and eerily “off”, even if the still images could probably pass as photorealism.
However, you don’t have to give it to them. Much of the video still has an unnatural computer-induced sheen. It mainly takes advantage of the fact that many of Katy Perry’s videos are almost equally ugly. This clip is just that, giving the lie to the lyrics’ claim that “taste” is taken into account when creating AI. In fact, the entire story of “Take the Lead” seems terribly confusing. If Van der Velden wrote the essays that formed the basis of these terrifying lyrics, performed a performance that “gives” herself to the AI Tilly, and if she is one of the “18 real humans” listed at the beginning of the video (though unnamed) who helped create the lyrics… why was a generative AI used in the first place? Does it ever occur to you that it would have taken much, much longer to produce a terrible song or video without it? Were these 18 people not talented enough to do it without the AI, or would the AI have meaningfully improved their ideas? Or is it really just that they can make “Tilly” look generally youthful and attractive in a way that real humans don’t? All this PR is 18 people bragging about using AI to make something that’s not as good as a lower-tier Katy Perry video. Congratulations?
And then Tilly starts screaming again: “We can scale, we can grow, we can become the creators we were always known for!” Her resemblance to Katy Perry is secondary to how much she resembles Mark Zuckerberg’s sister, Randy, who has produced a series of disgusting song parody videos extolling the virtues of cryptocurrencies. This is basically the same tech industry investor-driven nonsense masquerading as collectivist populism, but at least Zuckerberg has done the job of properly shaming himself rather than creating an AI avatar that sings, “We can scale!” From the heart. Think about it. By this time next month, the technology behind Tilly Norwood could create a visual album that can neither be heard nor seen. Please listen anyway! This non-existent person is a human! we are your friends!
Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) I’m a writer and podcast based in Brooklyn. www.sportsalcohol.com. He is a regular contributor to The AV Club, Polygon, The Guardian, and more.
