Sheryl Crow has slammed Drake for using an AI version of Tupac Shakur's voice in a recent song critical of Kendrick Lamar.
Speaking about the threat that generative artificial intelligence poses to artists in an interview with the BBC last week, the country-pop singer said the technology is a “dangerous path” that “goes against everything our humanity is founded on.”
Crowe said he was particularly put off by Drake's use of AI in the song “Taylor Made Freestyle,” which includes a verse criticizing Lamar for an AI-generated impersonation of Shakur, who died in 1996.
“It's impossible to believe that someone raised from the dead could survive that,” Crowe told the BBC.
Shakur's estate echoed the sentiment, demanding that Drake remove the song on April 24. The following day, Drake removed “TaylorMade Freestyle” from his Instagram.
The “If It Makes You Happy” singer wondered why Drake thought it was a good idea to release the song.
“I'm sure Drake was thinking, 'Oh I shouldn't have done that, but I'll apologize later,'” she said. “But it's happened now and even if he deletes it, people will find it. It's hateful. It goes against the life force that is in all of us.”
Crow railed against AI on his latest album, “Evolution,” released in the spring.
On the album's title track, she recounts her own experience hearing a mysterious AI composition, singing, “I turned on the radio and there it was / A song like I'd written it / The voice and the melody were haunting / So familiar I thought it was a joke.”
In a statement released alongside the song's release, Crowe said, “Stephen Hawking was worried about AI replacing humans.”
“As a mother, I want to leave my children with a better world, a healthier planet,” she writes, asking, “Will AI be a benevolent partner in these goals? It's a worry, and one that this song addresses.”
