In a recent interview with The Root, Grammy nominated artist Victoria Monét said she feels that music labels and copyright laws are “a bit behind” when it comes to protecting artists from artificial intelligence (AI) being used to recreate their likeness.
“I get how it can be scary because at least in music they are using people’s names, likenesses, and voices to create things,” said Monét, who posted about using Meta’s Quest 3 to teach herself how to play piano during Miami’s Art Basel 2023.
AI enables anyone to download software and recreate the likeness of an artist’s voice—dead or alive—use it to make music. Many times, without the artist’s consent. And if you look around the internet, you will find some of the following AI reproductions of your favorite Black artists that are so accurate it’s scary.
Drake and The Weeknd “Heart On My Sleeve”
This AI-generated song was one of the first to kick off fears that the tech is truly taking off in the music industry with people creating music using the likeness of artists without their consent. This song was created by someone named Ghostwriter who used an AI voice filter. The controversial song resulted in Drake speaking out about his disapproval. The song scarily went on to even be nominated for a Grammy. How could a song without the consent of the original artist or even their real voices be nominated for Grammy? And yet Beyoncé still has not won album of the year.
2Pac attempts The Weeknd’s “Starboy”
The Weeknd has an extremely recognizable and unique voice, so attempting to morph someone else’s voice to try to sound like the original Abel Makkonen Tesfaye was always going to be a challenge. 2Pac’s voice is not for this style of music and is ultimately painful to hear—even the adlibs are scary.
Mariah Carey singing Beyoncé’s “Listen”
This cover from “Dream Girls” wasn’t nearly as terrible as the others until the creator threw in Mariah’s iconic whistle tones at the end.
Rihanna covers SZA’s “Snooze”
Rihanna and SZA have worked together before, so why not just enjoy the song they already made instead of manipulating their voices without consent? This cover isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s uncomfortable to know that somebody found a way to create this, and it sounds so authentic.
Drake raps Ice Spice’s “Munch”
When Drake found out that his voice was being used to rap Ice Spice’s hit single “Munch,” he was not having it. He reposted a headline on his Instagram story about Universal Music asking streaming services to avoid posting AI covers with the caption, “This is the final straw AI.”
Beyoncé sings Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings”
Beyoncé and Ariana Grande have very particular voices, and attempting to get either one to cover each other’s music is not the way to go. I’m sure Bey would not be pleased to hear this one. However, if you do want to hear Bey on an Ariana song, she did a demo of the song “R.E.M.,” and it sounds fantastic!
Travis Scott covers Drake’s “God’s Plan”
This cover doesn’t necessarily sound bad. However, if Drake wanted Travis Scott on this song, he would’ve asked him. The artists have worked together before on the songs “SICKO MODE” and “MELTDOWN.”
Bruno Mars sings Michael Jackson’s “P.Y.T”
Two things can be true at once. Bruno Mars’ voice sounds pretty good to the tune of Michael Jackson’s “P.Y.T.” and it’s unethical. Let’s just wait until Bruno decides to release a cover on his own time everyone.
Aaliyah sings Tamia’s “So Into You”
Although this cover would’ve been amazing to have in real life, Aaliyah’s voice should be put to rest. Enjoying the content that she got to release in her short lifetime is enough, using them for fun is a bit strange.
Kanye West and Playboi Carti try to sing Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”
Whoever created had to be joking when putting this together. Kanye’s voice is extremely strained to hit the notes and Carti just sounds out of place. Yikes.
Travis Scott covers Kodak Black’s “Drowning”
Travis Scott arguably sounds better than Kodak Black in this cover, but that just depends on your preference of their individual sounds.
Mike Tyson raps The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Big Poppa”
This AI cover glitches for background vocals and the flow is off, but this scarily sounds just like Mike Tyson at a karaoke bar.
2Pac raps Eminem’s “Not Afraid”
One of the biggest issues with AI is resurrecting artists from the dead. Not only is it unethical to some people’s standards, it’s also just bad. This is not even remotely enjoyable to listen to.
2Pac and DMX “Facing Death”
Although fans in the comments of this cover are excited that two of their favorite artists are featured in this project, this song is ethically a scary thing. Bringing just one artist from the dead is already bad, but two? That’s where we should draw the line. Also, this song is creating lyrics that we don’t even know that the artists would have endorsed if they were alive.
Whitney Houston sings Mariah Carey’s “My All”
This cover is not great. Whoever created this decided to just use moments when Whitney Houston used a lot of riffs, runs, and belts. This is one of the negativities of using these AI covers, because we don’t know how an artist, especially one no longer alive would’ve sung the song, instead it’s a guessing game that in turn sounds like a mess.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.
