Gossiping with Kendall Jenner: Possible by AI?

19

October

2023

5/5 (1)

As was reported in multiple news outlets this last week, people are intrigued by the new AI-generated chatbox modeled by Kendall Jenner, named Billie. On 27 September 2023, Meta introduced a new AI function, applicable to all their apps such as Instagram and Facebook. This function allows users to interact, have conversations, and ask for advice. These chatbots have different features depending on the character and have their own Instagram account. Billie now has 168,000 followers on the platform and has posted seven posts.  

Instagram account of @yoursisbillie

Post of @yoursisbillie on Instagram, Kendall Jenner is posing as Billie and this video is not AI-generated.

Notwithstanding, the reactions are mixed, people find it creepy and are confused about whether the video footage is taken by Kendall Jenner herself or is AI-generated and ask if Jenner gets paid for this. See the picture below for more comments (Due to privacy, the usernames and profile pictures are blurred).

Comments under a post of @yoursisbillie on Instagram

Nevertheless, the account clarifies that the video and photo are of Kendall Jenner herself. However, posts with the AI logo (See the left corner of the picture below) are made by artificial intelligence.

Post of @yoursisbillie which is AI-generated.

Kendall Jenner is not the only one who modeled as a Meta AI-generated Chatbox, celebrities like Charlie D’Amelio and Snoop Dogg are also joining Mark Zuckerburg in his new step into Artificial Intelligence evolution. What is striking is that the chatbots adopt character traits of their human ”model”. For example, NFL quarterback Tom Brady will portray ‘’Bru’’, the sports debater chatbot while Charli D’Amelio, TikTokker, and dancer will model as ‘’Coco’’, the dance enthusiast. 

However, this leads to an interesting concluding question, what are your thoughts on the new Meta chatbots? Will you use them and what for? For me, I’d prefer to consult friends for advice and skip chatbox Billie for now ;).

References

FunX. (2023, September 30). SNOOP DOGG BINNENKORT TE GEBRUIKEN ALS A.I. CHATBOT OP INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK. Retrieved October 19, 2023, from https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.funx.nl/news/entertainment/4271c4f5-3f9a-467b-8f4f-d1d0bd712cb4/snoop-dogg-binnenkort-te-gebruiken-als-a-i-chatbot-op-instagram-facebook&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1697719968120189&usg=AOvVaw1TUVz_bSazZdS6YQh9w702

Meta. (2023, September 27). Introducing new AI experiences across our family of apps and devices. Meta. Retrieved October 19, 2023, from https://about.fb.com/news/2023/09/introducing-ai-powered-assistants-characters-and-creative-tools/

Tempelaar, J. D. (2023, October 13). Kendall Jenner or Billie? say hello to Meta’s new AI characters. Medium. Retrieved October 19, 2023, from https://medium.com/@jdalytempelaar/kendall-jenner-or-billie-say-hello-to-metas-new-ai-characters-316adde8710d

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AI and the future of songwriting: The case of Kendrick Lamar

3

October

2023

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In September 2022, Beyoncé dropped her highly-anticipated album, “Renaissance,” which featured a collaboration with Kendrick Lamar on the track titled “America Has A Problem.” In this song, Kendrick Lamar delves into an emerging concern within the music industry. In the verse of the track, an AI-generated voice mimics Kendrick Lamar’s rapping. To this, Lamar quickly responds and raps the following line “Even AI needs practice to clone Kendrick. The double entendre, the encore remains.” Hereby the rapper argues that the current technology of AI is not able to fabricate his signature style and falls short as a replication of the rapper. The AI-generated voice cannot take his position as the major attraction or completely replace him. 

See the video below and check out the song for yourself! See timestamp 01:10 – 01:15 for the mentioned line of Lamar.

Video: AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM (Feat. Kendrick Lamar).

However, Lamar hits the core of the rising debate concerning the rise of AI voice cloning; who owns the rights to this newly generated form of music and songs. Is it the user who used the algorithm and created the track, the ones who created the algorithm, or the musicians whose voices and styles were imitated?

Nevertheless, it also sparks my interest. Can I generate new songs using the voices of my favorite artists? To be fair, I am far from a musician or songwriter but can I become one using AI?

After doing some research, I found multiple types of software that claim to generate human voices with a high percentage of accuracy. For example, TopMedAI offers two types of software, one can speak text in a generated or existing voice. Here you can enter the text you want ”translated” into a lifelike voice. The other software can generate covers of your favorite existing artists singing in their style another song. 

In the next blog post, I will share my experiences with TopMedAI and report back on my music-making process! To be continued!

References:

AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM (Remix). (2023). Genius. Retrieved October 3, 2023, from https://genius.com/28582472

Berger, V. (2023). A deep dive into the world of AI voice cloning. Digital Music News. https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2023/08/31/voice-cloning-deep-dive/

TopMediaI® – AI-powered audio, photo and video tools online. (n.d.). https://www.topmediai.com/

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