Stefanie Sun responds to popularity of her AI persona after covers of other artistes
The most popular video of the Singapore singer's AI recreation is a cover of Jay Chouâs Hair Like Snow
Is that Stefanie Sun singing Jay Chouâs song on Bilibili?
No, your eyes (and perhaps, ears) arenât deceiving you. But, things are not what they seem and it is in fact, an AI recreation of the local songbirdâs voice.
This digital recreation has gone viral on the Chinese video platform with hundreds of thousands of views - with some videos even garnering more than a million.
The most popular video, with more than two million views, is a cover of Jay Chouâs Hair Like Snow.
However, this surge in popularity for her AI voice has left the actual Stefanie Sun a little pessimistic.
On 23 May, the singer shared her thoughts on her Make Music blog and she wrote, âMy fans have officially switched sides and accepted that I am indeed an âobscure singerâ while my AI persona is the current hot property.
âI mean really, how do you fight with someone who is putting out new albums in the time span of minutes?â
Taiwanese media reported that Sunâs management label isnât considering legal action at the moment due to the lack of regulations for AI.
Sun likened the AIâs capability of âmimicking and/or conjuring unique and complicated content by processing a gazillion chunks of information while piecing and putting together in a most coherent mannerâ to âwhat humans doâ and said itâs a looming threat to many jobs, including hers.
Humans canât do what AI can do
While she admitted that her fans might feel a lack of emotion from her AI voice, she reckoned itâll only be a âshort-term responseâ.
âIronically, in no time at all, no human will be able to rise above that. No human will be able to have access to this amount of information and make the right calls or make the right mistakes,â she explained, adding that itâs possible sheâs getting ahead of herself.
However, she pointed out that AI technology can âchurn out what exactly everything everyone needsâ.
Despite the impending âthreatâ of AI, the singer ended off with a hopeful message.
âIn this boundless sea of existence, where anything is possible, where nothing matters, I think it will be purity of thought, that being exactly who you are will be enough,â she wrote.
The surge of AI recreated voices has caused concern among some quarters because of how easily it could be abused, such as when deepfaked celebrity voices were used to spout racism and homophobia.
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