Timbaland has been firmly defending the announcement that he’s creating an AI artist — and fans are not pleased about it.
The iconic producer took to Instagram on Friday (June 6) to address the situation amid all the backlash that’s followed his revelation that he’s introducing the world to his first AI-generated artist, TaTa.
“I know I’m trolling but let’s have real conversation,” Timbaland posted. “I love my independent artists. This doesn’t mean I’m not working with real artists anymore.”
Timbaland then challenged the assumption that the AI artist has been trained on real artists’ music. “And nah I don’t train ai off y’all music,” he clarified. “This just means more creativity for creators.”
In another slide of the same Instagram post, Timbo included a video of music executive Ray Daniels explaining why the producer’s decision to create an AI artist makes sense. “Why the fuck wouldn’t you?” Daniels can be heard saying. “Mickey Mouse is an AI character. Donald Dunk is an AI character. Bugs Bunny is an AI character.”
“You guys are looking at it wrong,” Daniels continued. “He’s gonna make a character that he can have sing songs and sell products. That’s all these cartoonists and young kid TV shows are doing anyway, so why are y’all mad at him?”
While Daniels may support Timbaland, many commenters in the producer’s section made their disagreement crystal clear. “You call it trolling, but the moves you are making are not jokes,” British DJ Shy FX wrote in his comments. “They are choices, and they come at the cost of real artists who are already fighting to be seen and heard.”
“You showed your colours when you attempted to make a song using Biggie’s AI generated voice,” Shy FX continued. “You made it even clearer by partnering with Suno, whose founder has been very vocal about wanting to replace musicians, not support them. And now this? This isn’t disruption. It’s a cash-in.”
Producer Wes Beats also voiced his disappointment with the announcement. “As an upcoming producer, I gotta be real… stuff like this hits different,” he commented. “When you’ve been grinding for years, learning your craft, sacrificing time with family, and pouring your soul into every beat… seeing major figures turn to AI like it’s the next big thing feels like a slap in the face.”
Journalist Rob Markman also weighed in, countering Ray Daniels’ argument. “Mickey Mouse was created by a human, drawn by a human, written by a human, voiced by a human… not the same,” he noted.
A fan echoed Markman’s sentiment, adding: “None of those things the guy mentioned (mickey mouse, bugs bunny) are AI characters those are characters created written and animated by PEOPLE. Do you not see the resounding rejection you’re facing for this?”
They went on: “Maybe you’re not training your AI off others music but you’re training it off of YOURS. The machine does not deserve what you’ve built to train off of and you will be left with a music product that has no soul and people will intrinsically not connect to, I can almost guarantee it. I just don’t understand why you’d decide to endeavor into this, I’m assuming laziness Timbo. just keep making the music by hand man you don’t need a computer to develop and generate samples or melodies or beats for you.”
On June 5, Timbaland revealed that his company Stage Zero was launching its first AI artist in an effort to introduce a new music genre called artificial pop, or A-pop.
