Czech ice dancers Kateřina Mrázková and Daniel Mrázek made their Olympic debut on Monday, an unfathomable feat that takes a lifetime of dedication and apply. However the sibling duo used AI music of their rhythm dance program, which doesn’t break any official guidelines, however serves as a miserable image of how completely cooked we’re.
As Mrázek spun his sister in a loopy cartwheel carry kind of transfer that made them look superhuman, one of many NBC commentators talked about in passing, “That is AI generated, this primary half,” referring to the music. In some way, that admission is much more baffling than the gravity-defying tips that the siblings confirmed off on the strain of Olympic ice.
The Olympic ice dance competitors is cut up into two occasions: the rhythm dance, the place pairs should carry out a routine that meets a particular theme, and the free dance. This season’s theme is “The Music, Dance Kinds, and Feeling of the Nineties.” British ice dancing duo Lilah Worry and Lewis Gibson paid tribute to the Spice Women, whereas United States favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates skated to a Lenny Kravitz medley.
However, for no matter motive — licensing points? — Mrázková and Mrázek danced to a routine with music that’s half AC/DC and half AI. It’s bizarre. What’s even weirder is that this isn’t the duo’s first use of AI, neither is it the primary time that this alternative backfired.
Per the Worldwide Skating Union, the governing physique that oversees aggressive ice skating, the duo’s music choice for the rhythm dance this season has been “One Two by AI (of 90s model Bon Jovi)” and “Thunderstruck by AC/DC.” The official Olympics web site confirms that the duo is utilizing the AI-generated track for the rhythm dance portion.
The Czech siblings have confronted backlash earlier than for utilizing AI-generated music. Earlier within the season, they performed a ’90s-inspired track for his or her routine that began with a wailing declaration: “Each night time we smash a Mercedes Benz!” If that sounds acquainted, it’s as a result of that lyric comes straight from the ’90s hit “You Get What You Give” by New Radicals (which, by the way in which, has an incredible music video shot in a Staten Island mall — the true essence of American suburbia!).
The AI-generated lyrics additionally embrace the traces, “Get up, children/We received the dreamer’s illness,” and “First we run, after which we snigger ’til we cry.” What a coincidence! These lyrics additionally seem within the track “You Get What You Give” by New Radicals. The AI track is even titled “One Two,” that are the primary phrases of… you possibly can most likely guess what track at this level.
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Earlier than the Olympics, the duo modified the track, swapping out the New Radicals lyrics for other AI-generated lyrics that sound suspiciously like Bon Jovi lyrics, as journalist Shana Bartels noted in November. For instance, “increase your palms, set the night time on hearth.” additionally seem in “Raise Your Hands” by Bon Jovi… and the AI “vocalist” sounds loads like Bon Jovi, too. (To not pour salt on the wound, however “Increase Your Palms” isn’t even from the ’90s!) This was the music that the duo danced to on Monday on the Olympics, earlier than it transitioned into “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC, an actual track from the 90s written by actual folks.
Whereas it’s unclear what software program the workforce used to generate this music, that is an LLM working because it’s presupposed to. These LLMs are skilled on giant libraries of music, typically via legally doubtful means. When prompted, LLMs produce essentially the most statistically possible response to an enter. That’s helpful when writing code, however means a track “within the model of Bon Jovi,” will possible find yourself utilizing some precise Bon Jovi lyrics..
And but, the music business appears at the least quickly enamored with the thought of “musicians” who aren’t completely actual. Telisha Jones, a 31-year-old in Mississippi, used Suno to set her (hopefully actual) poetry to music beneath the persona Xania Monet. Now she has a $3 million record deal.
It’s a disgrace that these Czech dancers’ accomplishment of skating on the Olympics could also be marred by discourse round their use of AI music (discourse that I’m actively contributing to). However come on! Isn’t this sport presupposed to be inventive?
