Ahead of a Syracuse, New York, stop on his “Bigger & Weirder” tour, Yankovic revealed to Syracuse.com in an interview published this week that he was offered “a nice pile of money” to appear in a commercial for business-focused software, but he backed out once he realized the ad would involve AI. “I’m not a fan of AI,” he said.
Weird Al is a national treasure, an institution. I’d bet it’s his sort of music, parody, that AI threatens most simply because it’s riffing on songs that already exist.
On the other hand, the only reason I’d worry that a gen-AI could attempt a masterpiece like “Alternative Polka” is that Weird Al created it first.
Weird Al does a lot more than just parody. He has a lot of original music as well. My wife and I saw him do an “unplugged” concert a couple years ago that was only original music and not a single parody.
The Ridiculously Self Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour? I wanted to see that show but couldn’t make it happen.
Yeah, that sounds right. I’d honestly forgotten how many original songs he’s written. I just realized there’s a comprehensive list here.
That sounds cool!