In a recent essay featured in The New Yorker, Kyle Chayka raises a thought-provoking query: When was the last time you truly enjoyed your online experience?
To illustrate a case of pure online delight, Chayka highlights a retro Flash gaming site. However, my more current answer would be from about an hour ago when I stumbled upon a TikTok account that employs AI to make Homer Simpson croon ’90s and ’00s rock hits, such as “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
You can find this innovative content creator under the pseudonym @mememusic117, who utilizes Voicify AI to generate audio deepfakes and Blender to craft animated scenes. The joy this TikTok account has brought into my life cannot be overstated. I woke up at 2 a.m. last night due to an unexplained allergic reaction, leading me to cancel my afternoon commitments. But then serendipity struck: I encountered a low-fi Homer Simpson serenading a Queens of the Stone Age track inside a Minecraft castle while Optimus Prime and Shrek danced in the background. It was like a non-drowsy Benadryl coursing through my veins. These TikToks resemble something my brain might conjure during an antihistamine-induced midday nap, yet they’re undeniably not a far-fetched fever dream (as I painfully discovered last night when I realized I had no Benadryl on hand, which was quite an issue given the circumstances!).
This represents an ideal application of AI, markedly improving my day with no evident harm, assuming the voice actor for Homer Simpson and Brandon Flowers have a sense of humor.
However, like many good things on the internet, the more you ponder Homer Simpson’s rock ‘n’ roll cover band, the more imperfections surface.
In a Discord server, I shared a video of Homer Simpson singing “R U Mine?” by Arctic Monkeys, declaring it my new internet favorite. But when I consider my all-time favorites, they share a common thread: Goofy belting out Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life,” a video posted nine years ago with over 11 million YouTube views. Yet, in that video, the voice behind Goofy was a genuine person with true voice acting talent.
Can the enjoyment of Homer Simpson singing Green Day be compared to the joy of a YouTuber doing a pitch-perfect Goofy impression while singing Evanescence?
Judging by @mememusic117’s creations, Voicify AI appears to possess impressive technology. Still, any tool allowing users to manipulate an AI Taylor Swift or an AI Ariana Grande raises concerns. Recall the viral stir caused by an AI-generated Drake and The Weeknd collaboration?
The Drake/Weeknd song gained such widespread attention that Universal Music Group, representing both artists, issued numerous DMCA takedowns to erase the synthetic work from the internet. Yet the song persists because once something goes viral, it becomes indelible.
While some artists like YACHT actively engage in training AI on their music to produce new songs, others like Drake and The Weeknd did not consent to have their copyrighted works manipulated in this manner. As previously discussed, copyright law struggles to provide clear rulings on the status of derivative AI works, creating a lawless environment.
Seeing AI deepfakes of deceased songwriters like John Lennon or Kurt Cobain singing modern songs doesn’t excite me. So why does Homer Simpson covering Nirvana bring such euphoria? Perhaps because Homer Simpson isn’t a real person, allowing us to revel in the absurdity without concerns about how advanced deepfake technology has become, with our understanding of its implications still evolving. Nevertheless, a real person serves as Homer Simpson’s voice actor, and real people contributed to his creation.
Neither Voicify AI nor @mememusic117 responded to interview requests, but my fascination with this enigmatic @mememusic117 endures. This TikTok user, active since 2020, initially operated as a faceless meme curator and now boasts nearly 40,000 followers for their Homer Simpson covers. Every video credits Voicify AI in the text overlay. While this might be a simple act of giving credit where it’s due, I can’t help but consider the possibility that this account might be affiliated with the company itself, even though I lack concrete evidence.
In the hyper-capitalist landscape of the internet, where virtually every facet bears the fingerprints of mega-corporations or well-funded startups, I find myself almost intent on undermining my own enjoyment.
