aespa Winter Sparks Heated Debate After Her Remark About AI: 'Why Is She Acting Moral?'

In an online community, aespa Winter earned mixed reactions after giving her thoughts on using AI. Why are some netters mocking her?

In a recent live broadcast, the female idol took her time to communicate with MYs (fandom). During the stream, she watched AI-generated videos of herself created by fans, where she was seen singing the tracks of various artists.

Seeing this, Winter showed her firm conviction against AI and drew attention by stating:

"Ah, you shouldn't do AI like this. You should not. They said AI is bad. I'll just sing everything instead of AI. Except the songs that I don't know."

She then flaunted her exceptional singing skills by giving short covers of numerous songs like Taeyeon's "To.X," Taeyang's "Eyes, Nose, Lips," BEAST's "Rainy Days," and more.

Through this, fandoms can enjoy listening to their favorite singers and hear what a song will sound like if they perform it without them doing it.However, this became a controversial topic since the original singer whose voice is being used doesn't usually consent, and even artists and musicians complain that they felt robbed of time, effort, and talent.

A lot of K-Netz agreed with Winter and said:

"I 100% agree with what Winter said. Honestly, AI covers are also using the singer's voice at will, and since the technology has only just emerged, it hasn't been legislated yet, but it seems similar to a violation of portrait rights. And if I were working in the industry, I would be anxious and uncomfortable with AI threatening my job."

• "Winter is an entertainer, so isn't it weirder for her if she will advocate the use of AI?"
• "I don't understand why people think imitating voice is okay when they obviously think that deepfake isn't. If the person in question doesn't like it, what does it matter what others think?"

On the flip side, some mocked Winter and questioned her for acting so "moral" when their original concept and worldview centered on the use of artificial intelligence.

Also, some web commenters called out the idol for being prejudiced by saying AI is "bad," when some singers and artists earned their fame thanks to these edits.

"Do you always get permission from the original singers when you cover their songs? A cover is singing someone else's song with your own voice, so it's essentially the same as an AI cover. Isn't it ironic? Voices don't even have the concept of copyright yet. And AI covers aren't even made by people, they're literally made by machines. So it's okay for you to sing it however you want, but it's bad when a machine covers it?"

• "What do you mean sing everything? Your fans can at least hear the songs you could never sing with your skills through AI covers."
• "SM Entertainment's idols are rampant with lip-syncing and auto-tune as well as plastic surgery, and they love science and technology more than anyone else, but they still say that's not possible."

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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz