AI Johnny Cash singing ‘Barbie Girl’? I won’t be walking that line – and neither should you

Frank Sinatra crooning ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’? An Elvis Presley rendition of ‘Baby Got Back’? Caragh Medlicott explains how an amusing technological gimmick could have much darker implications

Do we really want to tune into songs that have no emotional grounding in actual experience? (Getty Images)

Hello, I’m not Johnny Cash.” This is the uncanny opening of one of the latest AI-generated music “covers” to go viral across social media. In this instance, Cash’s iconic baritone is repurposed to sing Aqua’s 1997 dance-pop hit, “Barbie Girl.”

Wade a little further into the world of AI music and you might also encounter Frank Sinatra crooning “Gangsta’s Paradise” or Elvis swinging his way through “Baby Got Back”.

There’s no denying that these so-called covers have comedy value. And to my inexpert ear, they sound almost indistinguishable from the artists they imitate. Still, as with perhaps all things AI, the broader implications are not so cheery.