Nile Rodgers, the 74-year-old Chic guitarist and producer, is answering critics of an AI-generated video he is making for his charity single "The Christmas Song", recorded with the British soul singer Rebecca Ferguson. He announced the project on 2 November with footage of a crew scanning him to build what he called an AI version of himself, and a preview posted the next day drew mostly hostile comments on Instagram.
“Do you have a problem with CGI? I can't believe you'd go on record without even seeing what I'm doing.”
Nile Rodgers, in an Instagram comment, in an Instagram comment · stereogum.com ↗
Rodgers replied under the posts himself. He said he and his team drew the mood boards and storyboards and that the AI simply did what it was told. In his view it is hypocritical to say you are against AI while relying on it daily for searches and driving directions, and he put the cost of a conventional film of this kind at about $100,000. Some commenters dismissed the results as slop, and one said the approach appeals to older people. He also pointed out that he used to work with Microsoft and Apple.
The song dates from the covid period, when he and Ferguson first wrote it for children. Rodgers says a child coached him through prostate cancer in 2013, and he wants the track to give bedridden, ill children some joy over the holidays, since they mostly entertain themselves on iPads. His first post said the idea grew out of seeing the Eagles at The Sphere in Las Vegas, which made him imagine stories told through immersive settings and music.
An image from Rodgers' Instagram post showing material from the AI video for 'The Christmas Song'
Image: Stereogum
Stereogum, which broke the story, found the stills he shared hideous while granting that the project is well meant, and noted that the video itself has not been seen. It argued that established older artists who embrace generative AI risk their legacies, and read the recent midterm results as a sign of public revulsion at the technology. People set the row against a wider backlash over jobs, copyright and the energy and water used by data centres.
About Nile Rodgers
Nile Rodgers, born in New York City in 1952, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer, a co-founder of the disco band Chic and a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee. He met the bassist Bernard Edwards in 1970, and Chic's 1978 album C'est Chic included "Le Freak", which sold over seven million singles.
In 1983 he produced David Bowie's best-selling album Let's Dance and, after Chic broke up that year, went on to work on records by Duran Duran and Madonna. He later worked with Daft Punk on Random Access Memories, released in 2013, and won three Grammys for it in 2014.
His stance is not new. In 2023 he told The Daily Star that AI "may be something wonderful", comparing it with the drum machine and the sequencer, and he has suggested AI-made art could have a category of its own, as documentary and animation do at the Oscars. The video and the single are due on 20 November, and he says he is rushing to get it ready.
A second still from the AI-made video that Rodgers shared on Instagram
Image: Stereogum