Gunna has let it be known that he would be interested in signing an AI artist — and he wants to do it pretty soon.
Speaking to Will.i.am for the latest UPROXX cover feature, the Atlanta rapper talked about his career to date, and when the topic of artificial intelligence came up, he told the Black Eyed Peas frontman that he needed to “tap in” with the growing tech phenomenon.
“I fuck with it, but I’m not hands-on with it. I’m not against it,” he said. “I’m gonna for sure tap in to it, but I’m taking my time.”
Will then explained that AI is taking over the music industry, predicting that many human artists will be competing with AI artists by 2030.
“This shit is next level. You gotta tap in deep real soon,” he told Gunna. “‘Cause like 2030? Bro. This next five years is gonna be so transformational. We compete with humans right now. In 2030, it’s gonna be full-on Al artists that produce it, write it, and star in the videos.”
In response, Gunna said he might need to sign an AI artist sometime soon. “I gotta sign me an Al artist, fast,” he told Will. “Get with ’em, you can’t beat ’em.”
Gunna has actually collaborated with an AI artist previously. Back in 2022, he hopped on gaming influencer Cody “Clix” Conrod’s track “Florida Water” alongside AI rapper FN Meka.
After making waves online with a series of independently-released singles and hyper-online visuals, FN Meka went on to sign with Capitol Records. However, the deal was short-lived after the label decided to cut ties with the “virtual rapper” due to it using racial slurs and being “a direct insult to the Black community.”
“Florida Water” was then removed from streaming services, with FN Meka’s Instagram going private.
Music and AI has been making a lot of headlines in recent weeks, especially after Timbaland announced that he had launched an AI entertainment company and signed his first AI artist.
On June 5, the legendary producer revealed that his company Stage Zero was coming out with AI artist TaTa in an attempt to usher in a new genre of music known as artificial pop, or A-pop.
However, it didn’t go down too well with a lot of artists, leaving Timbo having to defend his creative decision.
“I know I’m trolling but let’s have real conversation,” Timbaland wrote on Instagram. “I love my independent artists. This doesn’t mean I’m not working with real artists anymore.”
Timbaland then dispelled the belief that the AI artist has learned from real artists’ music. “And nah I don’t train ai off y’all music,” he explained. “This just means more creativity for creators.”
