The BBC recently stirred controversy after releasing a now-viral article that delves into SEVENTEEN’s potential use of AI in their latest song.
The article, released on Thursday, was written by Megan Lawton and titled, “Will K-pop’s AI experiment pay off?” which discussed the emergence of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the K-pop genre. The article included opinions of K-pop super fans and a producer who worked with different K-pop groups, where they expressed their fears of the industry experimenting with K-pop, but also hesitantly welcomed its presence while suggesting ways of regulating it.
One part of the article that sparked a chord with K-pop fans, specifically with SEVENTEEN’s fandom CARATs, was the initial assertion that SEVENTEEN had used AI in their most recent album- “MAESTRO.”
This assumption came up following a review of what Woozi, SEVENTEEN’s resident producer and composer of a large majority of the group’s songs, had said in the press conference for “MAESTRO.”
Woozi said at the time that he had practiced with AI, “Rather than feeling uncomfortable about developing tools, I feel like we should walk alongside them. I practiced a lot and tried to find its pros and cons. I ponder a lot how we can still keep our identity..”
This comment was said at a time when CARATs also voiced out their opinions on the use of AI in SEVENTEEN’s music video for “MAESTRO,” with the boy group eventually answering all those concerns with the music video looking like a “combat with the misuse of AI.”
However, BBC at the time prior to them now changing it, alleged that SEVENTEEN had used AI in their songs, which then caused CARATs to become furious.
SEVENTEEN’s Woozi refuted this “claim” by the BBC by saying on his Instagram story, “All of SEVENTEEN’s music is written and composed by human creators.”
240714 woozi_universefactory ig story update
세븐틴의 모든 음악은 인간 창작자가 작사 및 작곡합니다.
All of SEVENTEEN'S music is written and composed by human creators. pic.twitter.com/TULwx7YGcD— 🌌 (@woozimedia) July 14, 2024
CARATs rallied behind Woozi and SEVENTEEN and called out BBC for their article, which they later revised.
@megan_lawton ?????? lol????? did you not do your research prior to publishing this article?
— ginny 👼 (@jeongyuyoonkim) July 12, 2024
They used robot motion tech NOT generative AI. Woozi has also talked about experimenting with AI because he wanted to protect their own unique identity.
BBC you're literally out here spreading lies about Seventeen. https://t.co/NE8KgPRaKG pic.twitter.com/FEzNHwD1Jk
— neev ✨ (@forsvtscoups) July 12, 2024
19 years old Jihoon saved a whole ass company by writing and producing music and u still call it AI? I will never forgive bbc news and the toxic fandom that spread the misinfo. He worked for 10+ years just for people to discredit his work and hate on him. APOLOGIZE TO WOOZI ‼️ https://t.co/zSxR3AdFJM pic.twitter.com/S8ZqfCcs5Z
— wen 💎 | biggest to you lover (@Thir_teensvt) July 13, 2024
bbc edited their article 🙃
💬 however woozi has since said on instagram that all of seventeen’s music is “written and composed by human creators” https://t.co/tjBN435w5h pic.twitter.com/zuxa4UGGyK
— 🌌 (@woozimedia) July 14, 2024
calling out a direct quote from the journalist interviewed for that article on bbc with a fucking laughing emoji. god. no one can ever fuck with woozi when it comes to songwriting because he will not take that shit lying down https://t.co/erT7vdZ3wd
— theo 🎣 (@SSEOMT) July 14, 2024
Lmao @BBCWorld @megan_lawton ????? and they didnt even bother to retract the whole false context and let it remain in the article and only put tiny tiny dumb modification and put “however” to woozi ig story as sneer context
Oh bbc and megan are full of shit pic.twitter.com/RRIbPU7srE
— Tori🍂 (@hrtcoups) July 14, 2024
BBC actually got Woozi to directly address their fuck up, that's honestly a feat on BBC's side https://t.co/rWZ5nPBaQo
— useless facts about svt's discography (@svtmusicnotes) July 14, 2024
you better fix your article or delete it, @megan_lawton! SVT never used AI in any of their music. Maestro’s concept was to fight the use of AI in music, they never used AI in that song. SO STOP SPREADING MISINFORMATION!! idk what’s ur game but please leave SVT alone! @BBCWorld
— mei (@hitorjnai) July 12, 2024
It only takes a few minutes to look for information that shows that what is being said about Maestro and Woozi is distorted, taken out of context, misinformed, and also draws wrong speculations or conclusions.https://t.co/fLEiz5wI8s https://t.co/9tZoCU5W0T pic.twitter.com/CMPXdcwPcM
— Majo 🩵 ¹⁷ᵗʰ ʰᵉᵃᵛᵉⁿ (@coupsidult) July 13, 2024
APOLOGIZE TO WOOZI AND SEVENTEEN
GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT
REMOVE THE MISINFORMATION @BBCWorld @megan_lawton@pledis_17#SEVENTEENpic.twitter.com/w6C8M8s1v9 https://t.co/QRF1FeNPF2— 𝐚𝐥𖹭 (@caratshere) July 13, 2024
So you're telling me that Woozi used AI-GENERATED LYRICS N MAESTRO when he has been creating and composing some songs for the group for 9 fucking YEARS?!!
GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT
REMOVE THE MISINFORMATION@BBCWorld @megan_lawton@pledis_17 #SEVENTEEN https://t.co/aeUjr2Dbmn pic.twitter.com/xwKHle73OQ— srkayy (@pufferfoy) July 13, 2024
The articles is extremely MISLEADING. Firstly, you have twisted Woozi's words & inserted a different narrative to what was originally intended by SEVENTEEN regarding the usage of AI. Secondly, what is your source? Is it some random Twitter misinformation? Journalism bar is so LOW https://t.co/UoVrPIeRYU
— Jane😺 (@JaneDd22) July 12, 2024
Who the fuck is their research team? If you would’ve done a little bit more digging, you would’ve found out they never said that. The whole point of the music video and song was to say they’re against the use of AI.
Put some respect on woozi’s and SVT’s name. https://t.co/tskQZgRccc
— Sy is seeing ATEEZ Aug 6th (@CaratConnection) July 12, 2024
CARATs also took notice of the revisions made by the author, which still made SEVENTEEN look like “K-pop’s AI poster boys” due to the writing that said, “The music video features an AI-generated scene, and the record might well include AI-generated production too.” This, too, did not sit well with the fandom.
Not sure if any Carats noticed but she's edited the article since. She now says Maestro may include AI production instead of AI lyrics. She is really trying to make Seventeen the face of AI use in K-Pop by lying several times. How shameful @megan_lawton. Apologize to Woozi & SVT. https://t.co/1SiZH07PAs pic.twitter.com/UINkB2r0R6
— no name ☁️ (@noname_bin) July 14, 2024
Hi Carats,
J-Carats have kindly reached out for help in spreading the post they made on Reddit, which expands on the community notes they have also made on the BBC article.
They plan on officially filing a complaint against BBC.
Please upvote below!https://t.co/w88ArIRgIf https://t.co/sGdyNWUGuB pic.twitter.com/QbKdcoKkpu
— Kathrina || This Man (@vindicatedtruth) July 18, 2024
WOW. Editing the article that Maestro may include AI production instead of AI lyrics?? FROM LYRICS NOW YOUR TARGETING THE MAESTRO MV? Wth is your problem @megan_lawton? Why are you pushing this narrative on Seventeen? We already debunked your shitty article. WHAT IS YOUR AGENDA? https://t.co/Tm49wU2CdP pic.twitter.com/IST0A6I77M
— 𐙚ⒽⒶⓋⒾ🧸🌷𓂃✿𓈈 (@mydarlingskb00) July 14, 2024
Updating an article without alerting the audience to the changes made as well as still including that inflammatory caption on the photo is poor journalism. @BBCWorld
Audiences should be made explicitly aware of retractions and corrections. https://t.co/P2EhK7kFLp pic.twitter.com/pN6A94iAHS
— ✨️Bre✨️ (@blackgirlcarat) July 14, 2024
To Megan Lawton, please revise or delete this article https://t.co/bT84w9wAJH pic.twitter.com/tWdbd6kKdY
— 𝗶𝗳𝗮 (@boothinker) July 12, 2024
Artists deserve full credit for their creations, that’s a right that must never be compromised. However, while not everyone welcomes the idea, using AI in music creation nowadays seems inevitable. Musicians, including those we admire, may also find themselves exploring AI to enhance their craft.
At this point, we have yet to discover what changes AI will bring to the music industry.
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