Swizz Beatz Defends Timbaland’s AI Leap During Heated Debate

Swizz Beatz stood firm behind Timbaland on Sunday (June 8) during a charged livestream discussion about AI in music, defending his longtime collaborator’s controversial leap into artificial pop despite a wave of criticism from the Hip-Hop community.

“I’m happy that Tim is into AIt,” Swizz said during the livestream, which also featured Young Guru, Jay-Z’s engineer, and media personality 19Keys. “Because all the white people in it. Why we can’t get in it? I don’t care how. It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish. So this is Tim’s entry point into AI. Whether we like it or not, it’s an entry point.”

Timbaland recently introduced an AI-generated artist named TaTa through his company Stage Zero, aiming to launch a new genre dubbed “A-pop.” The announcement drew immediate backlash from artists and industry insiders who accused him of selling out human creativity in favor of machine-made music.

Swizz acknowledged the criticism but urged people to look at the bigger picture, saying Timbaland now has the chance to “change the furniture” in the industry.

Still, he admitted the rollout lacked clarity. “I don’t expect people to understand what we doing,” he added. “The only thing I would critique is that we could have communicated this a little better to the people. Because that’s a hell of an announcement.”

Young Guru wasn’t as forgiving. He warned that AI-generated music could displace real singers, writers and producers, comparing the situation to the collapse of factory jobs in Detroit due to automation.

“We feeding the beast!” he said, cautioning that training AI with human-made music could gut the creative economy.

Timbaland Responds To AI-Artist Backlash

Timbaland initially brushed off the backlash with a tongue-in-cheek AI video telling critics to “cry me a river,” but later softened his tone on Instagram.

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A post shared by Timbo the King (@timbaland)

“I know I’m trolling, but let’s have a real conversation,” he wrote. I love my independent artists. This doesn’t mean I’m not working with real artists anymore. And nah, I don’t train ai off y’all music. This just means more creativity for creators.”