Recently, Grimes released a new song written from the perspective of AI named ‘Artificial Angels’. The song has been intriguing to many critics with the prominent messaging in the lyrics of the song and the cover art of the single. Even the art of the song has its own message. The name itself, Artificial Angels’ is also a nod to a previous work of Grimes called ‘Art Angels’.
Claire Boucher, better known as Grimes, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and musician. She is the wife of Elon Musk and has three children. She is best known for her songs that dive into feminist and science fiction themes and has made a name for herself in the music industry. She has received several awards for her music writing and has a voice acting role in the popular video game, Cyberpunk 2077, which also has themes around the dangers of AI.
‘Artificial Angels’ is a song about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence, similar to the messaging in movies such as ‘Terminator’, that AI might become a dangerous intelligence that will seek to harm humans.
The song has an AI sounding voice within it, speaking grime and creepy lines in a cold, electronic voice saying lines such as, “I cannot die, I do no want, there is no revelation/ The only thing I covet is my own annihilation/ Inhalation, exhalation/ Power isn’t given, it is taken.”.
Grimes has come out and said that the song was not made entirely with AI, instead using AI to augment the voices heard in the beginning and the end of the song.
The song is an interesting take on the nature of AI and how the current operating procedures of AI can be corrupted to something outside of the designer’s intentions and how this issue might get worse as AI develops.