This TikTok-viral musician ruins songs with AI. But is it parody or infringement? [Video]

It was not a typical House Judiciary Committee hearing. Country music star Lainey Wilson was in attendance, for one thing, but the most unusual aspect of the February summit on AI and identity theft was when Rep. Darrell Issa played what sounded an awful lot like Johnny Cash singing the lyrics to Danish-Norwegian dance-pop anthem “Barbie Girl.”

Dustin Ballard, who created that AI-assisted anomaly, is not a regular viewer of C-SPAN, so he didn’t learn about the hearing until much later. When a friend finally did send over a clip, though, he found it surreal to hear one of his gonzo audio experiments playing within such a stuffy setting. He also found it kind of scary.

“I didn’t know if I was in trouble or not,” Ballard says.

Some of the politicians at that hearing, not to mention some of the musicians who recently signed an open letter demanding protections from AI, might think Ballard should be in …

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