Leave it to country music fans to call out an AI-generated song that has become a number one viral hit. A fictitious band called Breaking Rust currently has almost 3 million monthly listeners on Spotify and the song “Walk My Walk” has reached the top spot on the Billboard Country Digital Song Sales chart.
The YouTube video of the song shows an image of a man wearing a cowboy hat and seems legit, but many of the comments are a clear indication that we’re craving more authenticity. Here’s the AI-generated song:
For a little background on what is happening: AI-generated music is now proliferating just as quickly as images and videos created using tools like Google Gemini and ChatGPT. With a simple prompt, you can generate a brand new song using an app like Suno that’s not only catchy but has reasonably articulate lyrics.
What has started out as a technical innovation or even a mild curiosity now appears to be a full-blown flame war for the ages. Recently, an AI actress named Tilly Norwood set off a firestorm among social media users who had plenty to say about an AI replacing human actors. Now, Breaking Rust is causing the same stir.
“It’s a sobering truth that a machine learned this from us and can now do it better than most of us,” noted YouTube commenter @caxelrad, touching on the fact that AI music is generated from a massive database of instructional content.
AI is basically imitating what is in a library of music and would not exist unless there were millions of country songs by human artists.
Many users took the opportunity to crack a joke in the YouTube comment, using sarcasm at a time when it seems like there are few safeguards governing AI content and how it mimics human-generated music. Some of my favorites include the commenter who suggested changing the name of the band to Breaking Wind, how the record label should be called Skynet (after the superintelligence in the Terminator movies), and that it will be interesting to see “the band” in person someday.
Why we need more guardrails for AI artists like Breaking Rust
To me, the YouTube comments have an edge to them because it doesn’t seem like there are any rules about how these songs can proliferate and whether they should even be on the same Billboard chart as songs made by humans. There are few guidelines to help identify AI-generated music, such as a notice before the song plays.
An AI artist named Cain Walker has also charted with songs like “Don’t Tread On Me” that sound utterly convincing. Many of the YouTube comments for that song are far less sarcastic; it doesn’t seem like the commenters realize the artist doesn’t exist in the real world or at least are more accepting of the AI-generated music.
The promotional shots of Walker don’t help the situation. He looks like he’s about to go ride a horse, dressed in a thick leather coat, cowboy hat, and blue jeans. The problem is that the artist is not real, won’t ever give a live concert, and can’t do an interview.
The person behind the Breaking Rust artist is named Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor but I couldn’t find any contact information to ask about the YouTube comments. Several country artists such as Jason Aldean have criticized AI songs, noting in a TikTok video that it takes real people to play a live concert. Other artists have said it’s a tool like anything else and can spur ideas. Spotify has noted that they plan to list credits that explain when AI was used for a song.
There’s a feeling of helplessness that comes through in the YouTube comments, though. “We’re all singing and dancing toward the abyss,” said one commenter. While some of the songs are catchy, others noted how you can tell there is no soul to the music.
It’s still unclear how streaming music platforms will deal with AI artists like Breaking Rust or if they will even take it that seriously. For now, it seems like all country music fans can do is express their frustration.