A fake country “artist” got “hit” by a phone that was thrown by a fan, and real fans online are outraged by it. Yep… the weird, confusing future is officially here.
I’m hesitant to draw attention to this, just because I’d rather not shine a light on a country artist that’s created by artificial intelligence. However, my hope is that by pointing it out, I can save thousands of people from thinking that a guy named “River Cain” is an actual person with actual talent.
In recent years, AI-generated music has become more widespread, and creating it has become more and more accessible. Music created with artificial intelligence is already running rampant on social media platforms like TikTok, and as AI continues to advance, music made solely by machines is becoming harder to distinguish from songs made by real people. This might seem like a mundane issues, but there’s a lot of risk involved. A multitude of artists have already spoken out about AI-generated songs, with many showing concern that the technology can copy their own voices. The state of Tennessee even passed legislation to prevent “deep fake” songs and music creation from spreading.
Though that’s certainly a step in the right direction, there’s seemingly not a whole lot that can be done with AI being used to create original music (rather than copying the voices of already established artists). And there’s not really a barrier of entry for AI-music… thanks to platforms like Suno, anyone with a computer can do it. Although, Jason Isbell is part of a group that just sued Suno… so we’ll see where that goes.
And now, artists that are made entirely by AI – like River Cain – are quietly making a lot of money. They aren’t just ripping off songs, personas and voices from actual artists. Now, artists crafted by artificial intelligence are pulling scenarios out of the headlines of the country music world for their gain.
I’m sure you’ve seen videos of real artists up on stage being hit by objects hurled their way from the crowd. It’s become a genuine issue and safety concern for touring artists, and an AI artist named River Cain recently posted a fabricated video on social media showing that exact thing happening to him.
For most, it’s easy to discern that it’s fake. There’s plenty of giveaways (like the cop in front of the stage inexplicably shape shifting) that’s it AI, but even the account SAYS it’s an AI artist. And yet, we have people on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook falling for this nonsense.
Dive into the comments and there are plenty of people who really think a guy named River Cain got hit in the neck by a flying phone. They wished him well, and complimented his voice:
“What a voice! That guy might as well have thrown his wallet with ID….. obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed.”
“Handled that swiftly without a fuss… hope the perpetrator got thrown out on his/her arse.”
“People just don’t think about their actions…..he handled that so, so well! Pure Talent.”
“Shameful how people act these days. Love your music!”
“Hope they arrest the person who threw the phone.”
“Seems like someone is very very jealous of you! Hope they were thrown out instantly!”
HE’S NOT A REAL PERSON! HE DIDN’T ACTUALLY GET HIT WITH A PHONE! Can you all in the comments really not see that?
The comment section is riddled with comments like the ones above. There’s only a few that mention the post is AI. And sure, this could be an example of “dead internet theory,” where it’s mostly bots supporting this artificial intelligence account. But if you are like me… you know plenty of others (possibly in an older demographic) that see things like this and fall hook, line and sinker for them.
The account has over 250,000 followers, gets good interactions from seemingly normal people… it’s truly frightening. And if you hop over to the Spotify account, there’s over 200,000 monthly listeners. That’s not a ton compared to big radio acts, but it is on par with some of the great indie country acts out there… Nicholas Jamerson, Benjamin Tod, Drayton Farley to name a few. The kind of artists who can write circles around some of the bros getting #1s on country radio.
Here’s another doozy that River Cain threw out there:
Did you hear that? That’s the sound of every mom on Facebook falling for that video at the exact same time.
Just to be clear, in case there’s any confusion at all, River Cain was not actually on American Idol. He’s an AI artist… or in other words, he’s not a real person. I don’t feel like I need to say that, but if you dive into the comment section of that one like we did the first one, there’s plenty of people who seemingly think its real.
God help us.
