AI is EVERYWHERE!
There is no longer a way to escape it.
It isn't the future; it is the present.
AI seems to be a part of everything... even grief.
This doesn't go over well with everybody.
Redditor Sad-Photograph-1577 found herself in a dilemma regarding her cousin's tribute to their deceased grandmother, so she turned to the "Am I The A**Hole" (AITAH) subreddit for feedback.
Similar to AITA, the AITAH subReddit allows posters to ask for advice and post about ending relationships—both things that are banned on AITA. However, there are no required voting acronyms—only suggested ones—and no official final judgment declared.
She asked:
"AITAH for yelling at my cousin for generating an AI song about our dead grandmother?"
The original poster (OP) explained:
"I (20 F[emale]) went to my cousin (40 M[ale])'s birthday party the other day, only for the food and to see my aunt."
"This cousin comes from the wealthier side of my family; his aunt and uncle are college graduates and real estate owners."
"Regardless, while we were eating, he went around with his phone to show people a 'song' he 'made.'"
"My grandmother passed away around 10 years ago, from natural causes, after years of being paralyzed due to a stroke."
"It was a tough time for everybody in the family."
"He prompted a song with AI about our deceased grandmother's journey immigrating from Vietnam."
"As in, pretty much all he did was go to some music-making app, type in 'Generate a song about an old Vietnamese woman's journey to America.'"
"And that's it."
"He then went around the room to show everyone, one by one, the thing he 'made,' with an AI-generated image of my grandma as a caricature for the image of the video."
"His dad/my uncle (65 M) was hyping it up, saying it was 'incredible' and whatever else."
"The lyrics were on the same tier as 'We Are Charlie Kirk,' only in Vietnamese."
"I only listened to the song once."
"In any case, when he came to show me, I told him I wasn't interested and tried to back off."
"But he kept showing it to me."
"So, I told him it was stupid and lazy."
"He said, 'But I had to type in the instructions,' to which I said that isn't difficult at all, and he just dismissed me."
"There were only words."
"My mother said I overreacted, but I just find it very disrespectful to generate a generic AI song about the most beloved member of the family."
"Especially because he said he 'wrote' it."
"I have written songs with lyrics for friends before, so I suppose I have a bit of bias towards using AI to generate songs."
"And using our deceased grandmother as the subject felt wrong."
The OP was left to wonder:
"So... AITAH?"
Some Redditors weighed in by using the AITA voting acronyms:
- NTA - Not The A**hole
- YTA - You're The A**hole
- NAH - No A**holes Here
- ESH - Everyone Sucks Here
- INFO - More Information Needed
Redditors went back and forth about whether or not OP was or was not the A**hole here.
"NTA, don't know why so many people are making a big deal of your ''only went for the food and to see my aunt' comment."
"Sometimes you don't really vibe with a family member, and you still do things with them because of the rest of the family."
"And I would probably have the same reaction to gen ai content about a grandparent." ~ JTheMostlyHuman
"NTA. Ask him if he considers himself a chef when using a kiosk at McDonald's to 'design' the contents of his burger/order." ~ MythsandLaur
"NTA. You didn’t go out of your way to call him out."
"He came to you and wouldn’t leave you alone until you paid attention."
"And it’s absolutely a dishonor to your grandmother’s memory to use AI (which STEALS bits and pieces from other peoples’ art) to slap together something he didn’t make himself."
"Does he really have no great memories or sentiments that he could use?"
"Nothing from the heart at all?"
"And an AI generated image of her for the cover???"
"The final spit in the face is that he didn’t even have a real picture of her to use."
"Shows how much he really cares."
"Also, it doesn’t matter what you went for."
"You were invited because they wanted you there for some reason or other."
"You didn’t have to show up at all."
"I don’t know why people are getting stuck on this." ~ PinkySparklez
"NTA. I have a real problem with generative AI being used for this slop."
"It makes me sick."
"There are hundreds or thousands of legitimate uses for AI, but this, and stealing other works of art, are despicable." ~ Repulsive-Box5243
"YTA. He used a commonly available tool to make a little tribute to your mutual beloved dead grandma, and you had to make a point of shi**ing on it, ostensibly because he took too much credit and it wasn't a lyrical masterpiece, but in reality probably because you have a bug up your butt about being on the 'I hate AI' train."
"It would have been polite and even a little compassionate to just give him three minutes of your life, listen to the lame song, and say something like 'What a neat idea, Bruce; I'll bet Grandma would have enjoyed that.'"
"It wouldn't have killed you to be kind."
"After all, it was his birthday party; even though you were really only there to see someone else, you should have been planning to spend a couple of minutes with the guest of honor, anyway." ~ MotelTheTailor1903
"You need to get a grip."
"Also a bit selfish of you to turn up to his birthday just to eat food and see other people. YTA." ~ New-Horizon-4127
"YTA. I'm totally on the side of f**k generative AI, but everyone grieves in their own way."
"This was his birthday and, already from the beginning, you were only going there for food and then proceeded to sh*t on him for something that made him and other family members happy."
"My mom recently took a bunch of photos for her birthday, and her sister put them all into AI to cartoonify them."
"This made my mom happy, but I obviously was not pleased with it—especially with being an artist and graduating art school—however, it made my mom happy."
"I would be the a**hole sh*tting on it because it would ruin her happiness, on her birthday no less."
"I kept my mouth shut, said nothing about it, and we moved on, even after being asked about it."
"This song, despite being no effort crap sh*t out by a robot, made your family happy and you proceed to call the person, on their birthday, essentially lazy and stupid."
"Had you just said, 'Sorry, I can't support AI' or had you said this on any other day that wasn't his birthday (that you yourself already said you didn't want to go to, to celebrate him) then you wouldn't be the a**hole." ~ Zachary_Shadow
"Nah, OP is NTA."
"The cousin wouldn't leave him be; not everyone has to like something."
"Sure, everyone grieves differently, but the cousin pushed, and when he got an answer he didn't like, his panties got in a bunch."
"That's not on OP."
"I'm on OP's side, the cousin shouldn't have claimed he made a song when it was all AI." ~ New-Novel-7948
"YTA. Honestly everyone remembers everyone in their own way."
"Your cousin is 20 years older than you, which means they had much more time with their grandmother."
"The fact your grandmother died 10years ago, and they still hold onto them enough to remember their grandmother, shouldn't affect you."
"To them they may be preserving the memory of her they refuse to let go."
"Just becaused they used a tool in a way they couldn't do previously doesn't make them the issue on your view on AI." ~ Silver_eagle_1
"YTA. Your vibes here are sh*t."
"You went to someone's birthday just for free food and then sh*t on the thing they enjoyed."
"Your 20 not 12."
"Act like an adult."
"If you don't want to celebrate someone don't go to there birthday party."
"If you do go have the decency to not be an a**hole to them." ~ griffinwalsh
"He should have stopped shoving his dumba*s stolen song in OPs face after being told she wasn't interested."
"Dude is 40 and behaving like he's 4." ~ DobbyFreeElf35
"Everyone grieves their own way."
"And what do you mean you went to someone’s birthday party to eat their food and see someone else?"
"You called someone lazy and stupid at their party when you only went there for food and to see someone else?" ~ CptKUSSCryAllTheTime
"Putting a prompt into a theft machine is not grieving."
"It's attention seeking behavior, as shown by his insistence on OP listening to that garbage." ~ MoreThanMachines42
"Not putting in a sliver of effort and claiming authorship is beyond stupid and pathetic. NTA."
"Your uncle sucks, and so does everyone who encourages him." ~ DynkoFromTheNorth
"YTA. He was honoring her, what right do you have to judge?"
"If she had just died... Maybe it would have been uncool for him to do it." ~ BluceBannel
Reddit is having a tough time with this one, OP.
You have every right to feel what you feel.
Your cousin has every right to create how he "creates."
Hopefully, you can find common ground.
Good Luck.
