Updated Sept. 13, 2026, 2:19 p.m. ET
Rapper and singer Tyga’s 80’s new disco synth album, “$TARFACE,” was released with overwhelmingly negative reviews in July. Professional music criticism sites like Pitchfork called the album “smug and complacent and depressing” while review aggregation site Album Of The Year scored it one out of 100, tying it for the lowest possible score on the website.
The negative maelstrom of criticism for the album was not because the album itself was so sonically awful; rather, it was Tyga’s use of generative AI. The reaction to Tyga’s album is part of a wider reaction of negativity around generative AI that has been on display in the past couple of months.
“If artists are just using AI for their scripts and editing their voices then it is not really true music anymore,” FSU business management major Tegan Sutton said to the FSView. “AI can’t make art because art comes from new ideas and new creations. AI can’t create new things and new ideas and it is only going off based on human created things.”
Generative AI comes to FSU
One way the backlash has been extremely prevalent is the controversy around generative AI in multimedia. Whether it be art, film, or the use of AI in music, the “AI slopification” in multimedia is currently at the center of the debate at large.
At Florida State University, AI is being adopted across the university as educators try to change their curriculum to help students acquire the skills needed to succeed in the new AI-powered job market.
In 2025, FSU launched a website that acts as a FSU-centric database for AI tools and news. FSU launched the Sparks AI pilot program in 2026 as a new initiative designed to integrate AI into existing courses without substantial course restructuring.
Some professors are leaning into generative AI by utilizing the technology in unique ways. For FSU chemistry professor Oliver Steinbock, AI allowed him to create songs about thermodynamics that he would not have been able to make otherwise.
“It amused me how well it worked, even for equations and complicated topics. I don’t think of it as a revolutionary new form of ed-tech but rather a fun way to break out of the traditional way of teaching,” Steinbock said to the FSView.
Regarding generative AI in music, Steinbock isn’t concerned.
“I am fairly sure that generative AI is here to stay. It will not magically disappear but only get better and find its niches, some small and some large,” Steinbock said. “Overall, I have no fears that human music will decline; people will always be interested in people, while technologies will always evolve. Music has adapted to radios, recordings, synthesizers, lip-synching, digital processing, streaming, and mass commercialization.”
Seminoles weigh in on AI music
Students at FSU are more divided on the topic of AI in music. Many believe that the technology should not be used in music, with very small exceptions to when the AI itself is the focus of the art rather than using it as a tool to replace the human contribution.
“If it’s a human working with AI in the sense where you will see art exhibits where they have … people building robots where they are painting a canvas where it was looking really bad. That was art in itself,” FSU psychology major Sofia Kennedy said. “[If] someone were to take that route by working with AI … but still using their own hands, creativity and own artwork.”
AI in art is not only fighting a battle in the court of public opinion, but the legality of generative AI in art is also being challenged through various lawsuits.
Suno, a company that allows you to generate AI music through text prompts, has recently faced a multitude of lawsuits from major record labels and independent artists over the use of copyrighted material in the training of Suno’s AI models.
“I understand that there are ongoing lawsuits alleging that Suno used copyrighted music to train its models without permission, which raises legitimate concerns,” Steinbock said. “At the same time, we are beginning to see licensing agreements come out among record labels, streaming platforms, and AI companies, and one can hope that some of that money will flow back to the artists.”
Regardless of the lawsuits or negative public opinion, generative AI as a technology isn’t going anywhere. With music in particular, it will be up to industry leaders in music to self-regulate the technology while the public holds them accountable.
Tanner Block is a Staff Writer for the FSView & Florida Flambeau, the student-run, independent online news service for the FSU and Tallahassee communities. Email our staff at contact@fsview.com.
