Grian Chatten says it was a “real shock” to learn AI had been used in Fontaines D.C.’s Marianne music video.
The 31‑year‑old singer and lyricist insists the band had no idea artificial intelligence was involved in the promo and says they will now add a clause to future contracts to ensure the technology is never used, as they “don’t condone it.”
He told The Los Angeles Times: “I woke up at like 5.30am the day after the video came out, and I saw an article that said there was AI used in the video, and I called our management, and I was like, “What the f***, is this true?” and it turned out that there was some AI used in like the workflow or the postproduction.
“So all those main scenes and main effects and stuff were VFX and prosthetics, like the cheeks and everything. Over 110 people worked on the thing. It was a real huge human effort. But then somewhere in the process, someone from the VFX team I guess used some kind of AI in the workflow. And none of us were told about it. Apparently, not even our label or our management were told about it and it was a real shock.”
Grian insisted: “Of course. I mean, we’re gonna have it written into our contracts going forward that like it can’t be in our music videos. You know what I mean? I don’t condone it.”
The frontman said it’s “ironic”, as their album Dopamine Chamber tackles society’s reliance on technology.
He said: “It’s so f****** ironic. No, very contradictory. The themes of the f****** album as well. I was hoping to talk about how I felt about AI in interviews at some point anyway, and then this kind of pulled the rug from under that conversation a little bit.
“It just f****** sucked.”
Asked what his opinion of AI is, he didn’t hold back. Grian said: “I think it’s f****** terrifying. I was watching a Robin Williams scene from Dead Poets Society when he talks about poetry, literature. These are the things that we stay alive for, and well, that’s exactly what AI threatens to rob from the human race.
“I’ve seen those articles about those guys who are leaving AI companies because they said that the human race is going to be dead within 10 years. AI is literally rendering our souls obsolete and I think that is true death.
“A lot of people say, ‘It’s here, we have to deal with it.’
“We should just shut it off.
“It always ends here. Every conversation [about AI] just ends grim. This is like every conversation with my dad over the last three years about it. It makes it tough to be alive, doesn’t it?”