AI rap parody: An informed response to the question, “What do you think about AI?”
I wrote a rap parody to the song Escapism by RAYE, in response to a class project in a course at Olin College called AI and Society. We were prompted with writing about our opinions on AI. In particular, we were supposed to frame this work in the context of Thanksgiving, writing a response to our friends and family if they were to ask us about AI. I decided to write a rap parody, and my professors liked it so much that I made a corresponding educational music video and presented it to the next iteration of AI and Society students. The lyrics are below.
After receiving feedback on the work, from friends, family, faculty, and students, the overall sentiment is that it makes people feel less anxious about the future of AI.
My Answer - A parody of Escapism by RAYE
AI is all that you hear about
The media gives it so much clout
But I know something that they don’t,
As non-tech-experts who buy the hoax
[Verse 1: RAYE]
A little context if you care to listen
I find myself in a privileged position
As someone who’s had the opportunity
To learn a lot about AI
It’s only as complex as a squirrel’s brain (Cotra)
With disruptive tech, jobs are ultimately gained
So I'm at Thanksgiving with a simple mission
Cranberry juice in hand for some precursory sippin’
[Pre-Chorus: RAYE]
Just a math function with inputs and outputs,
Tryna predict the word that comes next
I don’t trust any of this output I’m gettin’ cause I know it doesn’t come from real humans
LLMs, CNNs, GANs, GPTs
Trained to do something useful for us
But their capabilities are limited based on
The training data that they are provided
[Chorus: RAYE]
'Cause AIs not as smart, as the public might think
It won’t take jobs that need ingenuity
People people really decide
Whether AI has good or bad vibes
It’s not the tech to fear
It’s the way we use it the and the way we regulate it
[Verse 2: RAYE & 070 Shake]
Take switchboard operators as an example
Their jobs were disrupted but in future gen’s ample
Jobs were available thanks to the tech
It’s par for the course, not an existential threat
Prompt engineering is a new and shiny
Job as of late it’s a brand new way to make a livin’
That’s an example of a way AI has helped create jobs for people who are listenin’
However it can also be used by real estate entrepreneurs trying to exploit the elderly
Forcing them to buy a new home,
Regulations have a ways to go
Pre-Chorus: RAYE]
Just a math function with inputs and outputs,
Tryna predict the word that comes next
I don’t trust any of this output I’m gettin’ cause I know it doesn’t come from real humans
LLMs, CNNs, GANs, GPTs
Trained to do something useful for us
But their capabilities are limited based on
The training data that they are provided
[Chorus: RAYE]
'Cause AIs not as smart, as the public might think
It won’t take jobs that need ingenuity
People people really decide
Whether AI has good or bad vibes
It’s not the tech to fear
It’s the way we use it the and the way we regulate it
(It’s the way we use it the and the way we regulate it)
Thanksgiving 2023 Reflection, After Singing the Song to My Family:
It helped inform a few conversations about AI throughout the day. My uncle spoke to the threat it poses to jobs. He thinks that it will get to a point where any job can be done by AI, especially executive positions. I replied that I believe if that is going to happen, it’s a ways away (at least 10-20 years), due to compute constraints.
I spoke to my mom about AI after Thanksgiving, and we reviewed the lyrics. She said that she felt a lot less scared after reading them. I asked how she felt about AI before hearing the song. She said she used to be afraid of the technology, especially because of the Terminator, but now she feels that it’s the people using it that determine how the future unfolds. My mom would like someone to vet who's making decisions about AI and training them. She would like to know their background, how they feel about certain groups of people, how nationalist they are, etc., before allowing them to train models.
I learned that I can have an impact on how people view AI. I feel a responsibility to stay informed so that I convey truthful information.