SP Charan, the son of legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam (SPB), has expressed his opposition to the use of artificial intelligence to recreate his father’s voice. In an interview with a Tamil media channel, Charan emphasized that a singer has the freedom to select the songs they wish to sing, and he believes that using AI to replicate a voice takes away that choice and the right to decline a song.
Charan said, for instance, that if his father SP Balasubrahmanyam were alive, he would have probably rejected an offer to sing the song ‘Manasilaayo’ from ‘Vettaiyan’. He said that he did not say this to hurt anyone’s feelings. Notably, ‘Manasilaayo’ contains a portion of the song with AI-generated voice imitating the voice of late Malaysia Vasudevan, and that was done with the full acceptance of his family members.
“My father is dead. Let him be!”
Emphasizing his stance against using AI to recreate his father’s voice, SP Charan said, “Many approached us to seek permission for the remake of my father’s voice through AI, but I have refused all of them. We don’t want his voice in every Tom, Dick, and Harry’s music. Even if a well-known music director comes, I will say no. Because he is no more; let him be that way.”
Source: Times Of India
