SEVENTEEN’s “Maestro” Teaser Sparks Heated Debate About AI Use

On April 25, KST, SEVENTEEN dropped a teaser of their upcoming music video, “Maestro,” leaving fans stunned with the drastic change in their artistic direction, going for a much more “dark” concept than their previous releases.

From the video’s visuals, fans rightly guessed that it might be a commentary on the increased use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in artistic spaces. The teaser came with a disclaimer that confirmed this, adding that a portion of it was created using AI.

While the music video’s intended message has gained roaring praise from K-Pop fans, many have taken issue with its use of AI. Some pointed out that the music video partially containing AI-generated footage defeated the purpose of the critique. AI models use the data fed to their algorithm by the user to increase the accuracy of the output. So, any kind of usage only contributes to making an AI program more powerful and less distinguishable from human-made results.

While some fans argued that the usage of AI was inevitable to portray how the algorithm cannot create something human-like…

The people trying to come for SEVENTEEN for using AI have clearly missed the whole point

I need you to take a step back and ask yourself this, how do you expect them to speak on the use of AI, if they don’t show it in the mv? Which btw requires them to actually use AI. pic.twitter.com/FdhIi6KDQC

— Blu ★ Diamond¹⁷ (@13_Gems_17) April 24, 2024

It's clear as daylight that SEVENTEEN is INDEED criticizing over usage of AI. And yes you CAN criticize something while incorporating it in your work. What part of this is not clicking??? pic.twitter.com/C964P7NJFt

— ~horangi power~ (@gyulabjamun) April 24, 2024

Do y’all think Seventeen are dumb? They put the DISCLAIMER THERE FOR A REASON. They said PORTION (they need to SHOW what this is about) and CLEARLY they’re challenging the concept of AI by questioning WHO’S THE REAL MAESTRO but it’s either you lot CAN’T READ or CAN’T COMPREHEND. pic.twitter.com/loSK2nr3rX

— tokkiflame ¹⁷ ᴵˢ ᴿᴵᴳᴴᵀ ᴴᴱᴿᴱ (@tokkiflame) April 24, 2024

Many fans countered that HYBE has the budget to take alternative routes to replicate AI-like visuals, including hiring VFX artists. The fact that they chose the easy cop-out felt like a dilution of SEVENTEEN’s message to them.

i love this concept how svt trying to say that real maestro can't be replace by ai and we shouldn’t normalize it??? but why would they use real AI? can’t they just hire a vfx artists or something
pic.twitter.com/9ScXPg8OAC

— cam ???????? (@senimingyu) April 24, 2024

for those who says they need to use AI comparison to criticize AI… vfx artists who can mimics 'how bad AI looks' does exist so i dont wanna hear any excuses

— glo (@nidinodi) April 24, 2024

how are u gonna try and call into question something as dangerous as AI and then use said thing in ur MV??? SVT creative director go to hell! This is not the think piece you think it is pic.twitter.com/E8EeKE7DVX

— adri ⊹???? ࣪ ⟡ (@besitos4wnwoo) April 24, 2024

Using AI to criticize AI is kinda lazy tbh, big company with big budget could’ve done it better, what makes them not using real art + CGI to symbolize futuristic??? Like this Ready For It mv? pic.twitter.com/Q2tkX8syNe https://t.co/VJVReoZU5P

— saff (working on comms) (@goldeuhandseu) April 24, 2024

Using AI to 'criticize AI' does not makes you exempt from using AI in your art lol. No hate to SVT but the AI part ruins this teaser. No, it is not a compliment. No, they're not proving their point. Their point could've been made had they used real life artist too. https://t.co/eoWYNheE9Y

— Risya˙˚ʚɞ˚˙ (@rudauhl) April 24, 2024

Some fans are on the fence about this issue and feel that the criticism should be reserved until the entire music video is released, which will give audiences a better idea of how much AI-produced content is used or how the message plays out.

If I'm being honest, Idk how I feel about the AI disclaimer in the Maestro MV teaser. I mean, thankfully, they've included it, and it gave me the impression that they used it to prove a point… but it still made me feel uneasy… Idk, I guess the MV will give me the answer

— Geany (@geanyans) April 24, 2024

although i do hope they used their own database to create the ai parts of the mv so no art from human artists got stolen for it (ig we will see later when it’s out)

— ael MAESTRO (@hcwooist) April 24, 2024

seeing people talk about svt using ai for the maestro video but i got the message right away but im not gonna double down on it until the full mv is out

— Reyre⁷/₈ missing Yoongi (@glossytangerine) April 24, 2024

What do you think?