Timbaland is one of the most legendary producers of all time, but many fans think he could be ruining his legacy with his recent moves. He's been a big proponent of artificial intelligence technology for the purposes of making music, and he's now in a pretty big controversy.
As reported by Complex, folks online accused the beatsmith of taking producer K Fresh Music's TikTok beat and another creator's verse over it and feeding it into his A.I. Suno platform for the purposes of training the A.I. model to replicate musical qualities or make their own. He also allegedly took the producer tag without permission. This adds to Timbaland's other A.I. controversies.
Some folks think that this is just an evolution of remixing, whereas others condemn the unauthorized use of one's music for A.I. technology. "People keep sending me this. I still don't even know what to think about it," K Fresh wrote on Instagram about the matter. Timbo's original video on the matter was from October of 2024.
The reason why it's popping up now is because of Timbaland's recent defense of his practices. "[I'm] showing the power of a tool and how powerful it is. How it can flip songs to do remixes," he remarked online.
He also claimed that Ghostface Killah asked him to send him the original K Fresh beat that Timbaland incorporated with A.I. in this controversial manner. "I don't get nothing from that, but that post said, 'Yo God can you send me that beat?' That ain't my beat," he remarked.
Timbaland A.I.
Timbaland's staunch support of A.I. has gotten him in a lot of hot water, but other people are coming to his defense. "I’m happy that Tim is into A.I.," Swizz Beatz remarked. "Because all the white people in it. Why we can’t get in it? I don’t care how. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. So, this is Tim’s entry point into A.I.. Whether we like it or not, it’s an entry point."
Will Timbaland turn the tables or will this follow him for the rest of his career? Only time will tell...
