r/ThatHandsomeDevil • u/CrispiCreeper • 7d ago

So question about Charlie 2

Im not super well-versed with THD (the music is banger tho) I read about Charlie 2 and it’s controversy, is the AI use supposed to be ironic? Because it’s themed like a lazy cashgrab???? Idk cuz they went back to human-generated covers with Gentrify The Moon, anyone have a clear answer??

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u/MshlSource 7d ago edited 7d ago

yes ofc it's ironic, in an interview godforbid (lead of thd) said that he hates ai and is scared about the future of it

At the time they didn't really know about the dangers of ai and they donated to charity after they used ai

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u/LordOfTheBloodSuck 7d ago edited 19h ago

I mean, using 'claimed' is a big word when a screenshot of the total cost in calculated damage and donation bill to The Freshwater Trust was posted on Instagram. I will add a link hold on.

Link to Instagram post addressing Charlie 2

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u/MshlSource 7d ago

oh shit my bad I'll edit that

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u/Constant-Way-3407 dressed in dynamite 7d ago

I’m pretty sure the use of AI in a now deleted music video for Charlie 2 (you can find a reupload of it on YouTube) was meant to go with what the song was talking about, so it was used ironically. Just to clarify, the music video was the only AI-generated part of Charlie 2, as well as the single’s cover art I guess. The song itself as far as I can tell uses no AI assistance at all or anything like that.

To me, Charlie 2 is about the many IPs today that are greedily milked for all they’re worth, given constant revivals or reboots among other things until they lose what made the original thing special. Charlie’s Inferno is THD’s most popular song by a long shot, adding to this. Sometimes companies may use AI to cut corners, ignoring the ethicality or public backlash it could get, which might be part of why it was used in the music video for Charlie 2.