If you haven’t heard of KPop Demon Hunters, you may actually be living under a rock. And if you have heard of it, and you don’t know every word to “Soda Pop” or “Golden,” are you even a real fan? No. The answer is no.
But even the most casual fans might be a little shook to know that the singer and songwriter known as Vince, who co-wrote “Soda Pop” for the Netflix film, used ChatGPT to help him.
In a since-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), OpenAI head of engineering Sherwin Wu posted that at the OpenAI Korea office opening, he learned that Vince used ChatGPT to help him with the lyrics to the song.
Although the post was deleted, someone on Reddit snagged a screenshot so that it lives on in internet infamy. But what’s the actual story behind the claim?
The writer of ‘KPop Demon Hunter’s “Soda Pop” reportedly made a bold claim.
Although there is no video of Vince saying what Sherwin claimed he said at the OpenAi event, the now deleted X post certainly sounds like Vince used ChatGPT to help him write one of the fictional Saja Boys’ hits in the Netflix movie. However, Korea JooAng Daily reported that Vince claimed he began working on the song years before KPop Demon Hunters was even a thing.
“It was literally just a guitar sketch that I did in my own room seven or eight years ago,” he said, per the outlet. “Then one day, a colleague and producer named 24 asked for something bright, so I handed this demo over to him under the title “Ice Cream.” Vince added that “Ice Cream” eventually became “Soda Pop.”
With no mention of ChatGPT helping him write the song or brainstorm ideas for it in its later stages for KPop Demon Hunters, where does that leave Sherwin’s claim on X? Another Korean news outlet reported that Vince said he and other musicians use ChatGPT for inspiration when writing KPop songs. That’s a bit different than what Sherwin claimed in his deleted X post, but it hasn’t stopped people from talking about it.
On the Reddit thread where the screenshot of the X post was shared, one user commented, “TBH, “Soda Pop” was canonically meant to be soulless and generic. So, learning it was AI isn’t too surprising.”
So in a way, if anyone from the writing team for the movie’s songs comes forward to make claims about using AI to help them, it actually makes sense since the Saja Boys are demons and soulless and AI is, well, soulless too. It sounds like Vince may have made claims about using ChatGPT or AI to help in ideating, but not actual lyrics.
Either way, Sherwin has not cleared anything up on his X account.
“Unpopular opinion but the song is giving AI/soulless lol,” someone else wrote in the Reddit post. “What saves it is the catchy and poppy beat.”
It’s not uncommon for people to use ChatGPT for ideas, help with homework, and even help as a parent. I might have used my app to help me figure out how to talk to my son about his grades and give him a pep talk, but that’s a story for another time.
And hey, I’m not the KPop songwriter in question here. If Vince did use ChatGPT to help with ideas for “Soda Pop,” he isn’t the first or last person to use AI for brainstorming.
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