THE sultry songs of Lolita Cercel, an AI-generated singer, are a sensation in Romania, racking up millions of views online — but angering real-life musicians and drawing criticism from the Roma minority as a racist cliche. Since debuting late last year, “Lolita” has given TV interviews, landed representation by a top booking agency and had a cabinet member use the digitally generated singer’s telegenic image to promote his ministry’s projects.
But the videos’ popularity has stirred debate in Romania about artificial intelligence replacing humans, and has raised questions about ethnic stereotypes in a country with a history of discriminating against the Roma.
Lolita is “a very sexualized” character, “a non-Roma man’s fantasy of what a Roma woman might look like”, Bogdan Burdusel, a 35-year-old Roma activist, told AFP, criticizing “latent and unaddressed racism” in Romanian society. Real-life Roma singer Bianca Mihai, a contestant on the Romanian version of reality TV show “The Voice” last year, called Lolita’s overnight success “unfair”.
“I’m trying to build a career right now, and I feel like there’s no room for me,” said Mihai, 25, who juggles a full-time job as an IT consultant with studio rehearsals and an acting gig.
In reality, Lolita is the work of a man who calls himself Tom, a 32-year-old visual designer who said he did not necessarily mean for his creation to have a Roma identity. Tom, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Lolita “doesn’t necessarily belong to a specific culture”.
AFP
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